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If I could do it all over again and actually succeed this time: * Get your living expenses down to $1000/mo before you start your startup (this is just a targe

If I could do it all over again and actually succeed this time: * Get your living expenses down to $1000/mo before you start your startup (this is just a target for the northwestern US, find your own where you live). * Multiply all projections by 3. People will complain that you are being over-conservative and probably laugh at you or grow concerned. They might point to other companies that succeeded in such and such time. Ignore them just like they ignore survival bias. * Divide revenue by 5 to 10. A repair business running at 30% profitability needs to gross $3 for every dollar it keeps. A restaurant needs to make 20x at 5% margin. Chargebacks. Refunds. Illness. Accidents. Countless life experiences can make it feel like you are treading water for months/years. Another way to say this is that each dollar you make in your startup is like making $5-10 anywhere else, so treat it with the reverence it deserves. * Donate plasma. This is a form of prostitution because you are selling yourself for money, but you'll make an extra $300/mo. You'll get a glimpse of the value of human life and dignity inherent to an industrial society that's being denied to us all by the lack of UBI. It will also show you the true value of money because you'll see that retail service jobs pay 1/2 to 1/4 per hour what plasma pays. You'll learn how all money is blood money because someone always exchanges blood, sweat, tears or time for it (unless they are born into it like the people who most likely have it today). And if you aren't ready to put your life on the line in some fashion, you might not be ready to make the big sacrifices that running a startup demands, or even lead others. * Learn The Secret (The Law of Attraction) and other mindfulness practices. It's not so much that they are real (my experience is that it's all real) but that successful people are likely to attribute their success to things besides luck. It's good to know how to speak the lingo and present a good appearance for networking, since your primary revenue stream will probably come from a human need you might not have expected. * Find a romantic partner that believes in you. Short of that, work a good job for a while and provide for their needs for some number of months or years before your startup so they're willing to take a risk on you. Or reject this advice completely and be a loner for a few years. Most startups were started by geeks, so it might be advantageous. But if you succeed, don't be a douche. Nobody likes that you succeed. Many secretly hate you for it. Be magnanimous. Pay it forward. If you suffer in solitude or walk around like a self-help guru, you'll probably fail. * Remember that the thing isn't the thing. Financing to get you to the thing is. Our entire system of western capitalism is at odds with your personal dream of being the next Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. And since all money is blood money, maybe you don't want that anyway. We need new heroes like, I dunno, Captain America. I think that there is vast untapped potential in ideas like cooperatives and communal stewardship of the things we care about. I've tried to adopt ideas like radical inclusion into my life. Maybe something in your belief system will lead you to a worthy cause and the funding to see it through. We all know that banks sure won't. Well this post stinks but my gut seems satisfied that most of the nonintuitive stuff has been covered. Happy holidays everyone.

m_fayer 7y ago
It sounds like you've been through some things. How'd it all work out? I'd honestly love to hear it, you're a great writer.
- brentonator 7y ago
  It's like the embodiment of "nice guys" but for startups.
- zackmorris 7y ago
  Thanks! Hey you know, I'd like to respond to everyone, but since you asked: it never really did work out. When I try to write up a summary of the highs and lows that got me here, it ends up being long and negative so I’ll save it for a blog post. I’m in a committed relationship in a home we share together and get a lot of love and support from my family. I couldn’t ask for a better upbringing. So there’s a lot of guilt there that I let opportunities slip by. But I mainly wanted to reply because I’m sorry I compared donating plasma with prostitution, I don’t believe it’s like that, and it was wrong to write that. Something has been bothering me about the idea of selling oneself in one form or another, and I think what I was trying to say was that when people do what they must for self-preservation, then that's noble and we shouldn't be so quick to judge them when we haven't walked in their shoes. If anyone reads this someday, please don’t be too hard on yourself. Don’t remember only your mistakes like I do. As far as the future goes, I just got out of a 4 year stint at one of the better consulting agencies in town so am back to contracting. I’d like to be part of something bigger than myself, with a grander purpose like ending labor as we know it. I believe there is a bright future in the gig economy and that eventually we’ll be able to work as needed, sustainably. Once we have something like a global jobs service so that labor security is always available, it will put pressure on corporations to raise wages. That should prop up the late-stage capitalism we’ve found ourselves in long enough that robot labor can take over when the singularity arrives around 2040 and provide UBI for everyone. It’s either that or dystopia. With all these things, it’s hard to tell anymore if I’m talking about myself or the world. So I’ve been coping a lot and battling depression off and on. But I’m also grateful to be alive in such interesting times.
GordonS 7y ago

m_fayer 7y ago

It sounds like you've been through some things. How'd it all work out? I'd honestly love to hear it, you're a great writer.

brentonator 7y ago
It's like the embodiment of "nice guys" but for startups.
zackmorris 7y ago
Thanks! Hey you know, I'd like to respond to everyone, but since you asked: it never really did work out. When I try to write up a summary of the highs and lows that got me here, it ends up being long and negative so I’ll save it for a blog post. I’m in a committed relationship in a home we share together and get a lot of love and support from my family. I couldn’t ask for a better upbringing. So there’s a lot of guilt there that I let opportunities slip by. But I mainly wanted to reply because I’m sorry I compared donating plasma with prostitution, I don’t believe it’s like that, and it was wrong to write that. Something has been bothering me about the idea of selling oneself in one form or another, and I think what I was trying to say was that when people do what they must for self-preservation, then that's noble and we shouldn't be so quick to judge them when we haven't walked in their shoes. If anyone reads this someday, please don’t be too hard on yourself. Don’t remember only your mistakes like I do. As far as the future goes, I just got out of a 4 year stint at one of the better consulting agencies in town so am back to contracting. I’d like to be part of something bigger than myself, with a grander purpose like ending labor as we know it. I believe there is a bright future in the gig economy and that eventually we’ll be able to work as needed, sustainably. Once we have something like a global jobs service so that labor security is always available, it will put pressure on corporations to raise wages. That should prop up the late-stage capitalism we’ve found ourselves in long enough that robot labor can take over when the singularity arrives around 2040 and provide UBI for everyone. It’s either that or dystopia. With all these things, it’s hard to tell anymore if I’m talking about myself or the world. So I’ve been coping a lot and battling depression off and on. But I’m also grateful to be alive in such interesting times.

GordonS 7y ago