4 ms·

It astounds me the number of people who are here with no idea for a startup. Are you guys hackers, hustlers, "idea people", or am I missing a contingency? Mind

by jeffool 15y ago

It astounds me the number of people who are here with no idea for a startup. Are you guys hackers, hustlers, "idea people", or am I missing a contingency? Mind blowing.

SkyMarshal 15y ago
No idea if I'm representative of others, but let me just throw this out there: I have tons of ideas, but they're all crap. If I'm going to work 'startup hard' at something, it's certainly not going to be another social/gaming/fotm diversion. Contrary to popular opinion, ideas do matter. If you decide to base a startup on one, you have to decide whether it's worth devoting three or so years of your life to implementing it, with the goal of world-class execution, and all the work and sacrifice that entails. None of my ideas have yet passed muster in that regard. If you're going to work as hard at an unoriginal, uninspired idea as you would at a truly world-changing idea, then better to hold out for the latter (unless you just want to use the former to get practice). There are some truly world changing things going on in tech, like cryptocurrency and 3D printing, that are (or may soon be) more worth building something around. I'm holding out for that.
- eaurouge 15y ago
  Solving a problem that is currently a pain of yours is usually a good motivator. If you're lucky and there's enough of a market (others feel the same pain too) then it may be worth exploring further. On building around future tech, you probably want to start building (or at least planning) in anticipation or you may have to play catch up when once the tech becomes available.
  - SkyMarshal 15y ago
    True. I should probably generalize what I said to, understand the costs and opportunity costs of time, lost salary and savings for a few years, and the low odds of startup success, and then weigh whether your idea is worth it, based on whatever scale is meaningful to you - money, improve the world, solve problems, etc.

by jeffool 15y ago

It astounds me the number of people who are here with no idea for a startup. Are you guys hackers, hustlers, "idea people", or am I missing a contingency? Mind blowing.

SkyMarshal 15y ago

No idea if I'm representative of others, but let me just throw this out there: I have tons of ideas, but they're all crap. If I'm going to work 'startup hard' at something, it's certainly not going to be another social/gaming/fotm diversion. Contrary to popular opinion, ideas do matter. If you decide to base a startup on one, you have to decide whether it's worth devoting three or so years of your life to implementing it, with the goal of world-class execution, and all the work and sacrifice that entails. None of my ideas have yet passed muster in that regard. If you're going to work as hard at an unoriginal, uninspired idea as you would at a truly world-changing idea, then better to hold out for the latter (unless you just want to use the former to get practice). There are some truly world changing things going on in tech, like cryptocurrency and 3D printing, that are (or may soon be) more worth building something around. I'm holding out for that.

eaurouge 15y ago
Solving a problem that is currently a pain of yours is usually a good motivator. If you're lucky and there's enough of a market (others feel the same pain too) then it may be worth exploring further. On building around future tech, you probably want to start building (or at least planning) in anticipation or you may have to play catch up when once the tech becomes available.
- SkyMarshal 15y ago
  True. I should probably generalize what I said to, understand the costs and opportunity costs of time, lost salary and savings for a few years, and the low odds of startup success, and then weigh whether your idea is worth it, based on whatever scale is meaningful to you - money, improve the world, solve problems, etc.