

Ask HN: Anyone here start a startup after failing to get a job?  How is it? - uriurion

I&#x27;ve tried to be hired.  No interviews let alone offers.  I&#x27;m thinking it&#x27;s time to move on.  Too many recruiters saying they can find someone better.  Too many hiring managers rejecting my resume after first sight.<p>I&#x27;m tired of jumping through hoops for just the sake of jumping through hoops.  I just want to make something cool.<p>Of course, I&#x27;m in the doldrums, but I&#x27;d rather work harder on something I care about than just sit here and wallow in pain and negativity.  I still want to stay in tech.<p>So for those of you who were forced to start a startup because nobody else wanted you, how did it work out for you?  What did you have to do to make it work?  How did you deal with the negative emotions?<p>Thank You
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MalcolmDiggs
I haven't been in that exact position, but I've certainly started a startup
instead of looking for work. In general, it's really really stressful. You're
pulled in two directions: wanting to save money, and wanting to spend it.

On one hand, starting a company takes money. Lots of it. And some of those
expenses just can't be avoided. On the other hand if you're living off a nest-
egg all you want to do is save as much money as you can every month. I ended
up getting stuck in a "I MUST release this product and get paying customers
this week or I'm screwed" situation, and that's just not a good place to put
yourself in.

In the end, I ended up taking on part-time work to pay the bills and subsidize
the costs of my startup...and my stress level went way down. If you're in a
situation where nobody wants to hire you, I'd say just keep lowering your bar
until you get a bite. Just get _any_ job. Once you land one, you can keep on
looking passively, and upgrade to a new job as soon as you land it.

~~~
MichaelCrawford
Starting a company does not have to take much money. One of the wealthiest men
I have ever met co-founded what is now "The Nation's Largest Sperm Bank" with
a $2,500.00 investment, mostly to buy medical and lab equipment, like liquid
nitrogen dewars.

If you can't start your company with the money you've got, you're doing
something wrong.

Sure it costs millions of dollars to start certain kinds of companies.

Start some other kind of company, is what I'm saying.

~~~
MalcolmDiggs
Lol. I totally agree with you, I think we just have a different definition of
"lots of money". To me (at least at that time) $2,500 was more money than I
had ever seen or had in my bank account.

~~~
MichaelCrawford
There are ways to start companies with quite a lot less than $2,500.00.

Consider that Bank of America was at first San Francisco's Bank of Italy. A
fishmonger of Italian heritage - I don't recall if he was an actual immigrant
- would use what cash he could spare to lend very small amounts of money, in
return for interest.

Among my own more-significant expenses are technical books, however I _could_
borrow them from colleagues, sometimes I can find them at the library. I
prefer to purchase them when I can, but in principle I don't really have to
pay, I could borrow the books.

Consider: would you lend me forty bucks to buy a book, or would you lend me a
book?

Most people are reluctant to lend money, even to close friends or family, but
have no problem lending things like books.

Web hosting is quite cheap. In my own case, I get it for free because I helped
out the founder of the hosting company with his marketing when he was just
starting out.

To start an online business, you don't need a whole lot more than a cheap
webhost, a cheap computer, and a few books - but you do need quite a lot of
labor.

~~~
MalcolmDiggs
I agree with this as well. But, let's take the fishmonger for example: He
didn't quit his fishmonger job, and try to live off the interest from the
money did he?

I believe you can absolutely start a company for cheap (you can definitely
work a low-wage job and afford a startup). But that is very different from
trying to live off your savings _and_ start a company at the same time. Sure,
you might get lucky and have instant-revenue that can support you, but I think
you (and the business) will have a better chance of success if you're not
trying to live off the profits (and can reinvest them in the company).

~~~
MichaelCrawford
I understand that one-half of United States businesses fail within the first
five years. I expect far more than that fail, if they are high-tech startups.

Consider that I read just a few days ago, that - overall - venture capital
earns 5% less than the S&P 500. However, some VCs make out like bandits, it's
just that there are lots of clueless VCs.

So if you start any kind of business, you really don't want to quit your day
job, until that business is profitable, or if you do quit your day job, you
want to have lots of cash in the bank.

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brickcap
A couple of years back I faced a similar situation. I was fresh out of college
had no "experience" and apparently my college wasn't among the ones recruiters
look out for. I tried to get my resume in through the door but rarely manged
to succeed and when I did the offers were so bad that I thought it best to not
take up the job.

To get by I started freelancing. Odesk is a pretty good place to work if you
are starting out. The people there gladly trade inexperience for a tiny amount
of salary(work!) and it can be a start. What I learnt though that it is more
or less pointless to market yourself to the technology people (but if they do
come to you on their own it is worth it to discuss the opportunity since you
have a slightly upper hand in negotiations). Rather it is more profitable to
market to people who _use_ that technology.

So for instance suppose you work on your programming skills and learn how to
build a CMS. This feat will be "meh" for technology people. They do this stuff
day in and day out and see no value in it(maybe they will even criticize you
for using jquery). But if you can learn to sell this CMS to say a local
travelling agency who is still marketing their services through blogger, by
showing them how much more they can accomplish if they used a better tool,
then you are on to something. A single sale can transform into managing the
server for them which can be quite a good source for recurring income.

Another thing that I learnt is that it is very valuable to have a domain
expertise (besides programming). Taking the above example if you learn how the
travelling agency conducts it's business you will no doubt find ways to
generate income from this knowledge. Maybe you will design a CRM for a them or
maybe you will create a tool that makes it easier for them to find new leads
or send invoices or whatever.... you will learn to look out for things that
can be done better with a program and that is where the real money is. That's
what these companies do after all don't they?

Unless you have a debt, or a family to look out for, may be you are better off
without a job (or maybe not). Regardless of this take time to learn how to
market yourself and the stuff that you build. Oh and how to deal with
negativity I don't know what will work for you but I pick up a PG Wodehouse
book and laugh till my stomach hurts :)

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MichaelCrawford
Don't make it obvious that you're starting a startup, if you're trying to fund
it by getting a job.

My most recent position on my resume is "Chief Executive Officer, Dulcinea
Technologies Corporation", where I specifically say I'm funding my own product
development by consulting for other companies.

It only recently occurred to me that that's losing me clients.

However, I've left it on my resume. I regard it as a Bozo Filter.

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polar8
Do you have an idea you want to pursue? If so, go for it. It might work, and
if it doesn't you'll at least have something (a cool thing you made) to show
for it.

But definitely don't "start a startup" for its own sake. That sounds like a
guaranteed path to failure. To succeed on your own you'll need to have some
deeper motivation than just not wanting to apply to jobs anymore.

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mattm
I've always found that when I'm working on side-projects or a business, job
offers come to me much more easily.

