

I don't know what the fuck I'm doing - orangethirty
http://theopenstartup.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-dont-know-what-fuck-im-doing.html

======
whalesalad
> My startup currently is about nothing. It lacks a product, idea, or even
> market. I have a few thoughts about what it could be about, but nothing has
> been chosen (or even tested).

I don't understand how this has garnered so much attention. I feel like I'm at
a self help meeting where we are all applauding each other for not eating a
piece of cake, or smoking a cigarette. In other words, a bunch of noise over
nothing substantial. While I'm glad you have a lot of success under your belt,
how is it relevant? You specifically state you have no idea, concept, or
product. Nothing at all.

You don't have a startup. You have a desire to work hard at something, but you
have no idea what to do. Thanks for sharing???

Funny, I was just reading Steve Blanks article on why so many startups suck
I'd suggest reading it: [http://steveblank.com/2012/09/21/why-too-many-
startups-er-su...](http://steveblank.com/2012/09/21/why-too-many-startups-er-
suck/)

But to reiterate: you don't have a startup. And please don't start a company
_just to start a company_ ... Do something that you love AND that people truly
need. The signal to noise in our startup world is out of control.

Finally, I admire your desire to be open and transparent but honestly coming
out and saying you have no idea/product/service is just a waste of a database
row. It sounds naive. You won't get anywhere on a wish. You need substance.

P.S. services that I want _right now_ :

* A concierge (iamexec on roids) to find me an apartment. Given a criteria, find me X places per week to review and then take Y that I like and arrange appointments to see them. A human touch is most certainly required. Padmapper is a pain in the ass. I'll give a service a hundred dollars to find me 5 extremely solid leads in a week. Between this and that price, studio or 1br, near the metro (dc). If you build an engine to scale that so you and a few other people can handle business... You're the next Donald Trump.

* register me to vote. I pay $x and you do the rest. Oh you need a birth certificate? Damn. Oh, but you're providing a fax number, iPhone snapshot, or other means to get it or other required docs to you?? Great! Here's $20 fucking dollars. I don't care how much it costs, within reason, as long as it works and it requires zero thought from me.

* I'm a fanboy. I want a heroku coffee cup but they don't exist. Follow the HNTees lead: provide people who might frequent HN or understand the meaning of the phrase NoSQL with swag. I'll give you fifteen bucks for a purple heroku coffee cup. And don't do zazzle/cafepress garbage. I want quality goods. I also want crap pertaining to ruby and python. Tasteful, quality goods/swag for people like you and I.

~~~
redguava
I believe a much bigger indicator for success is the person rather than the
idea. I don't know what this person is like, but I wouldn't get hung up on the
idea part of things.

He already got to the front page of Hacker News and garnered some attention,
that isn't a bad start.

~~~
mehulkar
s/start/post about thinking about starting

------
nickler
Love it. Here are some thoughts.

I think you should A/B test the entire project.

How you do that is up to you, but I'm sure the community could have some fun
with it.

If you create an app for the consumer side, create another one for the vendor
side, and see how the problems conflict, or explore the synergies.

If you build something that searches, build something that turns those
searches into social discovery or sharing.

If you build something that floats, build something else that seeks to sink
it. Chaos monkey comes to mind.

I recognize it isn't true split testing, but you might discover a part of a
chain that others have been ignoring, and you might also ignite a passion for
a problem you didn't realize you had.

Best of luck.

~~~
orangethirty
Thank you. Yes, I do plan on testing everything. In fact, this post was a
test.

~~~
nickler
That part was obvious, but the point is that if you're exploring, do it for
the purpose of learning and growth, not for tracking metrics.

Thus, hit both sides of a problem and engineer the solution 2 different ways.
As an interation exercise it's invaluable, and as a product market fit it's an
excellent test of future friction.

Coding isn't building a business, even if it's exceptional. Many of the chefs
I've known that are nationally recognized talents fail miserably when they
open their first restaurant.

In order to stay humble to your craft, when you're entering into the new one,
prioritize the pursuit of learning opportunities.

~~~
orangethirty
Good points. I'm really doing it for the purpose of learning and growth (like
you said). So far I've learned a lot, and it hasn't even been two full days
since my "launch." Now I'm focusing on the ideas. So far, I have a couple. :)

------
zalew
I prefer to read from people who know what the fuck they are doing.

------
linker3000
[Disclaimer: I 'tweaked' my back yesterday and I am in pain and very grumpy
this morning:]

Once upon a time, people who had a vague idea for something would tinker in
the shed, in a spare room or on the kitchen table.

Nowdays, it seems you have to blog about it, collect 'likes' and seek
validation from semi-anonymous strangers and generally spend more time
servicing your online presence than actually rolling up your sleeves and
getting on with things.

JFDI, as a very effective business colleague of mine was fond of saying.

Here's one of the first things that a Web search for 'JFDI' brings up:

[http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/11/19/what-makes-
an-...](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/11/19/what-makes-an-
entrepreneur-four-lettersjfdi/)

------
jacobr
I have this printed out on my desk: <http://mlkshk.com/r/97VP>

It's part of my attempt to be more humble, ask more questions and don't try to
impress people.

~~~
orangethirty
I love it. That feeling of being lost is a big driver for me.

------
lfittl
Another similar open startup bootstrapping blog:
<http://bootstrapchallenge.com/>

Started with 10k GBP some months ago (to bootstrap fulltime) and keeps a
spreadsheet of all expenses and income.

~~~
robryan
Looks like his recording efforts slowed down after a while. That is always
going to be the challenge with these types of things. Also continuing when you
think you have hit on a decent niche/idea and are worried your financials were
give competitors the chance to beat you to it.

------
mathgladiator
Welcome to the club! If you knew what you were doing, then you're be
stagnating. The moment you know what you are doing, then enjoy it for 5 to 10
minutes, then you move on to the next step and there you are again...
ignorant.

------
ArekDymalski
So far looks promising. Even if I can't imagine that you don't have any idea
what you gonna start with. Good luck and thanks for the initiative. Popcorn's
ready.

~~~
orangethirty
Thank you. And hey, you didn't buy the popcorn from me. :)

------
jaequery
is your name Borat by any chance?

------
shennyg
Sounds entertaining, good luck.

How often will you be posting to your blog?

~~~
orangethirty
I hope to post about 3 times a week.

------
blorf
This is a fine example of why HN and everything associated with it sucks.

~~~
3pt14159
Your comment might be brash, and you may have a literally green name, but you
are absolutely right.

~~~
Jd
I had exactly the same response (i.e. "I can't believe what gets upvoted
around here sometimes"). Still I virtually never flag something, although this
one is very tempting...

