As I often say, a mixed metaphor is worth two in the bush.
Seriously, though, as I keep watching the startup community, what I want to tell every wannabe technical founder is to find a business partner. There are a zillion businesspeople out there with real, valuable problems who lack the technical skill to implement their solution. Those have a far better chance of success than cobbling together something from the set of problems visible to a 22 year old CS student.
Hmm, this touched a bizarre chord for me, particularly "noodling too far down a technological rabbit hole".
Due to obsessing over the fact that the code you write today may get discarded tomorrow (even worse, it may need to be maintained!), I spend my time working on my rapid application development framework, in order to mitigate the cost of making the wrong thing. This obviously creates a distinct lack of making the right thing.
That was hilarious but rather profound at the same time. Interestingly, I was going to write on a similar topic in the next few weeks or so, but from a different angle. I may still do it.
Seriously, though, as I keep watching the startup community, what I want to tell every wannabe technical founder is to find a business partner. There are a zillion businesspeople out there with real, valuable problems who lack the technical skill to implement their solution. Those have a far better chance of success than cobbling together something from the set of problems visible to a 22 year old CS student.