Why to Not Not Start a Startup

by adammichaelc • 16 years ago

24 26 16 years ago

zackattack• 16 years ago

"...till the company has about twelve people no one should be telling anyone what to do. That's too inefficient. Each person should just do what they need to without anyone telling them."

Yeah, finding a cofounder who is in "sync" with me would be amazing. If you wanna drop me a line, that'd be great. We need an OKCupid for founders, because I'd put "self-taught hacker", "into customer development" and "reads Hacker News" as mandatories.

carbocation• 16 years ago

That last one can be taught!

younata• 16 years ago

Darn! Missed the second one!

jpdbaugh3• 16 years ago

"If you've had summer jobs in college, you may think you know what jobs are like, but you probably don't. Summer jobs at technology companies are not real jobs. If you get a summer job as a waiter, that's a real job."

I just quit my summer internship at a technology corporation. I was hired to supposedly work on code but was instead black box testing hardware. It was the most mind numbing and terrible job I have ever had. I have had real jobs before in high school from washing dishes to being a bell hop. I used to think the 9-5 was the holy grail but it really was hell for me. I would much rather work part time doing anything else and pursue things on the side that do that. The point is though is that I don't think the way to realize work sucks for some people is through having a job as waiter. At least for me my first real 9-5 experienced scared me half to a nervous breakdown. The place was devoid of excitement.

techiferous• 16 years ago

By the way, company cultures vary widely. Some 9-5 jobs are a lot of fun, others are soul-sucking.

jpdbaugh3• 16 years ago

I agree completely. I think they few and far between though. I am young and experienced though so I could be very wrong. I just don't how great of a fit I am for it. I get bored very easily and I think that it was just the routine that bothered me more than anything. I think I am more of a burst worker. I need short breaks to be productive.

patio11• 16 years ago

The thing that really sucks about having a regular job is the expectation that you're supposed to be there at certain times.

That was, hands down, the worst thing about my day job. Regardless of the amount of work you have to do or your personal feelings, you will be in the office from early to late because employees at companies like ours are in the office from early to late.

I don't know that "You'll be in the office from early to late because you'll love it so much you don't want to leave" is that wonderful of an improvement on this, incidentally.

My favorite part about being self-employed is that I can say something nobody can say at a big company: "The firm will not benefit from my further presence today. Well then, I'm done. See you tomorrow."

cperciva3• 16 years ago

I don't know that "You'll be in the office from early to late because you'll love it so much you don't want to leave" is that wonderful of an improvement on this, incidentally.

Even worse: You'll be in the office from early to late because even though you don't love it, there's a corporate culture of "isn't this place great?" and you're worried that if you don't stay late people will discover your secret dislike for the work environment.

Never been at such a company, don't plan to ever be at such a company... but I've heard quite a few friends describe their silicon valley jobs that way.

jpdbaugh3• 16 years ago

I am borrowing this from many people but its just illogical to believe that every single person in the world is best suited to work 9-5 and that everyone needs those forty hours a week to get the same amount of work down.

nostrademons3• 16 years ago

There's a pretty strong Silicon Valley culture of "work should be fun, therefore you shouldn't mind spending a lot of time at it." And for many people, that's true. If it isn't, then Silicon Valley culture generally holds that you should find another job where it is fun, and you can feel proud and excited about the work you're doing.

This can clash with cultures in many other parts of the world. In many places, a job is something you do for money, you're not expected to like it, you're just expected to put up with it, go home, and use the money you earn to do the stuff you actually enjoy. Job hopping is discouraged, because it shows you're a disloyal employee and not holding up your end of the bargain. Here, the employer-employee relation is less "you do work for us and we give you money" and more "we're all in this together, and if you're not in this together with us, get your damn ass off the boat".

nostrademons3• 16 years ago

"My favorite part about being self-employed is that I can say something nobody can say at a big company: "The firm will not benefit from my further presence today. Well then, I'm done. See you tomorrow."

I say that on average about once or twice a week at Google. (The other days, the firm would benefit from my further presence, and I'm there till late.) Nobody bats an eyelash.

I wonder perhaps if a large part of Google's recruitment and retention advantage is that they get this, and understand that you're responsible for your own productivity and should do whatever it takes (including taking time off) to maintain that. If you want to come in at 1 and work till 10, nobody cares as long as you're getting stuff done in those hours. There've been times where I worked 12 hour days for 2-3 weeks, followed by 6 hour days for the next week after that. The guy who integrated the PacMan doodle was in the office from about 1 PM to 8 AM a couple days before it was scheduled to go live, but then yesterday he came in at about 1 and left after dinner.

iskander• 16 years ago

>come in at 1 and work till 10

I did an internship at Google, so I have only seen one team in action for a small period of time. That said, there were a shocking number of meetings-- daily standups, one-on-one meetings, video conferences with California, weekly team meetings, cross-functionals and a few extra bits of coordination bureaucracy. These were scattered throughout the day in a way that put firm limits on how free of a schedule you can make for yourself.

nzmsv• 16 years ago

From the article:

A lot of people think we get thousands of applications for each funding cycle. In fact we usually only get several hundred.

I wonder how many applications YC is getting these days, and if the number is now in the thousands.

pg2• 16 years ago

It's getting close to a thousand lately.

cperciva3• 16 years ago

Is the growth of the number of accepted companies roughly parallelling the growth of the number of applicants? (I suspect it is, but you've only mentioned numbers very sporadically so I'm not at all certain.)

cperciva3• 16 years ago

Original discussion, in case anyone's interested: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6668

rw140• 16 years ago

Article dates from 2007.

s3graham• 16 years ago

How about "Enjoy programming, not dealing with pesky users/customers"? That's my excuse anyway.

jonpaul2• 16 years ago

There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of people have that mindset. But think of the damage that you could do if you would team up with a cofounder is business oriented??

xiaoma• 16 years ago

My biggest concern at 32 is being too old.

After losing most my money and tech skills working on a small business, it's going to take at least another year or two to get anything near the programming skills a start-up would take. And even at that point, how many founders in their young 20s would want a bald guy in his mid-30s for a co-founder, regardless of his drive?

That said, I have little fear of going it alone without funding. Some entrepreneurs featured on Mixergy did just that.

jonpaul2• 16 years ago

You can do it friend. You don't need a cofounder in their 20's. I'm in my late 20's and this is my third time. I know another guy who just started in his early 30's. The point is that it's never too late. You control your destiny. Each minute is a new opportunity to start over. Plus, you have experience which is hard to find.

Good luck. Take care.

mburney• 16 years ago

how many founders in their young 20s would want a bald guy in his mid-30s for a co-founder

If anything your age would be a benefit to a co-founder in his 20's -- the startup would be a good balance of experience/youth

ahoyhere• 16 years ago

It's not your age, it's your self-pity that's going to get in your way.

Why to Not Not Start a Startup

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