

Ask HN: I have a startup idea, the project is 90% done. But.. - alifaziz

Hi everyone! I'm malaysian. Going to gradute in CS soon. Currently I'm working alone on my own web project in purpose to run a startup right after I've finish my last day in CS faculty or maybe before the last day.<p>But the problem is, I always doubt at my own ideas and potential to execute the idea. Yes, I'm ready to take any risks but at some times, severally, I feel unmotivated, uninspired any more because of my surroundings and friends network are not really into realistic interest in entrepreneurship.<p>Any positive constructive advice on how to overcome these emotional obstacles, how to manage poisonous unmotivated people around and how to stay persist on what I believe will work.<p>That's all. Thank you.
======
fezzl
First of all, it's nice to see Malaysians other than myself dabbling in
entrepreneurship. As a Malaysian, I know what it's like trying to run a start-
up locally; the environment is just too non-conducive, for various reasons I'm
sure you're familiar with.

My advice is to try to dissociate yourself from all the noise out there (all
the get-rich-quick seminars, how-to-make-millions-on-the-internet books, work-
from-home business "opportunities", etc.) and immerse yourself in the real
gems of knowledge (e.g. blogs by entrepreneurs, Hacker News, TechCrunch, etc.)
to get the right paradigm.

Second advice, get new friends. Go to local start-up gatherings and know
people. Best of all, get incubated in a local incubator. Unfortunately, if you
depend heavily on social validation and you're not self-contained socio-
emotionally (i.e. you feel the need to "hang out" and "talk" to someone all
the time just to be functional), which you sound like you are, I think this
might be a painful change to make. If you've identified your current friends
as a negative influence on your ambitions and personal objectives, you know
it's time to discard them.

The truth is that your current friends are probably a dime a dozen. If you
want fight the negative influence, the only option is to dissociate yourself
from them, not to try to "manage" it or, worse, to try to change them. Start
spending more time with your family instead to fulfill your socio-emotional
needs.

~~~
sensemaker
seriously, where is the local startup gathering in Malaysia? anyone around KL?

I'm Malaysian too.

~~~
khairulzaman
Whoa, I didn't know there are other Malaysians on HN. We should probably meet
up.

~~~
diehell
We should do that!! ... Lets start a revolution! ;)

~~~
khairulzaman
Would love to meet up with Malaysians on here. Not sure how that would be set
up but I'm always open. If you need to get in touch, simply shoot an email my
way.

------
seanlinmt
Cool. I'm Malaysian too but located in East Malaysia. I'm working alone on a
web project too. From my experience, going alone is emotionally tough, working
first may help find people who share the same ambition. Don't give up...."how
can you fail if you don't give up" :) Tell yourself you're going to take 4
years (or more if you're still young) and giving it all you have. Even if you
fail, you would have gained valuable experience and knowledge.

Be careful of saying that the software is done and launching it big. What you
have is probably a product that you think what others will want. Until you get
feedback and slowly releasing it to the world, you do not know. Probably
getting those unmotivated people around you to try your software might be
helpful as a start.

I think historically there's been a higher chance of failure but as long as
you learn from the mistakes, you'll do fine. Fail fast.

fyi, I used to lecture CS in Malaysia :) and I failed trying to launch an
ecommerce site in Malaysia. But I'm at it again.:)

This article may shed some light on your dilemma
[http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/10/03/harnessing-e...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/10/03/harnessing-
entrepreneurial-manic-depression-making-the-rollercoaster-work-for-you/)

Keep reading and learning. If you don't already know, I find the following
things helpful \- <http://ecorner.stanford.edu/> \- <http://steveblank.com> \-
twitter

It's not about the idea. It's the execution. If it's a good idea, someone else
is probably doing the same thing...unless you have a crazy idea. Know your
competition and realised that you are one person against probably a whole team
of people if it's not a niche enough market you're targeting.

Well that's my opinion anyway...:)

------
patio11
Release as soon as possible so you can get started working on the other 90%.

~~~
mistermann
the other 90%...lol....exactly, words of wisdom!

~~~
rmc
patio11 is refering to the 90/90 rule:

> The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development
> time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the
> development time.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-ninety_rule>

~~~
mistermann
Agreed, I was trying to show my agreement with this important principle.
Unsuccessfully it seems. :)

------
dirtyaura
A mentor of mine has saying that startups are an emotional rollercoaster. One
week you are high of the positive feedback after pitching to an investor, next
week you realize that they are still far from investing. One week you get tons
of work done, next week you bang your head against some stupid technical
problem that you thought was trivial. One week you have a spike in adoption
curve for a random reason, next week it flattens for apparently no reason.

You just have to learn to ride the emotional rollercoaster. For some people,
it comes naturally. They are confident and positive, constantly living in
their own reality distortion field. Some analytical people have doubts all the
time.

If you have doubts about your capability to execute, consider that as part of
the business and just push through the emotional low back to high.

But if you have doubts about your overall idea, then you just have to go back
to the idea. Why I'm doubting it? Idea should be something that you think has
obvious potential and you just wonder why others aren't doing it. Often times
it's enough to adjust your original idea a bit. Get feedback, fresh
perspectives. Pivot. And you suddenly feel confident again.

------
richardw
Get a beta out. Test the app against the many out there who might benefit from
it, not the few you know who wouldn't. Totally different set of people, so one
shouldn't influence your success with the other.

In terms of entrepreneurship, just spend more mental time with other startup-
types. There must be some in your city/country. There are definitely more
online, people who are in exactly the same situation as you and who have the
same worries. Read what they have to say, forget about what salary-focused
people tell you.

You might fail initially, but at least you can say you tried and even failure
helps in terms of succeeding sooner or later.

------
j_baker
Find a smart friend who has similar motivations as you do, even if they don't
want to work with you. It's unbelievably helpful to have someone to bounce
ideas off of.

Secondly, don't rule out working for someone else before you start your own
company. It's very helpful to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses
really are on someone else's dime. Of course, there are plenty of reasons
_not_ to work for a big company, but this is one reason _to_ work for a big
company. In a big company, you're forced to work with a variety of different
people you might not work with on your own. This gives you an idea of what
types of people you work well with, what kinds of people you don't, and will
also make you appreciate working for a smaller company (at least it will if
you're cut out for a smaller company).

------
justin_vanw
I can't figure out a way to be both friendly and answer productively.

Stop blaming other people, it will seldom help. If you succeed, it will be
because you got out there and did the work and got in the right place at the
right time. If you don't succeed, it will be because you personally fucked up.
You can get that attitude, and accept that finding some way to succeed is your
responsibility. Alternatively, you can blame your friends and whine on the
internet about how it's so hard and the people around you are all to blame for
everything. I have a feeling I know what you are going to do.

~~~
edash
I didn't read the OPs question like "woe is me" at all.

I've been in their shoes. Feeling isolated, having doubts despite my
optimistic nature, lacking sources of good advice. I'm sure it's a familiar
story for many HNers.

I wasn't born knowing Paul Graham or the Church of Lean. I didn't always live
in a city rife with smart people building startups.

It's a slow, steady process of learning, adjusting, and learning again. That
the OP is here asking questions and seeking advice shows me they're on the
right path.

------
sajid
Get a cofounder, there must be many good candidates in your CS class.

~~~
snitko
I don't think getting a co-founder is a universal answer for everything.

~~~
richardw
Agree fully. I see it as replacing a short-term problem with a long-term one,
_unless_ you find a really good partner. Many, aren't.

------
kishorenc
Here are a few things that might help:

1\. Build the core product and launch a beta soon. Release early, release
often. This will help you gauge the response and adapt. This will help you
remove uncertainty about your own launch/idea etc.

2\. You should definitely try to involve atleast one more person. As a lone
founder, sometimes things can be a little dull.. However this should not mean
you should force yourself to look at co-founders.. it's a tricky situation..
But, go out and talk to people, and meet more people and i'm sure you will
come across people you want to work with.

3\. Even if you do find someone to work along with, things can still be quite
challenging for start-ups. It's something you should be prepared to face upto.
This is exactly what makes the process rewarding and you should look at what
you are learning from the process.

------
democracy
Why do you say the fact that you always doubt your ideas and potential is a
problem? This is really a good thing, ask yourself a few times every day if
you are going in the right direction, and most likely by answering honestly
and adjusting your route on your way there you have a bigger chance to
complete your journey.

You are young and the world doesn't expect from you the knowledge and
experience to be confident about anything. There are very few (if any people)
who are able to be confident about such things. So just take it easy and
believe in yourself.

And based on what I've seen, it's the people with no sufficient knowledge and
experience who are usually confident. The more you know, the more things out
there for you to consider. So, as I said, believe in yourself and never give
up.

------
alain94040
No one understands you? Hang out online where people do. You're already here
on Hacker News, so nothing to worry about.

Now, back to your 90% done project... ship something sooner rather than later.
You're probably still missing a lot! If you think coding is most of the work,
you are wrong. How will people know about your project (apart from telling us
here on HN)?

It's not something to worry about, on the contrary. It's a great learning
experience. So ship and iterate.

------
NEPatriot
I suggest keeping a list of items you executed. Just anything that you
accomplished in your project. So that way when you get down you can stare at
the list and be reminded that you've already come this far and done this much.

------
lo_fye
Release it, market it, and let the people judge. If you get sales, you'll know
you were wrong. Trust the data, not your fear.

------
suyuen
Hey hey I'm Malaysian too! Just ignore everyone else around you and launch
your project already! :)

------
muzrix
One question, how you measured your done idea by 90%? Or it's just sheer
metaphors?

------
siculars
#startups on freenode (irc)

------
Alleyfield
Emotional obstacles? They are something you have to overcome by yourself.

You're like a shy person asking for dating advice.

No one can help you but yourself.

~~~
snitko
Well, a shy person asking for dating advice may get a good one and benefit. So
I think I'm going to give one.

alifaziz, I often feel unmotivated too. I often feel like I don't care for the
thing I'm working on anymore and that no one else cares and that I don't know
why am I doing it. The solution is simple: ignore these periods (just say to
yourself: I know what it is and it's temporary). They will pass. Then you get
your motivation back and that's when you'd have to act.

~~~
Alleyfield
Dating advice for a person who's shy are as useless as a chocolate teapot -
the problems are in the fact that he's shy, not that he'd desperately need
dating advice.

------
ddemchuk
Just release it. If you succumb to your own self doubt, it will self
perpetuate until you're lost all desire to work on the project anymore. The
faster you see that people like what you did and want to use it, the faster
your motivation will come back and you'll be able to keep on working.

This is coming from a guy who struggles with the same stuff, so take it as you
will

------
aneth
Every successful person has doubts about their own ability to execute and just
keeps moving. Pretty soon you'll realize you are the best at what you do
because you are focused on doing it well.

