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At first glance, this existing site: https://startupsanonymous.com/ https://startupsanonymous.com/ looks incredibly depressing. Over the years, I have particip

by Mz 10y ago

At first glance, this existing site: https://startupsanonymous.com/ https://startupsanonymous.com/ looks incredibly depressing. Over the years, I have participated in various kinds of support groups for various things. They are often incredibly depressing and are often drama fests where it is difficult to really talk about solutions. Social pecking order and "respecting" the pain of people who can't get their act together becomes far more important than actually being useful to people who desire to move forward. This means anyone with real answers is shouted down by the folks saying it cannot be done. So, I will suggest you put some thought into how you intend to keep the focus on problem solving. It is all too easy for "support" groups to just become places to vent and not places to get real solutions. I am semi interested, but I am not going to give you my city and I am not sure I am a good fit for your group. But I would be happy to exchange a few emails. (And I have posted this HN discussion on my blog.) Best.

blizkreeg 10y ago
That's a really good point, and honestly I'm not sure I know how to avoid those problems. That being said, I'm open to discussing this with others. I don't claim to know how to run a group like this.
- Mz 10y ago
  I will suggest you either consider renaming the project or take pains to indicate that this is "Entrepreneurs Anonymous" in the sense of "We don't want our current employer to know, so this is confidential" and NOT in the sense of Alcoholics Anonymous. If it were me, I would frame it in a way that focuses on "People starting small" or "seedling businesses" or "Biz Lite." I would frame it as being aimed at people choosing to start it on the side and actively looking to avoid VC money. I would frame it as "for folks looking to bootstrap" rather than "for overwhelmed people who desperately need a shoulder to cry on." "Bootstrappers pooling their knowledge and experience to achieve success more rapidly and with less pain." You might also go over to metafilter and check out their FAQ and guidelines for the AskMe section. There are a lot of things about Metafilter that I think suck, but AskMe has developed some best practices for keeping the focus on actually answering the question. It isn't perfect, but if you have no idea what you are doing here, it is a model to work from.

by Mz 10y ago

blizkreeg 10y ago

That's a really good point, and honestly I'm not sure I know how to avoid those problems. That being said, I'm open to discussing this with others. I don't claim to know how to run a group like this.

Mz 10y ago
I will suggest you either consider renaming the project or take pains to indicate that this is "Entrepreneurs Anonymous" in the sense of "We don't want our current employer to know, so this is confidential" and NOT in the sense of Alcoholics Anonymous. If it were me, I would frame it in a way that focuses on "People starting small" or "seedling businesses" or "Biz Lite." I would frame it as being aimed at people choosing to start it on the side and actively looking to avoid VC money. I would frame it as "for folks looking to bootstrap" rather than "for overwhelmed people who desperately need a shoulder to cry on." "Bootstrappers pooling their knowledge and experience to achieve success more rapidly and with less pain." You might also go over to metafilter and check out their FAQ and guidelines for the AskMe section. There are a lot of things about Metafilter that I think suck, but AskMe has developed some best practices for keeping the focus on actually answering the question. It isn't perfect, but if you have no idea what you are doing here, it is a model to work from.