
Ask HN: 23 year old loss in life. What to do now? - gkjin
Just a bit of background. I&#x27;m 23 years old this year. Graduated last year from a top university in UK with a Bachelors(Hons) Chemical Engineering. Right after I graduated, I went back to my home country Malaysia.
I always knew I wanted to start a startup. In fact, I did try to start a couple of startups -Tripadvisor-ish for students, Groupon clone and some small &#x27;projects&#x27; during the summers like trying to sell &quot;pure fruit juice&quot; during carnivals and stuff like that. None worked out. Last year when I came back, tried to start an online grocery startup but within 2 months, I just knew it wasn&#x27;t feasible unless I had some decent funding or some sort.<p>After all these &quot;attempts&quot;, I decided to stop and reflect. For the next 6 months, I literally just stayed in my room trying to come up with ideas, but none came up. As PG says &quot;The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It&#x27;s to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.&quot; Meanwhile, I read books and taught myself how to code to pass time. I even started applying to corporate jobs but was rejected for every application. One day, my friend contacted me to ask me to join his startup. I joined, but the company was in a very bad shape and it closed down within 4 months, and that was about 1 month ago. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to sell an animal feed called rumen bypass fat(dad’s idea), but no customers so far. I also tried applying to a few local startups .<p>So that’s it. I am utterly loss right now. If you asked me what I really want in life, I’d say I want to make a difference on a large scale. I’d like to start a startup that solves hard engineering&#x2F;science problem. The local startup scene is still playing catch up at the moment. The hot stuffs are ecommerce, on demand startups etc... Hence, I’m not particularly excited about joining the startups in the local scene and I would like to avoid joining big corporate companies. Any advice?
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pm24601
I would say go work for another company. At 23 y.o. there is a lot to learn
about managing people, running companies, planning and executing projects.

While you are looking for that next great idea, get the skills so an investor
believes that you can execute on that great idea.

~~~
onion2k
I would agree with that advice, but for a different reason.

The fact is the gkjin evidently doesn't have any actual problems in his/her
life. Being intelligent enough to go to a top university, wealthy enough to
study abroad and then not need a job afterwards, and capable enough to _try_
to start something ... that all adds up to a nice, comfortable life. There
aren't any real pains to find solutions for. And seeing pains to find
solutions for is where the spark of entrepreneurial inspiration comes from -
startups are about seeing a pain and building a solution to it.

Getting a job, regardless of the industry, will expose you to problems that
need solving. Most people try to solve them within the limited confines of
their job so they can look great to their manager, but the trick to building a
startup is to work with the problem long enough to see a solution, and then
leave your job to build the solution and sell it back to the industry you
worked in. _Lots_ of great, successful startups begin this way.

~~~
gkjin
Wow that was pretty insightful. Never looked at it that way. It seemed like
local startups are getting funded with half baked ideas or clones and I
thought that I could do just as well as them so I was pretty hesitant to find
a job. I guess that it was a little arrogant on my part to think of it that
way. But yeah I have began to apply for jobs at local startups and some
companies outside the tech industry. Thanks for the heads up!

------
avinoth
I wouldn't term your state as _lost_ , you are just 23 and graduated from a
top university. You said you always wanted to start a startup, is it only to
be a tech startup? you have experience in chemistry why not try something
you're good at? If at the core you really wanted to make a difference at large
scale it not necessarily be your own startup but you can also help folks who
are trying to achieve it.

I think at the core of your approach for starting a startup is to make money.
Apologize if that's not the case but from one of your comments,

> It seemed like local startups are getting funded with half baked ideas or
> clones and I thought that I could do just as well as them so I was pretty
> hesitant to find a job

This. maybe the reason, and anyway, I wish you the best.

------
staunch
1\. _Quickly_ create a project you personally think is useful. Learn whatever
skills that are necessary to do it yourself. It doesn't matter what it is. It
could be model train videos on YouTube. The important thing is that you are
personally excited by making it exist. Don't worry about how serious it seems
_at all_. Tinker.

2\. Publish it to the world and get it in front of as many likely users as
possible.

3\. Based on the feedback of users, give up or push ahead. Don't spend more
than a few months on any project unless you're 100% sure it's awesome. Just do
something new.

4\. Repeat until you've found something both you and users agree is great.

You only have to be right once to have a big impact.

~~~
gkjin
Well, the one thing that pops up is to create an Ebook about learning web
development in 30 days. It's not going to be a startup or anything. It's just
something that I could probably ship it in a month and I might learn how to
sell a product at the same time. Only thing is, there are a ton of materials
outside for free already, so I could potentially be wasting my time.

~~~
staunch
It seems like you're trying to come up with ideas you think are marketable.
That's fine of course, but my advice is to worry about that much later. The
best source of initial ideas is organic real-world things. You can't force it
exactly, except by constantly creating new interesting things. Eventually
you're likely to tap into at least one rich vein of human need.

Uber was created because Travis Kalanick wanted to be able to order Lincoln
Towncars from his iPhone. He expected it to be used by rich people for airport
and nightclub rides. A niche service for the elite. He had no idea they would
be recruiting regular people to drive other people around. Now they're on
course to change transportation across the world for everyone. They may
eventually spare millions of people from drunk driven accidents.

------
d_luaz
It's funny to ask for advice from others who barely know your passions and
capability, but it will give it a few random shots:

\- follow your passion, not the money. when you work on your startup, do you
truly enjoy at least some part of it, or just following the hype or hoping to
become millionaires?

\- are you well off where money is not an issue? if money is an issue, get a
job; you can choose to work with well-off Malaysian startup like GrabTaxi.

\- rather than keep thinking about money making startup, just work on small
projects which you found interesting. e.g.
[https://levels.io/12-startups-12-months/](https://levels.io/12-startups-12-months/)

~~~
gkjin
1) Admittedly, my earlier startups are kinda just following the hype hence the
Groupon clone and what not. I have since stopped following the hype. However,
that is also the reason why I was stuck in my room for 6 months keep trying to
find "the right one".

2) Fortunately, money is not an issue. I am very privilege to be in this
position. With that being said, I can't just sit down and do nothing. I need
to find some source of income.

3) I was messing around with Arduino, 3D printers and Raspberry Pi while I as
still working in my friend's startup. Ever since then, I felt like I needed to
do something more "serious" to make some money as I am out of job at the
moment.

~~~
d_luaz
\- I don't think "stuck in my room for 6 months keep trying to find "the right
one"" is a good idea. Please change your plan/approach.

\- Since money is not an issue, we can cross out the need to get a job to make
ends meet and start thinking about fun things to do.

\- I believe Idea is not a light-bulb moment after meditation for 6 months in
your room; it sort of require you try doing different things in order to bump
into the light-bulb moment.

More random advices:

\- Do u like Hardware or Software? Assuming you are into tech ideas.

\- Unless you have partners and funding, the scope of your project need to be
within your own capabilities in order to reach mediocre success in terms of
user adoptions.

\- You don't need the best idea, just good enuf idea which interest you. Why
passion/interest in important? So that you will work on it even though there
is no money and users for 6 months, and you use/like your own product.

\- Discipline. Build/Ship something every month is an interesting idea.

------
SQL2219
I think you have the general idea - look for problems to solve.

You won't stumble upon ideas locked in your room. You must get a job, any job,
and look at all the problems surrounding you.

Think about timing, luck, skill, and opportunity.

luck = preparation + opportunity opportunity=get out there

------
albahk
If you want high-impact stuff, why not go to Singapore and get involved with
one of the many #fintech incubators or accelerators. Some large banks like DBS
and insurers like AIA/MetLife are creating these programs to work on wellness,
big data, health, financial innovation (payments, remittances, bitcoin etc).
The businesses provide the problems/issues and guidance while you can work on
the tech side of solving the issue.

Just my 2c, not knowing exactly how feasible this is for you.

------
tmaly
I remember reading about a lady that went to college in California and
returned to Malaysia or Indonesia and tried 3 different startups till one
stuck. I think the name of the startup was Tappy
[http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33828010](http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33828010)
how about trying to join a startup like this and use it as a mentor-ship to
learn from?

~~~
tmaly
Sorry it was Vietnam, but still Southeast Asia

------
espresso
You can only succeed if you allow yourself to fail. It is better to try and
fail than never having tried at all. Try new things, 1 out of 10 start-ups
succeed. Look at the past not as failures but as lessons to help you in your
next start-up.

------
zewaldo
Would you be interested in working on toy programming projects with other
people? I am working on something that connects new programmers to work on
something just for fun!

------
circuiter
Giving advice is so easy, so here goes:

> Just a bit of background. I'm 23 years old this year.

You're still young, don't worry, the sun is still rising in your life, but
don't just sit back and watch it.

> Graduated last year from a top university in UK with a Bachelors(Hons)
> Chemical Engineering. Right after I graduated, I went back to my home
> country Malaysia. I always knew I wanted to start a startup.

Congratulations, with an engineering degree from a top UK university, apart
from whatever you learned and whoever you met, migration to other countries is
easier for you.

> In fact, I did try to start a couple of startups -Tripadvisor-ish for
> students, Groupon clone and some small 'projects' during the summers like
> trying to sell "pure fruit juice" during carnivals and stuff like that. None
> worked out.

You've failed several times early, that's good, failure is a good teacher and
failing is much harder when you have a spouse and two kids. The important
thing is to know why you failed and learn what you should and shouldn't do
next time. Hopefully there were people to give you feedback. You also need to
look at your ideas in a more fundamental and original way. The desire to solve
a problem and a way to the solution should come first, not the startup.
Describing startups as "Tripadvisor for students" , "Hackernews for ballet
dancers" , "Mixpanel for paper trails" betrays a wrong mindset. An example of
doing it the right way would be "I have an idea for a case that allows you to
use electronics with magnetic storage in places that have strong passive
magnetic fields, I should start a company to sell this to the several
industries in my state"

> Last year when I came back, tried to start an online grocery startup but
> within 2 months, I just knew it wasn't feasible unless I had some decent
> funding or some sort.

Be glad you didn't have enough money to spend to setup an online grocery.

> For the next 6 months, I literally just stayed in my room trying to come up
> with ideas, but none came up.

You should've expected that, isolating yourself in your room isn't the place
to come up with ideas. You need to go out, look at what people are doing, talk
to them, do things, be busy, go to events. Maybe some people have the ability
to generate ideas upon request, but for me, it happens when you're not
looking, like at a party, in the shower, when driving. You don't 'come up'
with ideas, you 'get' ideas.

> Ever since then, I’ve been trying to sell an animal feed called rumen bypass
> fat(dad’s idea), but no customers so far.

Did you study the market? Were animals hungry and farmers broke and was your
feed cheaper and better?

> If you asked me what I really want in life, I’d say I want to make a
> difference on a large scale.

Why so grandiose? Anyway, a lot of people seem to want that. What you want in
life shouldn't be what you want in a startup. In life, I hope I become a good
father, a good husband, spread joy, reduce suffering. I could do that if I
made sure my neighbor never went hungry, or by solving world hunger - win,
win.

> I’d like to start a startup that solves hard engineering/science problem.

Good, so find the problem and the startup will follow.

> The local startup scene is still playing catch up at the moment. The hot
> stuffs are ecommerce, on demand startups etc...

You gotta catch up before you can lead, so are you bold enough to get into the
local startup scene and move it forward?

> Hence, I’m not particularly excited about joining the startups in the local
> scene and I would like to avoid joining big corporate companies. Any advice?

See above.

------
th0waway
You're overthinking the problem. The best thing to do is to go out there and
get a job, any job, even a minimum-wage manual labor job. Work your ass off,
be the Employee of the Month. Keep your eyes open while you work, there are
opportunities for improvement everywhere. Find them, and figure out how to fix
them.

