Poll: Non-Founders, Why Are You Not Starting a Start-Up?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3049376

by ghempton • 15 years ago

52 102 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

sp332• 15 years ago

Most startups fail. Why would I throw my money in a hole?

brildum• 15 years ago

This resonates with me. Like you, I'm risk-averse but I still have hopes to create my own company one day. It'll start as a side project and then if I get enough traction, perhaps it'll be enough to convince me to take the leap.

toyg2• 15 years ago

My experience taught me that moonlighting is hard. If you are really convinced it's gonna work, try taking vacation or sabbatical leave for a month or so (if you can) and work full time, ship the damn thing, advertise the hell out of it, and start counting the money / since your life doesn't depend on it, you need some gratification to keep going.

breathesalt• 15 years ago

If you're going to throw time and money into filling your own hole anyways.

sneak• 15 years ago

Let's hear it for risk aversion!

protagonist_h2• 15 years ago

That kind of reasoning kept me away from taking the leap, but now I realize how flawed that kind of logic is. Yes, most startups fail, but it's not a lottery. The success depends on you. It's sort like saying "only 25% of students end up graduating from college, therefore going to college is a bad idea."

dangrover• 15 years ago

I just sold my first one and the 9-5 is kind of a relief. Going to get antsy soon though.

Hisoka• 15 years ago

what was the startup you sold and to whom? just curious

gaustin2• 15 years ago

I have no ideas that I'm comfortable and interested in investing time and energy into. It's that simple.

mscarborough• 15 years ago

Because I'm happy where I am working and that goes beyond 'security and predictability'.

Also remember a lot of folks are more interested in the Hacker side of things, not just startup stuff.

davidtyleryork• 15 years ago

Other: I still have a hell of a lot to learn and would be better off learning from a great team than slogging away at it inefficiently on my own

riffraff• 15 years ago

isn't there a missing case of working for a startup you did not start? Not secure and predictable job but still not the full leap.

Swizec• 15 years ago

It took a lot of pain, but I finally got it through my thick skull that you can't go off gallivanting and starting startups if you're not earning enough to even make a living on your own.

Being a student has its downsides.

stefanve• 15 years ago

I have some great ideas (or so I like to think) but no money/time to purse them.

RexM• 15 years ago

Would you mind sharing some of your ideas to those (like me) that have the time but don't know what to work on? Maybe others can find a passion in what you don't have time to pursue.

jeffool2• 15 years ago

There's a few sites out there where people share their ideas to be judged. There's also the "weekend project" sites if you're looking for someone actively working on their site. There's also exactly what you did here, talking to fellow HNers!

Personally, I find all of it interesting (tech, business, politics), but have no tech expertise, and would like to learn more of the hustle.

nathanb• 15 years ago

I have a nonprofit I'm passionate about, so I work my 9-5 to get money and pour my energy into my passion. Could I get rich if I redirected that passion to something profitable? Possibly. But to what end?

Apreche3• 15 years ago

Almost all of the people I see doing startups are young college, or just out of college, kids with nothing to lose or people who are already extremely rich.

I work to live, I don't live to work. I flat out refuse to work more than 9-5 and even that is too much. These startups expect you to give them your entire lives, 24 hours a day, and weekends, and eat nothing but ramen.

I don't know about you guys, but I have rent to pay. I need to be paid with real cash, guaranteed. I also need to spend as little time at work as possible in order to earn that cash. I have more important things to do, like sleeping, eating, and spending time with friends and family.

I can almost understand the punk kids who do startups, since they have nothing to lose. I absolutely can not understand the VCs or the rich people who do startups. These people have millions of dollars already. As nice and cool as they may be when you meet them, they are fundamentally in a business of greed. They can already retire to a private tropical island forever, but instead they are going to spend their money making some trivial social web app to squeeze out a few advertising dollars.

That's perhaps the real reason I don't do a startup. Nobody wants to give me money because they know that as soon as the check clears I'll be out the door never to be seen again.

gavanwoolery2• 15 years ago

If you want to understand millionaires who continue to do startups, here are a few possible reasons:

1) They enjoy work, even if they are working on something that is seemingly trivial. 2) One million dollars is not enough. Nor is 10. In fact, most people that earn a few million rarely retire after that. It is more a game of power, fame, and (possibly) goodwill than wealth. Bill Gates could have retired much earlier, but instead he amassed a huge amount of wealth and started one of the world's biggest charities (the Gates Foundation). Warren Buffet spends very little on himself - he owns one house that he bought for a small sum of money, and he gave 99 percent of his money to the Gates Foundation.

That said, there is a fine line between the "punk kids" (who are usually the designers and developers) and the founders in larger companies. Founders in their second, third, and etc...companies typically have very comfortable lifestyles.

protagonist_h2• 15 years ago

> most people that earn a few million rarely retire after that

If you give a few million to random person, 99% chance he/she will retire. However, people who EARN few million rarely retire. I imagine that's precisely the difference between those who make it and those who don't.

freshfey• 15 years ago

Well, some people start a startup for the sake of creating or for the sake of changing something.

Also the thought that your job and paycheck is guaranteed is an illusion. We have seen it time and time again: loyal, hard-working employees get kicked out of a job they worked 20 years just because the company is "re-structuring". Unless you're very specialized and non-replaceable, you're at risk, too. The risk is WAY lower than starting and succeeding with a startup, but still.

bmcmanus• 15 years ago

Frankly, this is just sad.

Your answer is based entirely on the premise that working for a startup boils down to killing yourself for the chance to get rich, which couldn't be further from the truth.

The "rich people" who do startups do it because they love building things that solve big problems, the work hours and payouts are, if they're lucky, just a byproduct.

Sure, I'm 24 and I have basically nothing to lose, but really I have no choice - I have to build things. I can't deal with just performing maintenance.

And even if you are ok with just performing maintenance, working in a small team is simply more fun than working at a larger one.

Seriously, reflect more on this. Writing off startups because they're "in a business of greed" is a straw man at best.

potatolicious• 15 years ago

Well that was a very arrogantly-worded post. Maybe you didn't mean it to be, but that's certainly how it comes off.

I'm working at a small company doing some incredibly cool "building" stuff, and not in maintenance at all - and I get a steady paycheck and good benefits. There doesn't need to be this dichotomy. There are tons of us out there who work 9-5, enjoy life, don't kill ourselves, yet get to build incredibly cool things with small teams of cool people.

Really, the only downside of my job compared to a startup is that I don't have the potential payout of $[millions], and somehow I'm okay with that. The quality of my life is incredibly high, I set my own hours, and yet because we're not busting our ass just to survive I get to stop and smell the roses. It's pretty cool.

Apreche3• 15 years ago

If I were on the tropical island, obviously I would still make things. But I would only make things I cared about, at my own pace, and for free. If I already have enough money for food, health, and shelter for the rest of my life, I don't need any more.

Also, anythign I did build would be something that would make the world a better place. Some startups do try to change the world for the better. Most are just doing some advertising, social nonsense, crappy games, or something else completely trivial and useless as a money-grab.

endlessvoid94• 15 years ago

Performing maintenance is the best description I've heard for a ton of the software jobs out there.

baddox• 15 years ago

> The "rich people" who do startups do it because they love building things that solve big problems

Also, their wealth was probably caused by their attitude toward work and entrepreneurship, not the other way around.

jvoorhis• 15 years ago

Allow me to share a dirty secret. If your startup makes a product that customers actually use, there will be maintenance.

knieveltech2• 15 years ago

"Your answer is based entirely on the premise that working for a startup boils down to killing yourself for the chance to get rich, which couldn't be further from the truth."

What, you didn't read any of the ten thousand or so posts on here about burnout, 70 hour work weeks, or PG's opus on how doing a startup packs an entire career worth of work into three or four years?

Incidentally, your prima dona attitude towards maintenance makes you a serious liability on anything larger than a look-what-I-wrote-over-the-weekend web app. Children want to play in the sandbox all day. Mature programmers embrace the entire software lifecycle. I bet you don't write documentation or tests either.

"Writing off startups because they're "in a business of greed" is a straw man at best."

Strawman? I'm not sure that means what you think it means. I dealt with a lot of entrepreneurs during my consulting days. I mean a lot. Seriously. Like an entire fuckton of them. Some where looking to build something truly awesome. Others where just enamored of the idea of being an entrepreneur, with no real conceptualization of what that meant, and no business-worthy idea to build upon. The only common denominator among them was this: they where all looking to drag off a huge pile of cash once the project launched.

Do I think there's anything wrong with dragging off a huge pile of cash? Of course not, I definitely enjoyed dragging off small piles of their cash and would have enjoyed it even more if the piles had been larger. Is that a greed-based incentive? Clearly. Ergo the "business of greed".

tsycho2• 15 years ago

Have you ever considered that people might want to do a startup because they want to build something of their own? Not for the unlikely potential money (or not necessarily for it), but because they want to see their product/invention used by others around the world? Because they find the thought of being a cog in the wheel of a large company mind-numbingly boring, even if it pays very well?

It's not for everyone, and I am not saying you should think like the above, but please try to appreciate that some people actually do think like that.

tomcreighton• 15 years ago

As a counterpoint, I'm 32. I have a wife and own a house, and get to spend precious little time with either. I gave up my secure agency job to join a startup and I'm working on side startups of my own. Not because I'm greedy, but because I love building things. I can't imagine doing anything else.

DanielRibeiro• 15 years ago

This makes it seem that starting a startup is a way to make money. As Myth: Entrepreneurship Will Make You Rich[1] says:

So why become an entrepreneur instead of developing technology in an R&D lab? Three reasons: change the world, make customers’ lives better and create an organization of lasting value. If you only want to do one of these things, there are better options. But only startups combine all three.

Making money is a fuel to a goal, not a goal in itself. As Tim O'Reilly[2] put it very well:

You should regard money as fuel for what you really want to do, not as a goal in and of itself. Money is like gas in the car -- you need to pay attention or you'll end up on the side of the road -- but a well-lived life is not a tour of gas stations!

[1] http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/10/myth-entreprene...

[2] http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-...

Apreche3• 15 years ago

You are crazy rich. You have millions to burn on some VC. You have an idea for software that is actually legitimately useful and world changing. Screw a startup. Just start an open source project. Changes the world, makes people's lives better, creates an organization of lasting value, isn't a startup.

Why do all these commenters seem to think you need a for profit company in order to make things? The Internet is nothing but billions of things that have been made for free in people's spare time. I want nothing more than infinite spare time to make whatever I please as I please as I relax in a tropical paradise with the people I care about. Startups are the opposite of that.

gatlin• 15 years ago

> As nice and cool as they may be when you meet them, they are fundamentally in a business of greed.

+1. I like HN but I don't understand why the size of the business / method of funding matters so much, as opposed to what is being done, unless I put on my cynic hat. Once affixed, I realize it's because getting millions in VC (rather than grinding for it) and then selling out to an established player, or selling before the IPO, is incredibly sexy.

A really safe business strategy is to become a middle man who allows other organizations to operate smoothly. You then sidestep having to take a stance on any major issue and make money off other people using the service to do something truly remarkable.

By no means am I familiar with all of YC's businesses but the ones on the front page are basically infrastructure applications. While neat, it seems like the sexiest businesses are ones where you don't actually make something, but you make a tool for someone else to make something. FogCreek sells, among others, a bug tracker, a closed version of an open dvcs, and a Windows RDP clone. Dropbox syncs files and revisions across computers. Others let you create database wrappers ("forms"), create blogs, or find incredibly expensive travel accommodations. I am a user or I want to be a user of most of them, actually, but I'd be lying if I said they are revolutionary or useful on their own.

They're safe business strategies with incredibly intelligent, motivated people at the helm. Now, won't those intelligent, motivated people stop working on cat-pictures projects? I'd do something but I'm too stupid so I'm relying on smart people to change the world.

EDIT:

I know FogCreek isn't a YC venture. I made a really poor segue into talking about businesses with the startup mentality I read about, not specifically YC ones. Oy, what a day.

rdl• 15 years ago

I'm in my 30s, not super-rich (rich by 99% of the world's standards, but it's not like I can buy a house in Palo Alto or anything, yet), and working on a startup (as a co-founder with 2 guys who have been my friends/professional colleagues for >15y).

My main cost is opportunity; I could easily make 200-400k/yr consulting or working somewhere else. I have enough savings and lifestyle hacks to live pretty comfortably while working on the startup, and we've raised enough money to pay ourselves minimal salaries too once we decide to do so.

If someone gave me $5mm cash, I'd be working on exactly the same thing -- the only difference is I'd go on $30-40k of vacations per year vs. maybe $5k, and I'd possibly invest in some other startups.

I don't think I'd be willing to work on a random social media ad network or facebook game for $250k/yr now or after getting $5mm, but if you're working on problems you genuinely care about, and a startup is the best way to solve those problems, I don't see why money would be much of a factor (as long as you could subsist).

I spent 5-10h/wk doing work-related things I wouldn't do otherwise (meeting with VCs or vendors, mainly); the rest of my time is spent working with people I like on problems I want to solve.

bartonfink• 15 years ago

I just had a baby in May, and we planning on emigrating from the U.S. in the near-to-mid term. Thus, my priorities don't include starting and running my own business when I have many other things to take care of before heading down under. It's something I may try to tackle down the road, but for the next 3-4 years I want to spend my energy on other things.

gavanwoolery2• 15 years ago

I think there are many ways to classify a startup. I just enjoy working on projects in my spare time. My financial stability does not depend on the success of my side projects, although it would be nice if I could make a living doing what I enjoy.

You might ask why I would not go out and seek funding. Simply put, I do not think many people would fund me, and those who would probably would want to slightly redirect the path of my work. The only things I enjoy working on are those that are risky, unproven, and complex - all things that investors hate.

cobrabyte• 15 years ago

Running my own web design & search engine marketing company that keeps me from working on startup ideas. Every time I get ready to put the day job on-hold, someone comes along with a "we'll pay anything" project that we end up taking.

I guess I'll have to get stronger so I can just say "no thanks" and move on to what I really want to do.

tsycho2• 15 years ago

My visa (H1) makes it difficult (impossible?) for me to build a startup in the US, and at the moment I don't want to leave the US.

Retreads• 15 years ago

I am brushing up on my atrophied/outdated code-fu. Years in business will do that to you, but start-up here I come.

pewpewlasergun• 15 years ago

I'm not as skilled as I need to be to pursue the ideas that excite me, and I am not excited about the ideas that I am skilled enough to pursue.

aidenn0• 15 years ago

I have a family and kids and that takes up so much time and energy that that extra bit of time and energy that a startup takes over a challenging day job just isn't there.

geuis• 15 years ago

I need a cofounder or two.

toyg2• 15 years ago

I actually tried last year, opened a company and moonlighted for a few weeks. In the end I simply couldn't muster enough energy and money (I'm married and have a 2-year old daughter, with a baby boy coming up in a few weeks), so effort waned and I never launched. Then I found a more interesting and demanding job, and simply closed everything down. I still have a few domains left (xpenses.mobi and .net among others, if anyone is interested).

TL,DR: startup + other job + family = didn't work for me.

Vivtek• 15 years ago

I have no freaking time until I get at least one kid shipped off to college. Although then I suppose the "financial reasons" answer will come into play.

anand• 15 years ago

Doing a startup is really hard. Emotionally grueling and demanding. You have to fight for every 100 users you get. At a bigger company you get 100k's or millions of users "automatically". Right now, I'm more interested in building world changing products that are used by millions, and I feel like my chances for success are higher at a big company since lots of really cool startups die because they couldn't get enough awareness/marketing to get adoption.

"At a startup all your challenges are external. At a big company, all your challenges are internal".

Fwiw, I started a startup that was acquired so I'm also incented to stick around so that probably biases my thinking a bit too.

TomOfTTB• 15 years ago

Because I want to make a difference in the world and I found building a startup doesn't allow you to do that in most cases.

I mean, I’ll always be grateful for my startup experience but I’m man enough to admit it was pointless. We built a product, spent our whole time trying to convince people our product was worthwhile, eventually convinced someone who bought the product and then watched the product be squandered.

So the founders got a decent amount of money. The first employees (aka Me) got a smaller but still decent amount of money. And we all went on our merry way.

But I didn’t accomplish a damn thing during that time. My work was flushed down the toilet and half my time was spent trying to get media coverage. I accomplish more in one day of my current job than I did in the whole year I was in the valley because in my current job people use the fruits of my labor instantly.

Again, I’m not complaining. I like what I do now and I couldn’t do it if not for the money I received then. I’ll always be grateful. But as someone who wants to make a difference in the world I don’t see a startup as the way to do that anymore.

scythe• 15 years ago

I'm in grad school going for a PhD in physics.

I was a programmer. I hated it. I make less than half what I used to. It's awesome.

That said, if I can't pull this off for some reason, I'll probably move out to the Valley and roll the dice.

shrub• 15 years ago

That's interesting. I started in physics and moved to computer science. I would much rather be programming.

That's my answer to the poll as well. All the extra stuff that seems to go into a start-up (knowing about finances and advertising and networking...?) - I'd rather be programming.

Jun8• 15 years ago

"In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice."

Not easy indeed! I don't like my job, yet cannot cut loose from the daily cocoon that I'm used to.

michaelchisari• 15 years ago

Because I work on open source instead. It lets me write cool code, without the associated market pressures of a startup.

Benjo• 15 years ago

This may be a subcategory of "financial reasons," but health care is probably a big factor for a lot of people in the US.

jaxn• 15 years ago

I am full-firce right now. But I had a lull year before starting this one where I felt unmotivated. I had a failed startup and one that was "successful" but didn't make me any money. I had enough mostly-passive income from two retail stores that I am a partner in, so I wasn't particularly financially motivated.

Then inspiration struck.

tejaswiy2• 15 years ago

I'm on an H1B. Trying to figure out how to, without compromising my chances of getting a greencard.

tejaswiy2• 15 years ago

I'm on an H1B. Trying to figure out how to, without compromising my chances of getting a greencard. Technically, I can't even build + charge for an iOS application right now.

JonnieCache• 15 years ago

I get a real paycheck each month, I use whatever languages/tools I want, and I still don't have to wear shoes to the office! Suckers! ;)

flexd• 15 years ago

I'm still in uni and I have no idea for a business/product.

kenjackson• 15 years ago

I've done the startup thing a few times, and I realized that I don't like the business aspect of it all that much. I like development/architecture/brainstorming/etc... I don't like asking for money, laying people off, being constantly stressed out about this or that issue that I have little to no control over. I really don't have fond memories of cash flow crunches and bridge loans.

If I did end up being a founder again, I'd definitely be a technical one (the distinction didn't exist so much in the past). If it has to do with something that isn't code/design/architecture/etc... it's the other founders issue. I could go for that.

But setting the right expectations as an employee isn't a bad thing either. My funnest experience in the work world was actually working for a big company on a product I enjoyed. I loved the work and really focused solely on the product. I really haven't had a chance to do that since.

derwiki• 15 years ago

Other: I'm getting valuable hands-on product experience at my current gig (low risk too, since it's not my company). When that ends, I'll probably get the itch to start something.

kevinherron• 15 years ago

Fear of failure. Bills. Lack of enough real motivation to move beyond sleepless nights thinking about my ideas and onto sleepless nights working on them. Laziness. Resistance to change. Comfort. A million other excuses.

Just like these.

dustineichler• 15 years ago

Other -- and this is important. Lack of connections and willingness to use people is something worth considering. I know a lot of people, but not a fan of nepotism. However, I wouldn't mind someone believing in me, but would never ask. So I've heard, your first startup isn't really about the idea. It's about "you" or your character. That does not preclude me from building something. I just rather assume it's a project until certain milestones have been reached.

jeffool2• 15 years ago

It astounds me the number of people who are here with no idea for a startup. Are you guys hackers, hustlers, "idea people", or am I missing a contingency?

Mind blowing.

SkyMarshal2• 15 years ago

No idea if I'm representative of others, but let me just throw this out there:

I have tons of ideas, but they're all crap. If I'm going to work 'startup hard' at something, it's certainly not going to be another social/gaming/fotm diversion.

Contrary to popular opinion, ideas do matter. If you decide to base a startup on one, you have to decide whether it's worth devoting three or so years of your life to implementing it, with the goal of world-class execution, and all the work and sacrifice that entails. None of my ideas have yet passed muster in that regard.

If you're going to work as hard at an unoriginal, uninspired idea as you would at a truly world-changing idea, then better to hold out for the latter (unless you just want to use the former to get practice). There are some truly world changing things going on in tech, like cryptocurrency and 3D printing, that are (or may soon be) more worth building something around. I'm holding out for that.

eaurouge• 15 years ago

Solving a problem that is currently a pain of yours is usually a good motivator. If you're lucky and there's enough of a market (others feel the same pain too) then it may be worth exploring further.

On building around future tech, you probably want to start building (or at least planning) in anticipation or you may have to play catch up when once the tech becomes available.

egypturnash• 15 years ago

I'm not on YC for the startup talk, though I find it interesting now and then. I come here because it has links to thoughtful tech articles; I started reading YC when people from Digg started to flood into Reddit.

OTOH maybe I am involved in doing a startup - just not the kind of startup YC talks about all the time. I'm an artist who spends most of her time hanging around her studio (or occasionally out in a coffee shop with the laptop) drawing weird sci-fi comics and trying to build a large enough audience to make a sustainable living off of my art. Somewhere way down the line there's the big brass ring of "movie deals" but I ain't holding my breath.

Sukotto2• 15 years ago

I like weird scifi comics. You should put a link in your profile

flyosity• 15 years ago

Other.

I don't know what this would fall under, but I have a full-time job and also sell things that I write/build on the side. It's not a startup. I sell tutorials and apps and make pretty good money (I could quit my job, but my job is a lot of fun) from it. It's odd that this build-products-and-make-money-on-the-side avenue is skipped over in these and other discussions.

slouch• 15 years ago

This. I work on websites everyday in order to make more money on the side; it's just not a startup as defined here.

ares2012• 15 years ago

I'll point out that if everyone took the leap then you would have no one to hire as your business grew. Not everyone can be the founder just like not everyone can be the CEO. As someone who has started companies and worked for others I can tell you that both can be fulfilling.

nateberkopec• 15 years ago

I don't feel that I know enough yet.

I've seen too many friends run around in circles jumping from project to project, failure to failure. 37signals likes to cite a Stanford (?) study that founders who have failed are statistically no more likely to succeed than first time founders. Only successful founders have a statistical leg up when starting a new venture. I don't believe that a large-scale, I'm-gonna-go-out-and-raise project necessarily teaches you anything. It's sort of like the big show - you should have rehearsed beforehand.

That said, that doesn't mean I'm not learning. I think you can learn a ton from hacks/little projects, like Kyle Bragger's tinyproj. Having users for a product does not a startup make, but I think you can learn a lot from that experience. I'm also working my way through a massive stack of management theory/software development/hacking books that I know I'll never read once I actually start a company.

A lot of successful founders I know had significant work histories at startups or otherwise before starting something. I don't have that yet.

monochromatic• 15 years ago

I'm too busy writing the patents that everyone around here loves to hate.

MatthewB2• 15 years ago

I expected the majority of people to say they lack a co-founder, not an idea. Ideas are pretty easy to come by from my experience. Finding someone who compliments your skill set, is ready to go "all in" with you, and you actually click with is a much more difficult task.

For anyone who is looking for an idea, is a hacker, and lives in SF - I have an idea for a startup and am looking for a cofounder. Email me (in my profile) for more information. I am looking for someone who is interested in virtual goods/currency and the free-to-play gaming model.

ironchef• 15 years ago

"Ideas are pretty easy to come by from my experience." I think part of the difference is there is a difference between: A) an idea that makes money B) an idea that i really believe in and / or i think will make a large difference

Some people don't want A...they want B. B is a bit more difficult to find for some.

MatthewB2• 15 years ago

If you look at the most recent YC batch, you will notice that a lot of the startup ideas could have just been features of other products.

The point is a lot of these initial startup ideas aren't going to be game changers but with the right team in place and rapid iteration, they stand a good chance of evolving their companies into game changers.

gaustin2• 15 years ago

I would be ecstatic to have an idea that's both reasonably achievable and that has reasonable chance of making some money.

Yeah. Not shooting for the stars. I'm just looking for a base hit to build some confidence.

prodigal_erik• 15 years ago

Opportunity cost. If I'd read pg twenty years ago I like to think I would have more readily, but I expect my peak earning years are right now (I'm 40 and paid somewhat over market and regularly reminded how glad they are that I've stayed on) and I'm finally starting to save after squandering a much lower salary for far too long. My savings at this point do amount to a few years' runway, but that means I'd be gambling with my nascent retirement fund. Someone would have to convince me they actually know what the market wants (after seeing ludicrous ideas succeed, I clearly don't) for me to go all-in on their big idea, or find an investor confident enough to cover market-ish rate for me as an early employee.

VonLipwig• 15 years ago

My main issue is the lack of a co-founder is delaying me. With a co-founder my business would be up and running by xmas. Without it will probably be March and as such it is just plodding along.

ctdonath• 15 years ago

Note that "enjoy" may be very broadly defined.

cmagahern• 15 years ago

I'd really like to create a start-up, and my partner and I have many ideas, but I feel like most start-ups out there today are playing the role of the third-party instead of creating truly revolutionary things. Companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have the resources and backing to execute any idea that has a chance to change the industry. Compare this to a start-up, where if your imagination extends beyond what the iOS SDK or some web framework provides, then nine times out of ten, you're out of luck. I'm not saying that start-ups are completely incapable of becoming a first-party, but it's been a while since I've personally seen a truly revolutionary idea that can realistically be carried out by such a small group of people with little money.

tlogan• 15 years ago

I just follow Jeff Bezos's "Regret Minimization Framework". Yes, I'm old, I don't have money but I would be very very sad on my deathbed if I didn't try and work all my life in big corporation.

checoivan• 15 years ago

I was starting something, when my dad got sick. Visa/money/cofounder is a problem most of us have,but just one an extre hump to get through. After I had to fly back home and take care of things. It was really hard for several months to focus on work, when the top idea on my head was family, and pulling stunts with hospitals/insurers.

Sukotto2• 15 years ago

"Other" though I think I just completed laying the foundation so that I can start.

So far I've identified a niche with a real pain point... people in my wife's industry have to perform a (unregulated) task each month. This takes them between 4hours and 2 full days to complete. There's existing competition and I think I could do way better.

Today I got signoff from my day job that they will not steal this project from me sometime in the future.

So... foundation laid.

I have a good, basic, understanding of the problem domain and have a domain expert (hi honey!) to guide my efforts.

Now it's a matter of building the first prototype and watch her try to use it.

Will submit a ShowHN once I have a usable tool and validated the business model.

Wish me luck!

BadCookie• 15 years ago

My spouse doesn't want me to. Also, the current economy scares the bejesus out of me. I know what they say about a recession being a good time to start a company (and also that we are not officially in a recession ... yet). But with the US government threatening to shut down every couple of weeks, why would I leave an easy job with an essentially guaranteed six figure salary? Someday I will, I hope, but not today.

anon1987• 15 years ago

In the words of Mark Suster 'Is it time for you to earn or is it time for you to learn?'

At the moment, I'm 24 years old (I hated typing the 24 I was 23 only yesterday). I'm in a fortunate but also unfortunate position. I've got a freehold house (mortgage free) but I've got a ton of expenses from my family oh and an ill parent to look after. I've paid down the mortgage on this house completely and I pay for every single thing in this house and my own living expenses.

I've worked in two very very hot start-ups in v.sexy sectors. You've probably heard of both. Unfortunately, I just left college and the positions aren't exactly lucrative but the opportunities to learn are formidable. So for me 'life's ability' to try isn't available due to financial constraints.

I've two options either a) start my own thing or b) join someone else's start-up at the founder or first 2-3 senior hire positions.

At present I'd prefer to do my own thing and being in a full time job is needed. Real estate is an awful investment esp if it is your ONLY investment like it is for most people. I'd much prefer to be in a position i was in 4 years ago with a solid portfolio of liquid investments.

However, I realise a business is a brilliant investment, probably the best especially if its cash generative.

My long term goal actually is venture capital so either way I need solid operating experience to break in.

So, thats really whats holding me back but fortunately, I've got time on my side :)

empresario• 15 years ago

I am a student and lack the proper motivation in the right direction, but have the enthusiasm and will start one day. :)

IsaacSchlueter• 15 years ago

I get paid to work on my open source project.

queensnake• 15 years ago

One of my ideas isn't big enough, and has taken longer than I expected; other of my ideas may be too big for my brain to accomplish (I don't want to do any web-gimmicks).

v21• 15 years ago

I want to make games. I want to get really good at making games. It's not even specifically games - I find the intersection of technology and human behaviour fascinating, and games are merely the most fertile patch. I love working on problems that involve such an amazingly wide variety of aspects. Maybe that's because I love novelty, and learning.

Some day, I would quite like to strike out on my own and sustain myself off the games I make. Live the "indie dream". But right now I have a job with a large degree of creative freedom, where I get to practice my craft. I don't have to stress about the financial aspects, I don't have the immediate pressure of "ship-or-starve" and I don't have to worry about the things I make when I'm not working making any money. If they do, fantastic! But if they are only interesting, then I have still won.

RockerCoder• 15 years ago

Ive got some ideas, none of them are very fancy, since I have no plan on being funded, all my ideas are little micro-business bootstrap stuff...

and I'm not starting them up because I don't have enough discipline yet to go spend enough time working(Im a remote coder) to have free time later to work on my own stuff... I always end up spending my whole day between work and procrastinating, then I work more to compensate my procrastination, sleep late, wake up late...etc

nosequel• 15 years ago

Other: Money isn't everything, and I'd rather have relationships and free time over the need to build something. If I really need to build something from the ground up I go into my garage. I make good money, work at a startup (but not a founder) and if it hits big, I'll get some of the payout, but I won't be a millionaire. Unlike the founders though I'll have a relaxing life! Money and fame isn't everything.

enan• 15 years ago

immigration

veidr• 15 years ago

After serving as founder, co-founder, or early equity hire for a few startups over the years, I now work a straight job at a stable, decades-old company, doing mainly programming and IT stuff.

There are nice things about it. It's great to be able to completely push work out of my mind. Barring extreme emergency, I refuse to even think about work when off the clock--that's what work hours are for.

In the shower, I think about how the hot water feels on my neck. In my spare time, I make things that I am utterly not good at making, and never will be (e.g., homemade furniture). I don't mentally evaluate every dinner out with my wife against what I could be doing with that time.

That certainly isn't how it was when I was running my own startups.

A relatively generous and reliable salary is also a boon, especially as I plow through my fourth decade of life and start doing things like buying a house and producing offspring.

Having said all that, I'm almost certain to try another startup (or two? three?) in the future.

But it is refreshing to take a decade (or two? three?) and focus on other things.

willpower1014• 15 years ago

I have all my ideas over the years documents. Somewhere just over 30 right now, 3-5 good ones a year, and at least 8 that another company took to market within a year or two of my conceptualization.)

I just lack of a technical co-founder. I'm too busy drafting up executive summaries, figuring out monetization strategies, making contacts, researching multiple methods of capital acquisition, and marking up preliminary prototype web interfaces to sit down and learn ruby :(

I even have a background in Digital Media & IT, server & database setup, and network administration, as well as working knowledge of calculus, physics, simple data structures & programming fundamentals, and basic digital / analog circuits. On top of that I had a minor (almost second major) in business, with a focus on entrepreneurship, finance, and venture capital.

And despite all that I'm still a super social person :) I've come to the conclusion that I just really need to learn ruby myself, because a technical partner in the southeast is difficult to come by.

I actually recently considered publishing all my ideas in an attempt to attract co-founders.

Poll: Non-Founders, Why Are You Not Starting a Start-Up?

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