
First-Time Startup Entrepreneurs: Stop F*cking Around - PStamatiou
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/05/first-time-startup-entrepreneurs-stop-fucking-around/
======
_delirium
Some of this is good, but I don't really like this particular bit:

 _Think about the opportunity cost here. You could be off making six figures
but you decided to swing for the fences with your startup. That takes guts. So
why would you slack off and waste time?_

Maybe you didn't leave the 6-figure job solely to "swing for the fences", but
also because you wanted a different lifestyle? I know "lifestyle businesses"
are perennially unpopular in parts of SV, but part of the whole _point_ of
being your own boss is that you really can choose to, say, spend 10% of your
workweek attending meetups, _even if_ it doesn't produce a monetary ROI, and
you don't have to justify it to your employer. One thing I do agree with in
that regard is that it's worth making sure you aren't doing things just
because they feel productive, but really aren't, which endless meetings can
sometimes fall into. But, participating in interesting communities and culture
can be worth its own opportunity-cost price of admission.

~~~
drumdance
+100. I can tell the guy writing this essay is young. Not that there's
anything wrong with that, I'd love to be young again too. But when I look back
over my twenties I don't find myself wishing I had worked more hours on my
startup.

~~~
peterjmag
Thanks for saying that. Comments like yours have prompted me to reconsider my
goals as of late. For a couple of years now, I was sure that I wanted to live
the startup dream: move to the Bay Area, work for an early stage startup (or
even pursue my own), let it take over my life, compete compete compete...
However, now I'm not so sure that's how I want to spend the rest of my
twenties.

I would still love to work at a startup at some point, but I'm not going to
rush into it. I want to take advantage of my youth to discover more things
that make me happy. I want to travel—a lot. I want to learn new languages. I
want to meet amazing people. I also want to design and build things, but I
don't think that it has to take over my life.

I'm very fortunate to be where I am now: fresh out of college, already doing
something that I enjoy, and making enough money to be comfortable while
working a reasonable number of hours per week. Do I have to dive immediately
into the startup world to be happy? I don't think so.

Here are a few other posts that have hit home recently:

[http://mrooney.github.com/blog/2012/07/01/freelancing-a-6-mo...](http://mrooney.github.com/blog/2012/07/01/freelancing-a-6-month-
retrospective/)

"In short, I felt that given a finite lifespan, there were more fulfilling and
enjoyable ways to spend some of my healthiest years than 40+ hour weeks in an
office."

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4213386>

"I think the kind of worry in this post is a response to the world born out of
hyper-competitiveness, and I don't think its a healthy one."

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4213736>

"His mission statement shouldn't be that he wants a better epitaph. Other
people get to write his epitaph, and by that time he'll be fucking dead. It's
out of his control. What is in his control: whether his life was meaningful to
himself. Did it express his unique talents, did it give him and others joy,
did it help others? Did he make his own rules about how to evaluate his life
or was he a slave to the caprices of fame and fortune? And this is about so
much more than just a career."

~~~
bluekite2000
Yeah you should go for it. Do the things that make you happy. I used to live
in Sunnyvale for a few yrs working for a big corp. Then I quit and moved to
Vietnam. Best decision I made ever. Didn't make as much money but wouldn't
trade it for the world

------
iamwil
I think one of the things that I find hard to do wrt to time management is
whether to take meetings or not. I've tried both ends: both taking all
meetings, and taking no meetings. I've found that taking all meetings, the
vast majority of them aren't useful (to them or to me). In taking no meetings,
I was able to focus, but I do wonder what could have been.

So where's the middle ground? Usually, I find that my default stance is 'no'.
I have work to do, and I have to guard my time. So I'll only take meetings
that are interesting. But I think after reading this, I'll have to also add
'need genuine help' to the criteria.

I think something that Stammy could have added under "Workdays are Sacred" is
how to say 'no'. What if it's a warm intro to someone that doesn't heed
genuine help?

~~~
trhaynes
How about just telling everyone that wants to meet that you work from (for
example) some coffee shop from 3-5 on Thursdays? Then you can work or meet
with the people that come. And nobody is "scheduled" so if three people show
up then things will just work out. Or maybe you'll introduce them to each
other if the meeting isn't useful.

I've heard people call this "office hours" too.

~~~
MaxGabriel
That would also have the advantage of letting you get more feedback. Maybe
websites don't have this problem as much, because the interactions are more
standard and it's easier to gather data, but seeing 3 people use your iPhone
app is a pretty big data point for UI.

------
njx
Startup founders stop using obscenity and cuss words

~~~
diego
Why? "Fuck" is an extremely expressive word when used properly. Entrepreneurs
must have a thick skin, and know when to use "fuck" and similar words.

~~~
columbo
>Why?

Obviously the only way to answer this is with personal opinion. For me,
whenever I see a blog post with "why this fucking sucks" or other language I'm
not necessarily offended. However I do feel like I'm suddenly talking to a
child.

Fuck, Fucking, Fuckshit etc isn't shocking or expressive anymore. It's just an
indicator of inexperience.

I can't seem to get my point across so instead I'll say I can't seem to get my
FUCKING point across.

~~~
Swizec
When writing I often use the word "fuck" or something similar to put a certain
feel on a phrase. For effect. Not because it's offensive or a cuss word per
se, but because I want the phrase to make a certain sound when the reader
reads it.

It's a perfectly useful stylistic flourish when used appropriately. (just like
deliberately using bad grammar can be ... or emoticons ... or sometimes even
putting a delimiting punctuation, but not actually delimiting a sentence)

------
jakerocheleau
Founders who end up successful usually learn this lesson early on. It's not
something you can read and understand, you just need to live the lifestyle.
Don't allow yourself to get distracted, complete small but manageable goals,
and just go one day at a time.

~~~
Swizec
Interesting fact, _everybody_ goes just one day at a time. That's how time
works!

~~~
idle_processor
Don't try to constrain me with your personal measure of temporal granularity,
man!

Time is a continuous domain, so they don't really go one anything at a time.
(Well, unless physiology is shown to have some kind of fundamental clock
period.)

~~~
Swizec
It does. Experiments have shown that in lieu of all external time signals
humans will natural sync to a roughly 28 hour day.

Oh and eventually go completely insane.

~~~
indiecore
Really? Is there a study or some other resource I can read more about this at?

------
Vekz
What was the observable behavior recognized in your colleagues that prompted
the judgement of them slacking off?

~~~
endlessvoid94
I would also love to know this.

~~~
draggnar
Me too. it appears that the author is talking about the author's friends'
startup, not his own. This doesn't seem to be about actual work habits but the
perceived work habits of friends that go to meetups and try to act all "cool".

------
aragnu
As someone who has been struggling to get my first startup off the ground,
this is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you.

And my own piece of advice: if you've been trying (unsuccessfully) to launch
your first company, listen to what this article is saying. Stop fighting, stop
arguing, stop counter-pointing. Just listen for once. And then Do.

------
jamesjguthrie
I think I'm going to get my fiancee to tell me once every day - "stop fucking
around!"

------
Zelphyr
Can't we just say "Fucking"? That little * in place of the "u" isn't fooling
anyone.

------
jorisw
TC;DR.

