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This is a very inspiring story and the quintessential manifestation of JFDI. It takes some serious guts to quit your job and say "i'm going to build a software
by zachruss92 9y ago
This is a very inspiring story and the quintessential manifestation of JFDI. It takes some serious guts to quit your job and say "i'm going to build a software product", with no ideas to start with. I hope Carl can keep growing Soti or even start something else once he gives the reigns to his managers.
- onion2k 9y agoThis is also the quintessential manifestation of survivorship bias - for every company that succeeds there are plenty of examples of people who quit their job, start a company and then fail after losing a pile of money, and have to get a job again. The important thing is to understand that and then use it to motivate yourself to work harder on your idea.
- cyberferret 9y agoThat was the overriding thought in the back of my mind too, when I read the article. I sincerely mean "Well done" to Carl for what he has achieved, and how he did it, but I think that more than one person who reads this article will quit their job shortly and try and achieve the same thing to the same scale that he did. It is still somewhat a game of chance. Nothing is guaranteed. I've been there, and I know the scene well.
- jlangenauer 9y agoAnd maybe they will.
- eeZah7Ux 9y ago"somewhat" a game of chance? For each garage millionaire there's ten million penniless garage tinkerers. It's a lottery.
- onion2k 9y agoIt's a lottery. I don't think that's a reasonable interpretation of what makes someone succeed where others fail. There is an element of luck involved, but you can greatly improve your chances by doing things like working hard, understanding the problem you're solving, really talking to your customers, getting a mentor, saying no to distractions, etc. Those things wouldn't have any impact if it really was a lottery.
- ajuc 9y agoIt's a lottery with some requirements to participate.
- nunobrito 9y agoThree years ago before doing a startup I would say it is more talent than lottery. After three years I'm bound to believe in the lottery. Sometimes those calls do fall out of nowhere and dictate the survival or death of your company (so was our case). Related to this, there is a Portuguese saying: "A sorte favorece os audazes", meaning: "Luck favors the bold ones". This was derived from the Roman empire, so for sure there has to be some reason to stick around for so long.
- austinjp 9y ago
- have_faith 9y agoLottery doesn't require skill and execution.
- coldtea 9y agoAnd real rewarding of effort doesn't kill 10000000 other people's similar efforts either. (As for execution that doesn't mean anything else that "it succeeded whereas others didn't" if one can't pinpoint a winning execution in advance).
- cmahler7 9y agoThere are entrepreneurs that have success numerous times, many times in wildly different fields. Creating a successful business isn't a coin flip/lottery, it's tens of thousands of decisions over years.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- friedman23 9y agoTrue there are many that fail but if you go but building a startup on your own, even if it fails looks amazing on a CV.
- NumberCruncher 9y agoFor me the takeaway is not "quitting the job" but the positive impact of "locking oneself up in a distraction free environment".
- valuearb 9y agoThen building a business where you stick all the employees in a distraction rich open floor plan.
- golergka 9y ago> there are plenty of examples of people who quit their job, start a company and then fail after losing a pile of money, and have to get a job again Have done it two times so far, about to do it a third time (hopefully, with a different outcome). Wouldn't call it "failing".
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y agoYup. You now know two ways it won't work :-)
- JabavuAdams 9y agoI JFDI with VR. Had a stroke, got separated, sold the house in the posh neighbourhood. Now I live with my kids (part-time) in a 1 bedroom apartment ... moving to a 2 BR. The same impulsivity that made me JFDI also made me terrible at focus and operations. Now I make apps that make toddlers giggle, work in an almost no-stress environment where people really do leave at 5pm, and get paid twice a month. Of course, I still have ideas and side projects...
- technics256 9y agoAnd do you regret doing it? And what would your advice be too people considering it now?
- rz2k 9y agoHave a stroke and get separated? I imagine the advice would be to do what works for you with the hand you're dealt. The context sounds like part of the decision to leave his or her old lifestyle and start something with VR, but also why it didn't work out. Making apps and small games sounds like a third career after the JFDI one, but one without complaints, since it is pleasant and stress free.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Osiris30 9y agoXKCD explains it the best: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1827:_Survivorship_Bias https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1827:_Survivorshi...
- spinningarrow 9y agoYou mean explainxkcd explains it the best ;)
- CalRobert 9y agoXKCD does explain it very well indeed, but I submit that SMBC might do so even more amusingly. http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/path-of-a-hero http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/path-of-a-hero
- michaelbuckbee 9y agoTo take nothing away from this gentleman and his accomplishments, but consider if this timeline seems plausible: 1. Works in IT, daily faces all kinds of problems. 2. Quits job to make a software product 3. Suddenly realizes: I should make a product for the problems I faced back when I worked in IT! I'm not a lawyer. I don't know the true circumstances of what happened here. But, it's much cleaner and makes it much more unlikely for his former employer to come back at him if the narrative is: "I left. I was struck with inspiration the next day" than "While I was working for this other place, I built a prototype that I thought would work. When I was sure it did, I quit."