Something I often wonder, how many HNers grew up with a parent who founded their own company or were founding their own while they were growing up. Or better yet, grew up with SV founders from back in the 80s or 70s. How was the experience growing up and what long term lessons did you learn from the effects of the lifestyle from your unique perspective as a child of one?
My father owned a real estate company, an ISP and a CLEC while growing up. All turned into lifestyle businesses, even though they were meant to be big exits in their respective industries.
* I learned that you're up some years and down others. The trick is to just keep pushing forward.
* Some people have it, others don't.
* You won't be able to recognize whether you have it or not, until you're actually doing it.
* Marry the right person (and make sure they have health insurance that covers you and your family).
* Keep your personal expenses low and maintain the ability to live off of your partners salary while you're bootstrapping, if that's the path you take.
Bonuses:
* You get to have great discussions around the business every time you're together.
* You're able to lean on your dad (or mom) and ask for advice about what they would do in particular situations. Basically a built in mentor.
* You have a #1 fan that in some ways are living their own dreams through you. And they actually "get" what you're doing.
You have to be careful though that you don't fall into some of the same traps that they may have. As a great example: the typical small business mindset is to never, ever give up equity. For what we do here, it's silly to think that way. Equity is another tool in your toolbox, and should be used when appropriate.
Quite the opposite. My parents are both professors in social sciences and are mostly disgusted with capitalism. Sometimes I wish I was born in an entrepreneurial friendly background but I guess I have the benefit of having seen both sides of the table. Plus, I have some interesting debates with them once in a while :)
My dad started a sewing machine repair store when I was a kid. I don't know too much. I think he worked for someone else for a time and/or worked from home and decided to open a shop. Once he opened a shop, then my mom, who sews, got involved as well and it became a place where they also sold patterns and material and sewing supplies. I don't think they ever did very well and I think they really couldn't get on the same page. There also weren't the resources there are today for assisting small businesses. The store eventually folded. My mom brought home leftover material, thread, patterns, etc and stocked her sewing room with them and spent years using up some of that stuff.
My mom also took in sewing at home for years and years and later became self-employed as a cleaning lady. Her skills were in high enough demand that when my dad went through chemo about 16 years ago and she had to mostly be home to care for him, she could make one phone call and have work on her terms for the hour or two she had available on some afternoon when he was doing well enough to be left alone briefly. This helped them enormously. I think my mom fundamentally has better business sense than my dad. She also sometimes sews stuff (or did a few years back) for my cousin's gift shop, to help support their success.
My mother and father were successful musicians in their early life. Since then, my mother inherited a jewelry store from her father (who built it from scratch in 1945). My father owns a restaurant and motorcycle store. His father owned a very large elevator company, who sold it and retired. My mother's father's father was a self taught dentist. (I still have his study books from his early years). My father's father's father was a musician who was tough as nails on his kids. They played the Grand Ol' Opry back in the day.
I have to say, my entire family tree is filled with entrepreneurs. That is all I know.
My dad was definitely entrepreneurial, but he wasn't a technology guy at all. The businesses he ran when I was a kid included: running a pulpwood truck, cutting down trees and hauling logs to the mills; building docks and bulkheads for people with houses on the water; building a selling crab traps; running a dump truck, hauling fill dirt and doing ground grading / leveling / etc; running a small-time shrimping operation, and uh, probably a couple more I'm forgetting. He never made it "big time" doing any of the above, although he would sometimes go years at a time making it OK doing one of those things, but he always wound up going back to a "day job." Then, after hurting his back on the job and being forced to more or less retire, he started a business doing cement pouring / finishing, and that's the one where he kinda "made it." He is very well established now doing that and makes pretty good living at it.
So yeah, watching my dad as a kid definitely taught me something about persistence and the value of hard-work; and certainly contributed to my desire to do my own thing.
My father had an aircraft building/rebuilding business for most of my childhood. One of the earliest photos of me was me sitting on the nose cone of a BD-5 with a screwdriver in my hand. One of my brothers started his own business when he was 16 (I was 5 - 6) and was very successful for his age. My mother ran an upholstery business for many years and most of her family were entrepreneurs.
I guess what I learned from that is a business is a series of ups and downs but at the end of the day it's always more satisfying to do your own thing. I started my first business in college and founded my first 'real' one at 25. While I don't think there's anything wrong with working for other people, I can say I'm hardwired to start new things and I'm sure my childhood had a lot to do with that.
I grew up watching my dad work his ass off day after day in a corporate setting. I always admired how passionate he was about his work. Hes 52 now and the CTO and supply-chain head for one of the large pharma giants.
He is gona quit the next month to launch his own venture because he doesn't feel a sense of satisfaction with what he has done.
I just graduated from college and this just reaffirms my thinking - I want to do more than walk the path other people have laid out for you. Just not satisfying enough!
* I learned that you're up some years and down others. The trick is to just keep pushing forward.
* Some people have it, others don't.
* You won't be able to recognize whether you have it or not, until you're actually doing it.
* Marry the right person (and make sure they have health insurance that covers you and your family).
* Keep your personal expenses low and maintain the ability to live off of your partners salary while you're bootstrapping, if that's the path you take.
Bonuses:
* You get to have great discussions around the business every time you're together.
* You're able to lean on your dad (or mom) and ask for advice about what they would do in particular situations. Basically a built in mentor.
* You have a #1 fan that in some ways are living their own dreams through you. And they actually "get" what you're doing.
You have to be careful though that you don't fall into some of the same traps that they may have. As a great example: the typical small business mindset is to never, ever give up equity. For what we do here, it's silly to think that way. Equity is another tool in your toolbox, and should be used when appropriate.