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Also see #18: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html Statistically, if you want to avoid failure, it wou
by revorad 16y ago
Also see #18: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
Statistically, if you want to avoid failure, it would seem like the most important thing is to quit your day job. Most founders of failed startups don't quit their day jobs, and most founders of successful ones do. If startup failure were a disease, the CDC would be issuing bulletins warning people to avoid day jobs.
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Most startups fail because they don't make something people want, and the reason most don't is that they don't try hard enough.
- daoudc 16y agoI agree with the second statement, but I actually disagree with PG on the first one. Trying hard doesn't necessarily mean quitting your day job. It can mean doing a day job to support your family whilst working on your project in your spare time. Using the reverse logic, most people that produce something that people want will be earning enough from their project to quit their day job. PG's observation doesn't imply for me that quitting the day job has to come first.
- revorad 16y agoIn the above quoted passage, PG is not talking about issues such as supporting family (which he does acknowledge as an important issue elsewhere). It's just about the correlation between commitment, effort and success.