

Stop Panhandling your Ideas - bennesvig
http://bennesvig.com/post/4363890591/stop-panhandling-your-ideas

======
klous
Too many people like to endlessly weigh their options and wait for permission
or someone's blessing to launch. I hear: I just need funding to launch my
startup, I just need to get accepted to this startup incubator, I just need to
find a co-founder, or I just need to read this book first.

Stop thrashing about and ship.

~~~
pstack
Come on. Everybody knows that having a server and a bit of coding skill isn't
enough to do _anything_. You have to sign a lease to an office in a trendy
part of town and stock it full of free soda and Aeron chairs and hire an HR
department before you can even _think_ of getting your project going!

~~~
haploid
You're thinking 1999. Today it's different.

Now you have to have at least 10k twitter followers, at least 5k HN karma,
posess at least one Arrington-stained blue dress, and win any number of other
Silicon Valley popularity contests. It's all about "networking" nowadays.

Get with the times, man.

------
meric
I've been working on my project for a few weeks. I just bought a domain for it
today. I'll wait till it's finished in a few more weeks before shipping it.
It's only hosted at my computer at the moment. I've finished most of the
functionality but the app needs data to make sense to users and I still need
to collect that. So am I telling myself a lie? I should release now?

?

~~~
pyrhho
You're turning it into a false dichotomy (of never ship vs always ship all the
time). The point is more that you should be finishing stuff (including
shipping), instead of starting projects and leaving them half-done forever.

~~~
larrik
I took it more to mean that you should be actually producing a product rather
than talking about it.

------
Goladus
When I see a panhandler, I don't really think anything, unles they are funny
in which case I might laugh. Usually I merely suppress the urge to engage
entirely and think about it as little as possible. I certainly don't waste any
of my time judging the person.

Apart from the barely-applicable analogy, it's a decent motivational blog for
someone who is actually suffering from the particular problem of
procrastination with regards to shipping a product. Not everyone who hasn't
shipped has that problem, however, and to them this is just a confusing rant.
Other common problems are lack of focus, lack of discipline, lack of ability,
lack of organization, and lack of knowledge. Being told to "stop panhandling
your ideas" doesn't help at all in those cases.

------
dean
" _You don’t need permission._ "

I think that says it all.

------
djloche
Some people don't have the skills or expertise required for the success of
'build it yourself'. They must pitch their idea to others in an effort to
partner with one or more individuals with the skills to make it a success, or
pitch it to people with the capital necessary (if the founder doesn't have the
money to fund it themselves) to hire those with the skills.

If you have the right project and pitch, with determination you can attract
developers to work for equity (initially) AND successfully find the capital
investment (as needed).

~~~
marcomonteiro
I'd say if they lack the skills to build it, they should be developing those
skills instead of trying to attract developers. When you start thinking like a
hacker, you'll know how to attract them.

Then again, I'm kind of a control freak who refuses to depend on anyone. Help
is nice but I'd rather make inroads myself rather than wait.

------
clarebear
I've had trouble with this balance in more traditional mentor/ boss
relationships. Getting buy in at various stages of a project is definitely a
skill.

------
warmfuzzykitten
You don't need permission. You need a direct order. :) Get off your butt and
finish something!

