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Binge drinking rarely helps anyone's case, even when picking up women. However, the rest of this describes the traits necessary to solve the Poincare conjecture

Binge drinking rarely helps anyone's case, even when picking up women. However, the rest of this describes the traits necessary to solve the Poincare conjecture, not be an entrepreneur. If you're choosing to stay at home working on a product that you know will never bring you any money, you're not going to be very successful from an entrepreneurial standpoint. Also, the article is not talking about a side effect. It is doubtful the successes of Google and Yahoo and Amazon were ever in danger of being derailed by parties with "hot willing chicks."

maxklein 18y ago
You're wrong. The people who are successful are those who focus on solving the problem. If you are a marketer and you stay at home, you will fail because the problem the marketer faces is outside. If you are a business guy and you spend all day at the computer, you will fail too, because business is about networking and contacts. Each of those people, were they focused, would be doing the activities that are most beneficial for their line of business, and those activities are outside. If however, you are a software developer, and you are outside trying to act like a businessman, then you will fail because you are not focusing on solving the core problem you set out to solve. It's NOT possible to play all the roles. There is no super hacker who is also a super business man. There is no basketball star who is also an extremely successful musician. Those things require focus and dedication, and you cannot do both and be equally successful at both. If you stay at home working on a "PROBLEM", not "PRODUCT" and the solution you come up with is better than every solution out there, and people want to use it, you will be successful because the guys focused on business will search you out. If the problem you are solving involves search, you need to focus on that. Studying algorithms, AI, all that stuff. If you are spending half your time doing that and the other half looking for venture capital, you are setting yourself up for failure. If however, you are creating a website for musicians and you are not going to music venues and taking notes, you are also losing. Understand where your focus should be for the line of business you are in, and ... focus! If you find it hard or boring to spend so much time focusing on it, then that business was never meant for you. Thinking about your product should be like playing a video game - challenging and fun. If it's not and you prefer to think about money or funding, then you have picked the wrong product.
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  It is indeed true that there is no basketball star who is an extremely successful musician. However these pursuits are very different than being an entrepreneur. If you're 100% focused on software engineering and 0% focused on the other things needed to be successful in the software business, you are a software engineer, not an entrepreneur.
  - maxklein 18y ago
    Why do you insist on misunderstanding me? I am talking about solving a PROBLEM, and not creating an algorithm. Let's say you were the google guys at the start of their career. The problem they intended to solve involved getting the best result for search. This is a problem that requires 95% of your time spent at a PC. You are no enterpreneur if before you solve that problem, you are going out trying to mingle in startup school or so. Contrast that with the Amazon guy trying to solve the problem of how to retail books successfully online. This problem cannot be solved by sitting at a computer - one needs to talk to the logistics industry, publishers and so on. Focusing on the problem will lead to different social behaviour for both teams. If a person focuses on the problem and solves the problem, the difficulty in selling the solution becomes trivial. If a fellow creates a digg clone, he has not solved any problem. If a fellow creates a tool to monitor the health of students in boarding schools, he has solved a problem, and will have no difficulty in selling, because boarding schools know they need what he is offering, but never had it before. It's common sense, but people still don't seem to get it: Focusing on the problem is the only way of solving it.
    - swombat 18y ago
      I think the problem with your argument is you buy the "just build something you love and people will give you money" argument. My experience, at least, has shown that not to be the case. Money needs to be balanced in the problem-solving equation along with all the other issues. Build something you love, focus on it, do everything for it - and also make sure it puts bread on the table. If you fail to do that last one, you won't be able to spend the time to really focus on the problem. Daniel

maxklein 18y ago

You're wrong. The people who are successful are those who focus on solving the problem. If you are a marketer and you stay at home, you will fail because the problem the marketer faces is outside. If you are a business guy and you spend all day at the computer, you will fail too, because business is about networking and contacts. Each of those people, were they focused, would be doing the activities that are most beneficial for their line of business, and those activities are outside. If however, you are a software developer, and you are outside trying to act like a businessman, then you will fail because you are not focusing on solving the core problem you set out to solve. It's NOT possible to play all the roles. There is no super hacker who is also a super business man. There is no basketball star who is also an extremely successful musician. Those things require focus and dedication, and you cannot do both and be equally successful at both. If you stay at home working on a "PROBLEM", not "PRODUCT" and the solution you come up with is better than every solution out there, and people want to use it, you will be successful because the guys focused on business will search you out. If the problem you are solving involves search, you need to focus on that. Studying algorithms, AI, all that stuff. If you are spending half your time doing that and the other half looking for venture capital, you are setting yourself up for failure. If however, you are creating a website for musicians and you are not going to music venues and taking notes, you are also losing. Understand where your focus should be for the line of business you are in, and ... focus! If you find it hard or boring to spend so much time focusing on it, then that business was never meant for you. Thinking about your product should be like playing a video game - challenging and fun. If it's not and you prefer to think about money or funding, then you have picked the wrong product.

menloparkbum 18y ago
It is indeed true that there is no basketball star who is an extremely successful musician. However these pursuits are very different than being an entrepreneur. If you're 100% focused on software engineering and 0% focused on the other things needed to be successful in the software business, you are a software engineer, not an entrepreneur.
- maxklein 18y ago
  Why do you insist on misunderstanding me? I am talking about solving a PROBLEM, and not creating an algorithm. Let's say you were the google guys at the start of their career. The problem they intended to solve involved getting the best result for search. This is a problem that requires 95% of your time spent at a PC. You are no enterpreneur if before you solve that problem, you are going out trying to mingle in startup school or so. Contrast that with the Amazon guy trying to solve the problem of how to retail books successfully online. This problem cannot be solved by sitting at a computer - one needs to talk to the logistics industry, publishers and so on. Focusing on the problem will lead to different social behaviour for both teams. If a person focuses on the problem and solves the problem, the difficulty in selling the solution becomes trivial. If a fellow creates a digg clone, he has not solved any problem. If a fellow creates a tool to monitor the health of students in boarding schools, he has solved a problem, and will have no difficulty in selling, because boarding schools know they need what he is offering, but never had it before. It's common sense, but people still don't seem to get it: Focusing on the problem is the only way of solving it.
  - swombat 18y ago
    I think the problem with your argument is you buy the "just build something you love and people will give you money" argument. My experience, at least, has shown that not to be the case. Money needs to be balanced in the problem-solving equation along with all the other issues. Build something you love, focus on it, do everything for it - and also make sure it puts bread on the table. If you fail to do that last one, you won't be able to spend the time to really focus on the problem. Daniel