Thinking about starting a business? Here is why you shouldn’t

http://www.quicksprout.com/2009/07/28/thinking-about-starting-a-business-here-is-why-you-shouldn’t/

by AndrewWarner • 17 years ago

26 22 17 years ago

teuobk• 17 years ago

Is becoming an asshole an inevitability? I mean, sure, a lot of CEOs I've met have come across as assholes, but isn't that part of the reason why many founders hire somebody to be the CEO?

seasoup• 17 years ago

He didn't say becoming an asshole was inevitable, just that it was inevitable that some of the things you would have to do would make you feel like one.

dasil003• 17 years ago

On the other hand, if becoming a serial entrepreneur during your teenage years leads you to use the tagline "I'm kind of a big deal" on your blog then I think there might be something to the asshole theory.

jpwagner2• 17 years ago

This article is terrible.

Summary:

1. You won't be your own boss.

2. You won't like your personal life.

3. You won't succeed.

4. You'll hate the problems.

5. You'll be a jerk.

6. You'll hate your lifestyle.

7. Again, you'll fail.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Save yourself the 5 minutes please.

trapper3• 17 years ago

Please explain how he is wrong?

jpwagner2• 17 years ago

An article does not have to be "wrong" to be terrible.

This attitude is "wrong" for succeeding.

TheSOB88• 17 years ago

Well, unless you're in a one-solution-per-customer type of business like consulting, the first one seems way off track. Who's your boss when you're making a video game? Your millions of potenial users are not going to call you in for a weekly progress meeting every Monday and a conference call every Thursday.

I don't know if managing an 85-person student group orchestra is any indication of running a business, but I personally like solving the problems that come up, especially ones that aren't directly related to the field. So scratch #4 too.

Finally, I know that you have to manage your time well to run a business. You can't be working 24/7, or you'll just burn out. Therefore, you will still have time for a personal life if you're doing it right. (#2)

aberman2• 17 years ago

Here is why he is wrong

1. You won't be your own boss. Yes, your customers will tell you what they want, but ultimately YOU decide the direction of your product/company. In this sense, you most certainly are your own boss.

2. You won't like your personal life. Unless you are passionate about what your business, and you love what you are building. Also, this is empirically and anecdotally wrong.

3. You won't succeed. Every startup fails for one reason: the founders quit before they build something people like. There is no other reason for failure (esp. in the case of software). I will defend this point separately, if need be.

4. You'll hate the problems. By definition, problems are problematic. But the problems you are trying to solve in YOUR business will be a lot more engaging than the trivial problems you are working on in a large company.

5. You'll be a jerk.

I don't even know how to respond to this one. Have you ever worked in a big office? Go to passiveaggressivenotes.com -- I bet that 99% of the content on that site comes from cubicle-style offices.

6. You'll hate your lifestyle.

Empirically wrong. It's a challenging lifestyle, but whether you hate it or not depends more on your personality type than on the lifestyle itself.

7. Again, you'll fail. c.f. 3

edw519• 17 years ago

There's a tradition that anyone seeking to convert to Judaism must be turned away 3 times. They are told only about the possible negatives. Only after they return the 4th time have they shown that they want it badly enough to be taken seriously.

Sometimes I think the same approach should be used for starting a business. OP sure tries awfully hard to emphasize the possible negatives. Hopefully, most hn readers want it badly enough to remain undaunted and keep coming back for more.

yesimahuman• 17 years ago

I've learned to tune out "advice" like this. My experiences in life have differed so much from what people said they were going to be like that it's hard to listen to these things anymore. You have to make your life your own, stop listening to debbie downers like the author of this article.

aberman2• 17 years ago

This isn't advice insomuch as it's a warning. Advice implies that the OP is recommending some course of action.

blacktastic• 17 years ago

>You can’t always choose your own hours or get to work from home. Business is all about making money, so you have to do whatever it takes to succeed. If that means you have to answer calls in the middle of the night, then so be it.

Not necessarily true. I've known an entrepreneur that left consulting to do a software startup for exactly this reason. Being beholden is a consulting nightmare, not a software product company nightmare, in my experience.

billswift• 17 years ago

Almost all of his complaints are like this one, they depend on what you are doing. Only a consulting company could have all of the problems he claims. And having multiple bosses is usually a plus, no single boss that can fire you or lay you off.

jacquesm• 17 years ago

I'm sure that HN can use a bit of balance when it comes to the glories and downsides of being your own boss but this article seems over the top.

Sometimes it's hard and of course there are times when you wonder if you should not have stayed at your 9-5 job. But those are pretty rare, most of the time it's just plain hard work and the satisfaction coming from moving under your own power and to work on the things that you think are important.

I wouldn't have it any other way, bad times included.

Alex3917• 17 years ago

"The odds of any entrepreneur succeeding more than once is very low. A lot lower than succeeding once."

Unless it works like one of those statistics questions where you're more likely to succeed twice than once, but most likely to succeed not at all.

msort• 17 years ago

The success rate of YC startups should suffice to prove the article is not well-grounded.

10ren2• 17 years ago

What is the success rate?

kailoa• 17 years ago

pg mentioned that half of the early YCs died. I think with traditional VCs, I've heard more like 90% failure. Ron Conway (the angel) said that it's thirds for him. (1/3 of investments lose it all, 1/3 return the money, 1/3 have some kind of successful exit)

socratees• 17 years ago

This article is total BS. If you want to start your own business do it by all means. You don't have to be lucky to start your business. If you never failed, you never lived.

Thinking about starting a business? Here is why you shouldn’t

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