4 ms·

I'm a college student who wants to start a business, these are the questions that I'd like answered: - do it full-time or on the side? - what kind of advice s

by ptn 17y ago

I'm a college student who wants to start a business, these are the questions that I'd like answered: - do it full-time or on the side? - what kind of advice should I not listen to? - My skills are programming and designing, what kind of stuff should I learn? - do I really need to move to a technology-rich country? (For the effects of your talk, maybe you should change country for city.) - how do you get customers and do sales if you are an introvert geek? - what to look for in a cofounder?

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
shaddi 17y ago
Ditto. I would emphasize the second to last one -- sales and marketing are parts of the business stack that I have little experience in, so they are the most daunting to me. I'd imagine that's the case for a lot of other technical people as well.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  Excellent sales and marketing applied to a medium product -> microsoft Lousy sales and marketing applied to great stuff -> DEC, SGI and plenty of others, now defunct. The technology is but a very small part of all of this.
  - shaddi 17y ago
    That I do not doubt! Hence my desire to learn.
    - jacquesm 17y ago
      I think one of the quickest ways to learn this is to jump in on the 'hard' end of sales, cold calls and approaching strangers. Have a look at this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 There's a lifetime of experience in there, not quite 'cold calling' but he's got amazing talent.
      - wdewind 17y ago
        I heard one really great line in there "You only want one? Ok you've got no friends. Just like me." after the the whole "buy a bunch for your friends," that line had a nice balance of making people feel like they suddenly needed to show off how many friends they had and yet not making the guy feel so terrible. Other than that I really don't see what makes this guy so special, I just kept waiting to be like "oh wow!"
        jacquesm 17y ago
        What makes it special to me is this: - the crowd that he draws in on a potato peeler - his continuous performance, not a gap in it, he never loses the attention of the crowd - his salesmanship, indeed, selling a bunch where he should only be selling one, and a few more little instances like that - the fact that the guy made an absolute fortune selling a $5 product to passers by - the fact that in spite of being a street salesman his presentation is impeccable - the fact that you can look at it and it looks so ordinary :) Now try it for yourself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades
jacquesm 17y ago
> do it full-time or on the side? What's worth doing is worth doing well, consider your college education over and done with when you start down this path. A startup is time consuming, the first year is the hardest, it takes usually about three years to become established, though of course that changes from case to case. > what kind of advice should I not listen to? You should weigh every advice you get (including this!), as to applicability, sanity and whether it chimes in with your gut feelings or not. > My skills are programming and designing, what kind of stuff should I learn? If your skills are programming and designing you want to become very good at dealing with people. That's probably more important than either of the other two. > do I really need to move to a technology-rich country? No, you don't need to move to a technology rich country, but it helps if you intend to fish in a larger pool of talent, and it may make it easier to divest. Plenty of people have done this from 'non technology rich' countries, there are challenges and advantages there. > how do you get customers and do sales if you are an introvert geek? Better change that or you will not be doing well. That's the number one challenge you face I think. > what to look for in a cofounder? Trustworthiness, dependability and adaptability.
- derefr 17y ago
  > Better change that You can't change introversion, because it's not an externally-visible face you "put on," but rather part of your utility function: extroverts (re)gain energy from social interactions, and spend energy working in solitude, and vice-versa for introverts. You can't change what tires you out, although you can fake not being tired.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    Being an introvert can have many reasons, some of them are 'born in', and are hard to overcome others are caused by a lack of confidence or bad experiences in the past. You can overcome some of it, but not all of it, your mileage will definitely vary on that one, but almost everybody can shift their attitude, even if only a bit, and usually more than that. Read 'darkxahnthos' blog on this: http://socialskydivingwithjustin.posterous.com/ http://socialskydivingwithjustin.posterous.com/ Giving up before you've started is a great way not to succeed at anything.

by ptn 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

shaddi 17y ago

Ditto. I would emphasize the second to last one -- sales and marketing are parts of the business stack that I have little experience in, so they are the most daunting to me. I'd imagine that's the case for a lot of other technical people as well.

jacquesm 17y ago
Excellent sales and marketing applied to a medium product -> microsoft Lousy sales and marketing applied to great stuff -> DEC, SGI and plenty of others, now defunct. The technology is but a very small part of all of this.
- shaddi 17y ago
  That I do not doubt! Hence my desire to learn.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    I think one of the quickest ways to learn this is to jump in on the 'hard' end of sales, cold calls and approaching strangers. Have a look at this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 There's a lifetime of experience in there, not quite 'cold calling' but he's got amazing talent.
    - wdewind 17y ago
      I heard one really great line in there "You only want one? Ok you've got no friends. Just like me." after the the whole "buy a bunch for your friends," that line had a nice balance of making people feel like they suddenly needed to show off how many friends they had and yet not making the guy feel so terrible. Other than that I really don't see what makes this guy so special, I just kept waiting to be like "oh wow!"
      - jacquesm 17y ago
        What makes it special to me is this: - the crowd that he draws in on a potato peeler - his continuous performance, not a gap in it, he never loses the attention of the crowd - his salesmanship, indeed, selling a bunch where he should only be selling one, and a few more little instances like that - the fact that the guy made an absolute fortune selling a $5 product to passers by - the fact that in spite of being a street salesman his presentation is impeccable - the fact that you can look at it and it looks so ordinary :) Now try it for yourself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades

jacquesm 17y ago

> do it full-time or on the side? What's worth doing is worth doing well, consider your college education over and done with when you start down this path. A startup is time consuming, the first year is the hardest, it takes usually about three years to become established, though of course that changes from case to case. > what kind of advice should I not listen to? You should weigh every advice you get (including this!), as to applicability, sanity and whether it chimes in with your gut feelings or not. > My skills are programming and designing, what kind of stuff should I learn? If your skills are programming and designing you want to become very good at dealing with people. That's probably more important than either of the other two. > do I really need to move to a technology-rich country? No, you don't need to move to a technology rich country, but it helps if you intend to fish in a larger pool of talent, and it may make it easier to divest. Plenty of people have done this from 'non technology rich' countries, there are challenges and advantages there. > how do you get customers and do sales if you are an introvert geek? Better change that or you will not be doing well. That's the number one challenge you face I think. > what to look for in a cofounder? Trustworthiness, dependability and adaptability.

derefr 17y ago
> Better change that You can't change introversion, because it's not an externally-visible face you "put on," but rather part of your utility function: extroverts (re)gain energy from social interactions, and spend energy working in solitude, and vice-versa for introverts. You can't change what tires you out, although you can fake not being tired.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  Being an introvert can have many reasons, some of them are 'born in', and are hard to overcome others are caused by a lack of confidence or bad experiences in the past. You can overcome some of it, but not all of it, your mileage will definitely vary on that one, but almost everybody can shift their attitude, even if only a bit, and usually more than that. Read 'darkxahnthos' blog on this: http://socialskydivingwithjustin.posterous.com/ http://socialskydivingwithjustin.posterous.com/ Giving up before you've started is a great way not to succeed at anything.