3 ms·

I'm happy and appreciative that this advice exists, but as a tech person who just wants to build new things, it makes running a company sound like a massive dra

by daenz 5y ago

I'm happy and appreciative that this advice exists, but as a tech person who just wants to build new things, it makes running a company sound like a massive drain on the psyche.

nickff 5y ago
Running a company is a massive drain, and is not the best way to 'build new things'. Starting and running a company is one of the best ways to 'build a new organization'.
dqpb 5y ago
You can always choose not to take on investments that relinquish your control.
bluGill 5y ago
There is a reason I "work for the man" instead of run my own company. I could make money, but I wouldn't be a programmer. It took me almost 20 years of a CS degree before I was earning more money programming than I could have earned if I had dropped out of school and stayed at McDonald's (they offered me a management job and the career path in the direction was obvious - and also why most people even on that track decide to self limit before they reach the highest I could see from there.) To make it clear, if you found a company you MUST be a management type person. You can maybe program 25% of the time, but the rest of your time is sales and management duties. You can hire out the sales but that means more management. Soon you are best off hiring out the programming as well and being all management.
- repomies69 5y ago
  There's tons of different companies, VC-funded high-growth startups are just a small subset of all companies. If you want to do programming in your own company you can set up some boutique working on some niche. Absolutely no need to be "a management type person" in my opinion. It certainly is possible to run company where you do up to 80% programming IMO. But, if you want the big bucks it typicalle makes sense to hire and grow. If you want to stay small and do stuff yourself, it means less money.
PeterisP 5y ago
Sure, it is - running a company is a whole full different and very intense profession that has little in common with a tech person building new things, you would have to focus on one over the other.
MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
You're not required to have a board. You can have an LLC or S Corp (or C, I mix them up) all with you as the sole member/shareholder. You can legally even write in the Operating Agreement/Bylaws "X Member can never be ousted from the board until death" if you honestly wanted to. You can even have a one page agreement that says "X owns 100% of the company shares and we will have meetings once a year on x date" and signed. I worked as a commercial lending processor for a while and got to learn how many businesses operated. The majority are family or sole proprietors. The few that are with others usually get really drawn out with lots of legal jargon. Typically, one person retains 51% and has sole rights to act without the full boards approval. In all running a business isn't really difficult. It's the exact same as personal budgeting. It's just high level stuff warrants these types of situations because some moron VP is upset they don't get to destroy part of the company they contribute no value to.

by daenz 5y ago

I'm happy and appreciative that this advice exists, but as a tech person who just wants to build new things, it makes running a company sound like a massive drain on the psyche.

nickff 5y ago

Running a company is a massive drain, and is not the best way to 'build new things'. Starting and running a company is one of the best ways to 'build a new organization'.

dqpb 5y ago

You can always choose not to take on investments that relinquish your control.

bluGill 5y ago

There is a reason I "work for the man" instead of run my own company. I could make money, but I wouldn't be a programmer. It took me almost 20 years of a CS degree before I was earning more money programming than I could have earned if I had dropped out of school and stayed at McDonald's (they offered me a management job and the career path in the direction was obvious - and also why most people even on that track decide to self limit before they reach the highest I could see from there.) To make it clear, if you found a company you MUST be a management type person. You can maybe program 25% of the time, but the rest of your time is sales and management duties. You can hire out the sales but that means more management. Soon you are best off hiring out the programming as well and being all management.

repomies69 5y ago
There's tons of different companies, VC-funded high-growth startups are just a small subset of all companies. If you want to do programming in your own company you can set up some boutique working on some niche. Absolutely no need to be "a management type person" in my opinion. It certainly is possible to run company where you do up to 80% programming IMO. But, if you want the big bucks it typicalle makes sense to hire and grow. If you want to stay small and do stuff yourself, it means less money.

PeterisP 5y ago

Sure, it is - running a company is a whole full different and very intense profession that has little in common with a tech person building new things, you would have to focus on one over the other.

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago

You're not required to have a board. You can have an LLC or S Corp (or C, I mix them up) all with you as the sole member/shareholder. You can legally even write in the Operating Agreement/Bylaws "X Member can never be ousted from the board until death" if you honestly wanted to. You can even have a one page agreement that says "X owns 100% of the company shares and we will have meetings once a year on x date" and signed. I worked as a commercial lending processor for a while and got to learn how many businesses operated. The majority are family or sole proprietors. The few that are with others usually get really drawn out with lots of legal jargon. Typically, one person retains 51% and has sole rights to act without the full boards approval. In all running a business isn't really difficult. It's the exact same as personal budgeting. It's just high level stuff warrants these types of situations because some moron VP is upset they don't get to destroy part of the company they contribute no value to.