6 ms·

If you're in it for the big windfall, consider bootstrapping your own company. It's hard, it's depressing, it's exciting, it's terrifying, and it's rewarding.

If you're in it for the big windfall, consider bootstrapping your own company. It's hard, it's depressing, it's exciting, it's terrifying, and it's rewarding. Learn to set goals and execute, sell a product, deal with happy and angry customers, build partnerships, market, price, negotiate, and more. You'll get much more out of it than working for someone else. When you work for someone else, someone else's dreams are the priority.

brianwawok 10y ago
This. Don't expect your startup to make you rich.
- hackits 10y ago
  Being the devil advocate, sometimes startups are the only place you can land that they're experimenting with a technology that interest you and you can use them to pay for your education. Adamant the pay is less than your peers, but you're trading it for career advancement. After you get the required skills and knowledge jump ship and re-market yourself and get pay rise.
  - ithinkinstereo 10y ago
    You make a valid point. Don't undervalue learning on someone else's dime. Start your career in bigco, then when your growth stalls, jumpstart it at a startup. Depending on the startup, you'll learn 10x what you would at a bigco. In this sense, the lower pay is fair. You gain in other ways.
    - hackits 10y ago
      I kind of did it in reverse order. Started with a start-up learnt a lot of customer support, full product stack development, web-tier systems, linux/windows, encryption, and POS systems. This went on for two to three years about 50% bellow my peers wages. Moved into web development after a fall-out with the boss about relocation. After the fallout did a couple of interview with my peers and tippled my wages over-night in the new job. Just saying if you're going into the startup field do a lot of hard thinking about it before you go in. Make a battle plan, and dear god have a clear idea what you're aiming for and level of professionalism you want to reach. Would I do it again?! Maybe, just a word of advice don't court the bosses wife.
ithinkinstereo 10y ago
Now that we're past peak VC-backed startups I've noticed a trend on HN pushing the benefits of the bootstrap path. There are many positives, true. But the negatives should not be understated. If you don't fail outright, the most common outcome from bootstrapping is often worse than raising VC or working for a VC-backed startup. That is, you'll work years and years and years with lower pay, work more hours, and endure a hell of a lot more stress only to fizzle out at the end (also without a big payout). Try to go back to corporate after wasting the best years of your life bootstrapping your small-name, small-reputation startup for 5-10 years. And if you do go back to corporate, watch them lowball you on salary and position. If you do succeed, yes the payout is greater. But chances of a big exit are rare in the VC-backed world as is, and imo, even rarer in the bootstrapped world. This is the negative side of bootstrapping that is rarely mentioned. YMMV of course.
- dman 10y ago
  On the other hand if you land into the uncanny valley of revenue in the low millions, being bootstrapped is the far better choice. Ie there are a wide variety of outcomes which would be considered a success on the bootstrapped route, but will be considered a failure if you accept VC money.
  - ithinkinstereo 10y ago
    This is true. But the chances of landing in that valley and being able to consistently produce those low millions of revenue year-in, year-out are about as rare as an exit in the VC world. This is the part of the story that doesn't get presented in people's romanticized view of the bootstrap path.
    - katzgrau 10y ago
      This is absolutely not true. There are plenty of entrepreneurs we'll never hear about who built their company to 1-2 million/yr (I know a handful). Some of them are app/sass developers, some of them are basic Wordpress consultants, and plenty of them have nothing to do with tech. The current VC/incubator oriented startup culture has largely convinced the software community that building a business is impossible without their help. I'd bet every reader on HN could hit 1-2 million/yr bootstrapping their own company. I'm not saying it's easy — it took me almost 5 years to the point where I could hire my first employee (I moonlighted for the first 4 years). It takes someone open to learning new things, a little bit of software-dev talent (you don't need to be a superstar), and dogged-effing-persistence. Given enough time, if you persist, you will get there. PS: Remember that most bootstrappers have no real incentive in encouraging you to go that route, unless they're selling you a book. In my experience, bootstrappers care a lot for each other and stick together. Investors on the other hand ... they clearly have incentive.
rglover 10y ago
> It's hard, it's depressing, it's exciting, it's terrifying, and it's rewarding. Perfect, and yes.
maxxxxx 10y ago
Smaller bootstrapped companies would make tech much healthier. The focus on the big guys and VC creates a monoculture and destroys real innovation.

brianwawok 10y ago

This. Don't expect your startup to make you rich.

hackits 10y ago
Being the devil advocate, sometimes startups are the only place you can land that they're experimenting with a technology that interest you and you can use them to pay for your education. Adamant the pay is less than your peers, but you're trading it for career advancement. After you get the required skills and knowledge jump ship and re-market yourself and get pay rise.
- ithinkinstereo 10y ago
  You make a valid point. Don't undervalue learning on someone else's dime. Start your career in bigco, then when your growth stalls, jumpstart it at a startup. Depending on the startup, you'll learn 10x what you would at a bigco. In this sense, the lower pay is fair. You gain in other ways.
  - hackits 10y ago
    I kind of did it in reverse order. Started with a start-up learnt a lot of customer support, full product stack development, web-tier systems, linux/windows, encryption, and POS systems. This went on for two to three years about 50% bellow my peers wages. Moved into web development after a fall-out with the boss about relocation. After the fallout did a couple of interview with my peers and tippled my wages over-night in the new job. Just saying if you're going into the startup field do a lot of hard thinking about it before you go in. Make a battle plan, and dear god have a clear idea what you're aiming for and level of professionalism you want to reach. Would I do it again?! Maybe, just a word of advice don't court the bosses wife.

ithinkinstereo 10y ago

Now that we're past peak VC-backed startups I've noticed a trend on HN pushing the benefits of the bootstrap path. There are many positives, true. But the negatives should not be understated. If you don't fail outright, the most common outcome from bootstrapping is often worse than raising VC or working for a VC-backed startup. That is, you'll work years and years and years with lower pay, work more hours, and endure a hell of a lot more stress only to fizzle out at the end (also without a big payout). Try to go back to corporate after wasting the best years of your life bootstrapping your small-name, small-reputation startup for 5-10 years. And if you do go back to corporate, watch them lowball you on salary and position. If you do succeed, yes the payout is greater. But chances of a big exit are rare in the VC-backed world as is, and imo, even rarer in the bootstrapped world. This is the negative side of bootstrapping that is rarely mentioned. YMMV of course.

dman 10y ago
On the other hand if you land into the uncanny valley of revenue in the low millions, being bootstrapped is the far better choice. Ie there are a wide variety of outcomes which would be considered a success on the bootstrapped route, but will be considered a failure if you accept VC money.
- ithinkinstereo 10y ago
  This is true. But the chances of landing in that valley and being able to consistently produce those low millions of revenue year-in, year-out are about as rare as an exit in the VC world. This is the part of the story that doesn't get presented in people's romanticized view of the bootstrap path.
  - katzgrau 10y ago
    This is absolutely not true. There are plenty of entrepreneurs we'll never hear about who built their company to 1-2 million/yr (I know a handful). Some of them are app/sass developers, some of them are basic Wordpress consultants, and plenty of them have nothing to do with tech. The current VC/incubator oriented startup culture has largely convinced the software community that building a business is impossible without their help. I'd bet every reader on HN could hit 1-2 million/yr bootstrapping their own company. I'm not saying it's easy — it took me almost 5 years to the point where I could hire my first employee (I moonlighted for the first 4 years). It takes someone open to learning new things, a little bit of software-dev talent (you don't need to be a superstar), and dogged-effing-persistence. Given enough time, if you persist, you will get there. PS: Remember that most bootstrappers have no real incentive in encouraging you to go that route, unless they're selling you a book. In my experience, bootstrappers care a lot for each other and stick together. Investors on the other hand ... they clearly have incentive.

rglover 10y ago

> It's hard, it's depressing, it's exciting, it's terrifying, and it's rewarding. Perfect, and yes.

maxxxxx 10y ago

Smaller bootstrapped companies would make tech much healthier. The focus on the big guys and VC creates a monoculture and destroys real innovation.