

Ask HN: Whats the hardest part of running your startup? - jkaykin


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cdvonstinkpot
I haven't been involved in running a startup for a few years now, since
shutting mine down, but I remember when I was trying to start up I can tell
you my greatest struggle.

I had an inheritance invested in parts to build my company's flagship rental
product- a high end sound system which would have been rented to bands coming
into town. I couldn't afford a new one so I assembled mine out of used
assemblies I would rebuild into a new working unit for my own purposes. I had
acquired all the parts I needed to build it right down to the tiniest nuts &
bolts, but I was running out of money & needed to work on the company's
business plan so I could get financing.

So I spent my time writing the business plan while the sound system sat there
in pieces unassembled, unfit for rental. I needed to start selling it to
generate income but I couldn't because it had yet to be assembled, & I had no
time to build it- no money to hire help to assemble it, and found myself in a
catch-22.

Then halfway through writing the business plan, I got sick & had to go to the
hospital for a month, which _really_ took the wind out of my sails. With no
insurance, this was the last straw, I had to call it quits to pay for the
hospital stay. Thus my startup ended.

