
Practical Tips on Starting Your Own Company - acconrad
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/fifteen_hyper-practical_tips_o.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+harvardbusiness+(HBR.org)
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mildweed
We need more posts like this. The nuts and bolts of bootstrapping. Too many
articles talking about what to do at step 43, need more about steps 2-5.

Speaking of, has anybody had success with rather than dumping the 9-5 and
jumping straight into your startup, tried going contractor for a while and use
the down time to work on the start-up?

~~~
pierrefar
Yes, me. Been doing it for a couple of months, although I started contracting
3 months ago.

Key points:

1\. It's hard. Get a calendar and worship it.

2\. It works only if:

A. Your contracting is earning enough to pay the bills. Otherwise you'll be
stressed beyond belief (because you'll be failing at 2 things simultaneously).

B. You force non-contract time to do startup. Doing it on the
side/evenings/weekends doesn't work. I average 3-4 days a week contracting and
working on startup a bit daily with guaranteed 2-3 full days a week. Yes it
eats into the weekend, but you'll be 100% ok with that!

Happy to talk more if you want by email. Drop me a line.

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nickpinkston
Overall - not bad, however I'd have to say that "Print your long emails" is
pretty old-man-ish for such a list. Also, the part about "pick a time of day
to work" should probably just be changed to religiously manage progress on set
goals - hours are even a little retro in many businesses.

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bosch
This is a great example article with short, concise points that are practical
and EVERY startup can use.

For his point 8, I would suggest getting the best chair possible since you'll
be spending 10+ hours a day in it. If possible get something ergonomically
like the Herman-Miller Embody. It may seem expensive, but if you divide by the
hours you're going to spend in it you're actually getting a deal.

~~~
akamaka
This can't be emphasized enough. Herman Miller chairs were made fun of during
the dotcom boom as an example of lavish spending, and it was totally unfair.
Those chairs come with 10 year warranties, so they're still around today.
$1000 might seem like a lot for a chair, but not when compared to how much we
spend on computer hardware.

~~~
mkramlich
Exactly. About 95% of the DotComs who bought Aeron chairs are gone. But
probably 95% of the Aeron chairs they bought are still in use, somewhere, by
somebody. Something to think about when deciding what's a wise thing for a
business to spend money on. Spend money on assets or things that last a long
time and have decent resell value.

~~~
davidw
I had one of those, many years ago, and honestly it wasn't the most
comfortable chair I've ever had. It didn't support my back quite right. I
think my favorite was some bomb-proof thing I bought off a guy shutting down
his welding business in Mountain View. It weighed a ton, but was quite
comfortable.

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callmeed
I'm assuming this article is aimed at more traditional, brick-and-mortar
businesses. I'm starting a new online venture this week ... here's my thoughts
on:

1\. Not a fan. Quickbooks (IMO) is for painting contractors and coffee shops.
I'm digging InDinero so far–I have linked to our chase account and it looks to
be a good product.

2\. I did a California LLC

3\. Why even get a cc? Why not just a debit card on your business checking
account? I did this and it still earns rewards so I see no value in a cc.

4\. Hiring is not part of starting a business. It's part of growing a valid,
established one.

5\. Not familiar with this, but I can get one here for $9:
<http://venturehacks.com/articles/cap-table>

6\. Don't have a printer in my office. GMail -> Instapaper

7\. This seems to be pertinent to people in financial industries:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Errors_and_omissions_insurance>

That's all I got for now ...

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lionhearted
Not crazy about having "Fifteen Amazing Tips" lists on HN, but this one did
make me smile:

> Never ask for an NDA from third parties, except a) actual employees, b)
> contractors, or c) key business partners. Don't ask for an NDA from friends,
> potential employees, or potential investors. If you do, they'll say no, and
> they'll know you're amateur hour.

~~~
Pistos2
Could someone explain or expand on that particular point, for those of us who
are just plain inexperienced or ignorant?

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nezumi
"Pick a company name based on URL availability."

What does everyone think of this? I cringe every time I see another company
name ending in '.ly', and I think names chosen by URL availability often sound
cheap rather than clever.

I'd rather go for a name I like and pick a domain of the form
<name><verb>.com, but will that be bad for business?

~~~
pchristensen
I think you're agreeing with the point, with the caveat that not all domain
names are created equal. I too am not a fan of TLD hacking - I figure if you
can't get the .com then there are other domains out there.

I'm also a fan of the two-short-easy-to-spell-when-heard-words domain names.
My startup, for instance, is GeekStack.

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wyclif
_Before you hire your first person, decide when your company's "day" starts
(i.e. what time you are going to open the office each day). Stick to the time
and expect your first colleagues to join you. It's a tone-setting decision
that's hard to change later._

Ugh. The Asses In Seats syndrome. This article is old, I hope.

------
edw519
One Tip on Starting Your Own Company:

Satisfy a customer.

All the rest are details, "hyper-practical" details maybe, but details
nonetheless.

~~~
amalcon
As they say, the devil is in the details.

~~~
ErrantX
Maybe; but if you have a customer then a business can usually be pretty shoddy
and still turn something of a profit

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RiderOfGiraffes
It was also submitted 6 minutes later, but without all the feedburner, etc,
crap in the URL:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1612318>

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d0m
I know it might not be totally related but I often see that and I was
wondering if anyone could explain it to me:

(quote You will become a better interviewer fast, learn more about the right
requirements for the job, understand the candidate pool, and learn how to sell
the role to the best candidate well before you meet (emphasis her.))

Why is "her" used there?

~~~
brianwillis
Because in English (at least speaking formally) there is no singular gender-
neutral pronoun that can be used to describe people. Many people (including
me) incorrectly use "they", which is actually a plural. "Her" was used in
place of "his" more in the interests of political correctness than anything
else. Some authors will switch genders between examples, some will use "his or
hers" (which seems overly formal to me), and some just use "they".

I'm of the opinion that English will evolve over the next few decades to
include "they" as a formally recognized singular pronoun. Languages exist to
serve the culture they're a part of, not the other way around - and many
(most?) of us are already using "they" incorrectly.

More information available at Wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-
neutral_pronoun#Modern_E...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-
neutral_pronoun#Modern_English)

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nhebb
Not a bad little article, but "Get good t-shirts"? Methinks 15 tips sounded
better than 14.

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beambot
I read the title as "hyper-spatial" and was all excited, only to be
disappointed. Apparently obsessively reading the Doc Smith Lensman series
recently is taking a toll.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series>

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tjpick
hyper-practical? What the does that even mean?

~~~
Jkeg
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hyper->

It's a prefix, to denote an unusually high amount of something. I'm guessing
the reason why he wrote the article in the first place was because he wanted
to share start-up tips that had an unusually high practicality. Thus, he's
signifying the significance of these tips with that phrase.

~~~
tjpick
still doesn't make sense.

And I'm going to stop here because my original comment isn't grammatical since
I removed the word "fuck" from it.

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mkramlich
buy E&O insurance? that sounds like a later stage tip, if at all. felt so out
of place it almost smells like front-running. screw that, just find paying
customers, tune and scale up.

even rent is not something you have to think about when starting a company.
use homes (that everyone should have anyway), garages, sheds, Starbucks,
libraries and bookstores to start.

~~~
steveklabnik
> use homes (that everyone should have anyway)

I agree with your overall sentiment, but this part... I'd disagree with. Home
ownership is not for everybody.

~~~
mkramlich
Replace with "the place where you sleep at night" for the general case, in the
developed world. (Roof, kitchen, livingroom, bedroom, etc.) Possibly shared
with family. The point is, even if you don't own a business, you're going to
want a place to live, and you'll have to pay for that _anyway_ so, assuming no
other complicating factors, it seems like a smart idea to also consider using
that space to work on your new business. Home != house != ownership. Home is
where you sleep on a regular basis, where you store your stuff, etc.

~~~
steveklabnik
Sorry, I was being dumb. I thought you meant 'buying a house is better than
renting,' not "don't get an office, your house is fine."

