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around 9 years ago I started a startup with three other guys. One of them left pretty quickly because he'd rather keep his daytime job, the three of us presed o
by mixmax 16y ago
around 9 years ago I started a startup with three other guys. One of them left pretty quickly because he'd rather keep his daytime job, the three of us presed on. After around two years two of us thought that this particular startup wasn't worth pursuing, because it would never take off big-time. We'd basically missed our window of opportunity.
So we gave our shares to the last guy, and he's still running the company today - 9 years later. We've gone on to do other things, which are arguably more exciting, while he still sits around with two employees and tries to squeeze every penny out of the business while going nowhere.
Leaving was one of the best decisions I ever made. Leave or shut the company down if it enters a quagmire.
- kayoone 16y agothats shows that your co-founder probably had/has much more passion and dedication for the idea you guys had. As long as he loves what hes doing, is happy and can live off of it then it seems fine to me.
- bartonfink 16y agoPossibly. It could also show a relative lack of initiative, or a failure to face an unpleasant truth or a lack of attractive options as spending 9 years on a startup that hasn't gone anywhere isn't a great resume item. The concept of a "dead end job" isn't limited to the corporate world. He may be able to live off of what he's doing, but I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
- kayoone 16y agoPossibly. But there might also be people that dont put work above all, still enjoy what they are doing and keep going on with it when it makes them happy. I do not think he would still be doing it after 9 years if he would totally hate it. I know people that do relativly mediocre jobs with mediocre pay but they still enjoy life and dont really want or need to improve their job situation.
- dstein 16y agoI don't understand how you can consider being self-employed and supporting yourself, your family, and two employes for 9 years a failure. If anything I think working for 'the man' for 9 years and having no sense of ownership is more of a failure.
- mixmax 16y agounfortunately no - he's trying desperately to make it work and grow without having much success.
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- btipling 16y agoHe's able to be his own boss running his own company. I'd trade my dayjob for his position in a heartbeat.
- ecuzzillo 16y agoWhy don't you?
- btipling 16y agoHaven't come up with any kind of thing that people are willing to pay for. :/
- SimonPStevens 16y agoIdeas are cheap. Just Google for them. There are several guys here on HN who post regular "idea dumps" of their recent ideas they don't have time to implement. If you want to do it that bad you'll think of something. I recently handed in my resignation. I finish in 2 weeks. I don't have any new work to go to (yet), and my savings+overdraft will only get me through 1-2 months at most. The idea is that I'll do contract work to build up some reputation, then hopefully land some bigger projects and build a team. Perhaps give me the flexibility to work on personal projects that might go somewhere. I was like you, I kept saying I'd start a company when I had a good idea. In the end I realised it wasn't the lack of idea holding me back, it was the fear of failing. I decided that failing wasn't something to be afraid of and if I didn't try I'd eventually regret it. [Obviously I can't say if it's gone well or not yet, but I've made it past the paralysis. Ask me again in 6 months if it was a good idea]
- takenliterally 16y ago"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." Dale Carnegie
- triviatise 16y agoharmonix went for 10 years before hitting it big. I would say a better test is if you are still having fun
- talbina 16y agoIt's a Lifestyle Business. Not everyone wants to hit big. They are happy where they are. Leave them alone.