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Ask HN: How to do a Startup?

I've been interested in starting up something for a couple of years. All the ideas I get feel very small or simple. I feel it won't make it big and lose interest in the idea. I've been trying hard to find good ideas but that's proving difficult. How do I find ideas for one? Should I even look for one? My main reason to starting up is for the excitement and potential fame, popularity, riches. I know the odds are pretty low, but I'm just 23 and I feel I'm in a comfortable position to take the risk. One other thing people adivse is to join an early startup or a mid sized company. However, I feel the upside won't be high enough unless I'm one of the cofounders. A job at a good CS firm like Google, FB might be better off in terms of learning, money. May be it's just my misconception. Please advise.

mindcrime 8y ago
Please advise. I'd advice you to quit asking people to do your homework for you, spend some time using the HN search feature, Google, etc., and come back with specific questions. See: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html Seriously, everything you need is here in the HN archives, in the startupschool lessons, etc., but have you done any research of your own yet? If not, why not? Take this: * I've been trying hard to find good ideas but that's proving difficult. How do I find ideas for one?* This issue has been discussed ad nauseam here on HN. Use the search bar for crying out loud. Or go to https://www.startupschool.org/library https://www.startupschool.org/library and/or http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html and start reading.
- cimmanom 8y ago
  While I don’t love the harsh tone of the parent post, it’s not wrong. One of the most important skills you would need to succeed as a startup founder is to self-teach: the ability to use the resources already available to you (ex: internet search) to seek out information and answers about how to do things you’ve never tried before, and to learn by doing instead of having the knowledge spoon-fed. When you’re the CEO or CTO and your startup has 6 months of runway and a half-finished product and angry investors and 2 unengaged clients and an MIA co-founder, you’ll be the one responsible for figuring out solutions and making decisions. You’ll be the one who knows the subtleties of the situation. You can ask people for advice, but you’ll be the one who has to figure out precisely what advice to ask for and which advice is actually applicable. Most of it won’t be. And the right solution might be something that nobody else suggests to you. If you’re not comfortable being thrown in the deep end and figuring out for yourself how to swim, you will not only struggle at but also loathe being a startup founder.

mindcrime 8y ago

Please advise. I'd advice you to quit asking people to do your homework for you, spend some time using the HN search feature, Google, etc., and come back with specific questions. See: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html Seriously, everything you need is here in the HN archives, in the startupschool lessons, etc., but have you done any research of your own yet? If not, why not? Take this: * I've been trying hard to find good ideas but that's proving difficult. How do I find ideas for one?* This issue has been discussed ad nauseam here on HN. Use the search bar for crying out loud. Or go to https://www.startupschool.org/library https://www.startupschool.org/library and/or http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html and start reading.

cimmanom 8y ago
While I don’t love the harsh tone of the parent post, it’s not wrong. One of the most important skills you would need to succeed as a startup founder is to self-teach: the ability to use the resources already available to you (ex: internet search) to seek out information and answers about how to do things you’ve never tried before, and to learn by doing instead of having the knowledge spoon-fed. When you’re the CEO or CTO and your startup has 6 months of runway and a half-finished product and angry investors and 2 unengaged clients and an MIA co-founder, you’ll be the one responsible for figuring out solutions and making decisions. You’ll be the one who knows the subtleties of the situation. You can ask people for advice, but you’ll be the one who has to figure out precisely what advice to ask for and which advice is actually applicable. Most of it won’t be. And the right solution might be something that nobody else suggests to you. If you’re not comfortable being thrown in the deep end and figuring out for yourself how to swim, you will not only struggle at but also loathe being a startup founder.