4 ms·

Startups: "I take a break" means "I give up"

41 points by danielfrese 15y ago

marcomonteiro 15y ago
project != startup; hacker != entrepreneur; desire != drive; Some people should drop off. The road is long and it's best to find out who's willing to endure it up front. In my 20's I knew a lot of people who wanted to "do big things" and I learned the hard way that most people just want to look like they're doing big things. Less talk, more walk.
- danielfrese 15y ago
  True. A lot of people are probably better off not living the startup life.
hvs 15y ago
Is it just me, or do a lot of the reasons listed seem to be focused on founders that are still in some form of school? I doubt that a frequent reason that non-college going founders fail is because "one of the founders chooses to do a term abroad and get back to the startup "later"".
- danielfrese 15y ago
  Yes you are right. My two co-founders and me are still in college/university. We live - to some extend - in a college world and we face problems which may not be faced by folks already out there working at companies.
  - pork 15y ago
    You might want to add that qualifier to your article. Startup founders and employees may be in different life phases; your advice is likely to be relevant only to college-aged founders.
    - danielfrese 15y ago
      Thanks for the feedback. I added a paragraph making clear that I'm an undergraduate student
    - rhizome 15y ago
      Not to mention the title.
      - danielfrese 15y ago
        Do you mean the Chuck Norris part?
l_frequency 15y ago
I remember there was an article about climbing Everest that was pretty high up on HN for a few days. It makes a lot of sense that it was popular now that I think about it since there's plenty of startup analogies to climbing Everest. Fall asleep because you need to "take a break" and you might never wake up. Just one of many interesting parallels.
klochner 15y ago
prestigeous[sic] 6k/month job?
- DigitalBison 15y ago
  Read that part again. He's not claiming that $6k/month is an amazing salary (although, as I pointed out below, it is more than 70% of Americans make). When he says "a prestigious item on the resume" I'm reading that as something like taking a job at Google, which would look impressive to many potential employers.
- danielfrese 15y ago
  From the perspective of a college student
  - DigitalBison 15y ago
    I realize that HN doesn't represent the general population, but $6k/month puts you ahead of 70% of Americans. Relatively speaking, that's a very high income, not just for a college student.
jakejake 15y ago
Probably the bullet points are specific to student/founders. But in the case of us old geezers you run into the same basic concepts. Often people get a "real" job because they need some stability (mental as well as financial) and it becomes a drag to spend your free time working on the startup. As somebody who has been trying to make a startup work for about 3 years, it takes a lot of passion on everybody's part to keep going.
- danielfrese 15y ago
  Exactly. We started to work on our startup about 15 months ago and we still don't have a publicly launchable version. But we made a prototype and have 80+ test users. That kind of interaction with our users makes things easier and helps us to stay motivated.
dgallagher 15y ago
You'll have a million reasons to give up. All you have to do to succeed is ignore every one of them.
jessedhillon 15y ago
Ray Dalio has a maxim that guides interactions at Bridgewater, it goes something like this: ask yourself, 'have I earned the right to have an opinion?' I don't think the author has, yet. Frankly, the advice of an undergrad/first-time entrepreneur is not worth the bandwidth it takes to deliver it. All that's here is uninformed, sweeping judgments about people who have come to difficult decision points that this guy might have to face in 1-5 years. Except, without any of the nuance or experience necessary to understand why it's a difficult decision for some. I'll keep to getting my advice from people who have been There And Back Again, or as I call them -- experienced, knowledgeable and successful. Taking a break == I give up? Fuck off. Write back when your life demands actual compromise.
- danielfrese 15y ago
  You are right. This article is targeted at other undergrads and not at people who have come to difficult decision points. I'm sorry that wasn't clear enough.
  - BerislavLopac 15y ago
    Daniel, kudos to you for a graceful response to, though correct, quite a rude comment.
wmwong 15y ago
Momentum. It's very important. I can't remember how many times where I half start something and get distracted. I rarely return back to the project. Don't underestimate momentum. This is one of the reasons to have a co-founder. When one drags their feet, the other keeps the team going. What do single founders do to keep momentum up?
- felipemnoa 15y ago
  Sheer perseverance. You either want it enough or you don't.

41 points by danielfrese 15y ago

project != startup; hacker != entrepreneur; desire != drive; Some people should drop off. The road is long and it's best to find out who's willing to endure it up front. In my 20's I knew a lot of people who wanted to "do big things" and I learned the hard way that most people just want to look like they're doing big things. Less talk, more walk.

danielfrese 15y ago
True. A lot of people are probably better off not living the startup life.

hvs 15y ago

Is it just me, or do a lot of the reasons listed seem to be focused on founders that are still in some form of school? I doubt that a frequent reason that non-college going founders fail is because "one of the founders chooses to do a term abroad and get back to the startup "later"".

danielfrese 15y ago
Yes you are right. My two co-founders and me are still in college/university. We live - to some extend - in a college world and we face problems which may not be faced by folks already out there working at companies.
- pork 15y ago
  You might want to add that qualifier to your article. Startup founders and employees may be in different life phases; your advice is likely to be relevant only to college-aged founders.
  - danielfrese 15y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. I added a paragraph making clear that I'm an undergraduate student
  - rhizome 15y ago
    Not to mention the title.
    - danielfrese 15y ago
      Do you mean the Chuck Norris part?

l_frequency 15y ago

I remember there was an article about climbing Everest that was pretty high up on HN for a few days. It makes a lot of sense that it was popular now that I think about it since there's plenty of startup analogies to climbing Everest. Fall asleep because you need to "take a break" and you might never wake up. Just one of many interesting parallels.

klochner 15y ago

prestigeous[sic] 6k/month job?

DigitalBison 15y ago
Read that part again. He's not claiming that $6k/month is an amazing salary (although, as I pointed out below, it is more than 70% of Americans make). When he says "a prestigious item on the resume" I'm reading that as something like taking a job at Google, which would look impressive to many potential employers.
danielfrese 15y ago
From the perspective of a college student
- DigitalBison 15y ago
  I realize that HN doesn't represent the general population, but $6k/month puts you ahead of 70% of Americans. Relatively speaking, that's a very high income, not just for a college student.

jakejake 15y ago

Probably the bullet points are specific to student/founders. But in the case of us old geezers you run into the same basic concepts. Often people get a "real" job because they need some stability (mental as well as financial) and it becomes a drag to spend your free time working on the startup. As somebody who has been trying to make a startup work for about 3 years, it takes a lot of passion on everybody's part to keep going.

danielfrese 15y ago
Exactly. We started to work on our startup about 15 months ago and we still don't have a publicly launchable version. But we made a prototype and have 80+ test users. That kind of interaction with our users makes things easier and helps us to stay motivated.

dgallagher 15y ago

You'll have a million reasons to give up. All you have to do to succeed is ignore every one of them.

jessedhillon 15y ago

Ray Dalio has a maxim that guides interactions at Bridgewater, it goes something like this: ask yourself, 'have I earned the right to have an opinion?' I don't think the author has, yet. Frankly, the advice of an undergrad/first-time entrepreneur is not worth the bandwidth it takes to deliver it. All that's here is uninformed, sweeping judgments about people who have come to difficult decision points that this guy might have to face in 1-5 years. Except, without any of the nuance or experience necessary to understand why it's a difficult decision for some. I'll keep to getting my advice from people who have been There And Back Again, or as I call them -- experienced, knowledgeable and successful. Taking a break == I give up? Fuck off. Write back when your life demands actual compromise.

danielfrese 15y ago
You are right. This article is targeted at other undergrads and not at people who have come to difficult decision points. I'm sorry that wasn't clear enough.
- BerislavLopac 15y ago
  Daniel, kudos to you for a graceful response to, though correct, quite a rude comment.

wmwong 15y ago

Momentum. It's very important. I can't remember how many times where I half start something and get distracted. I rarely return back to the project. Don't underestimate momentum. This is one of the reasons to have a co-founder. When one drags their feet, the other keeps the team going. What do single founders do to keep momentum up?

felipemnoa 15y ago
Sheer perseverance. You either want it enough or you don't.