Why not to do a startup

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_1.html

by elq • 19 years ago

51 8 19 years ago

blog.pmarca.com

elq2• 19 years ago

to this list I can add a few more reasons: A fairly strong potential for financial ruin; an amazing amount of personal drama; and deep strain on friendships among the founders.

After my last (also my first) company failed - my credit was heavily damaged (and after nearly 4 years it has yet to fully recover), repaying debt can take quite a long time (I spent the last 3.5 years working at a well paying corp job and I was only able to fully settle the debt early last year), and due to bad advice from a (very) expensive accountant the IRS was a thorn in my side for 2.5 years.

But, I'm about to do it again as the experience is amazing and a _fantastic_ education.

gyro_robo• 19 years ago

Sounds like incorporating early would've helped a lot. Don't accept personal debt.

elq2• 19 years ago

started off as an LLC, switched to a C corp 4 months later.

we found it impossible (within the time frame we needed) to sign big ticket contracts, for things like 10k sq/ft in office space (yes, stupid in hindsight), or a cage in a datacenter; for a company less than a year old without personal guarantees.

ivan• 19 years ago

I love your last sentence :) you can give it up 1000 times and than try it again in the another way. That's my mantra.

brianmckenzie• 19 years ago

It's appropriate that Marc should post this piece today, the first weekday since I quit my job to work on my startup full-time. Just so I truly know what I'm in for.

Can't wait to read the rest of this series. Good times!

dpapathanasiou• 19 years ago

I'm glad he said something about sales; too many of the silicon valley blogs gloss over it or ignore it completely.

It's certainly the toughest thing to do (especially if, like me, you come from a technical background), but it can be tremendously important to your company, if there's no exit on the immediate horizon.

palish• 19 years ago

I wonder how many potentials will be discouraged from doing a startup by this advice. Those potentials are probably not founder material anyway.

Why not to do a startup

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