4 ms·

Fear is the mind killer of the Silicon Valley Entrepreneur

40 points by bootload 18y ago

jmtame 18y ago
Wow, this guy tells it how it is. Nice style, kudos for being direct and talking about the fear factor.
manishsm 18y ago
Truthfully said. Thanks for trying to get the expectations real. Your post makes me think further that we are not even considering the emerging market opportunities wrt e-commerce. Most people in developing nations don't have credit cards or easy means of doing e-commerce, but its definitely getting there. Lots of scope, and entrepreneurs in the valley should definitely also focus on these markets and get in early with market specific products.
known 18y ago
True scientists celebrate failures.
albertcardona 18y ago
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." --- Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
- Eliezer 18y ago
  What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn't make it worse. Not being open about it doesn't make it go away. And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn't there to be lived. People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it. -- Litany of Gendlin
tdavis 18y ago
THANK YOU This is the post I wanted to write, but every time I sat down to start everything just came out as a stream of profanity, motivated by article after fear-mongering article about how we're all screwed and you are probably better off just killing yourself right now. Everyone needs to reach between their legs, find their balls (real or figurative) and move on. This downturn/recession/doomsday isn't the end of the world; it's the start of an opportunity, if you ask me.
samson 18y ago
I hope this is the punch in the face everyone here at Hacker news needed. Stop listening to the sideline douchebags, that have just been waiting for their "I told you so moment" or the mainstream blogs that write about it because they know its easy pageviews. If you believe people really want what your creating,then define your value (or potential value), and don't be swayed by the ups and downs of the nah sayers.The best investors know this, and I pretty sure good entrepreurs know this as well. "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"
hugh 18y ago
I agree with most of that, but it was really annoying to read. One would think that if one has time to make every third word a link, put some words in red, and illustrate everything with random pieces of clip art, one could make the effort to capitalize the first letter of each sentence.
- fallentimes 18y ago
  I had to stop reading half way through because it was so awful on the eyes. I felt like I was reading the dot com bubble off Scoble's belly. Anyways, here it is in plain text (the formatting and capitalization errors are still annoying, however): http://tinypaste.com/c87ae http://tinypaste.com/c87ae
  - davidw 18y ago
    It's like it's 1996 and he discovered the font tag.
    - davemc500hats 18y ago
      I'm really sorry about my capitalization & font choices. I really had no idea. I mean, i've been writing that way intentionally for about 3-4 years, but now after readig your comments i'm so sorry and I've seen the light. Jesus H Christ. you want spell checkers & times roman font? read the fucking Economist. (and I do, but not for inspiriation & entrepreneurship).
      - davidw 18y ago
        Sorry, I guess my comment was a bit snarky. However, it's evident that 1) people thought your idea was good, but 2) the cRaZEE f0N+ S+ylz bug them. Overall, that's good: fonts are easy to fix, good writing is harder to come by. Agreed on The Economist, it's a great read.
      - fallentimes 18y ago
        Only if you want anyone to take you seriously. If not, don't bother. It's your blog - you can do whatever the heck you want :). Economist is great.
vaksel 18y ago
there is more risk, no doubt, and the financial woes will be harder. a) No easy credit = you won't be able to self fund your startup with a credit card b) No easy VC = you won't be able to get 20 million dollars to build yourself a widget. It'll also be much more invovled, you'll need to come up with a business model that starts turning a profit from day 1. And you will probably need to start thinking in 10 years, instead of the typical 5. But if you started your startup w/o planning to go for VC or a short-term acquisition, then the market really didn't change that much.
soc 18y ago
ha ha, good article.
liuliu 18y ago
The trend continues. However, there are more Internet startups than ever. They need fund to start. But what they do, mostly, are the same: SNS, or vertical-sns, search, or vertical-search. The market is overloaded, but thank God, the fund is not so easy to get now.
alecco 18y ago
> you are MacGyver. you are Jeanne d'Arc. you are Luke Skywalker. Muaddib3you are Paul FUCKING Atreides, and the SPICE must FLOW, motherfucker. I beg to differ. Entrepreneurs shouldn't have be delusional but pragmatic. And to be pragmatic they need to know how deep is the hole.
- alecco 18y ago
  And I should have be proofread ;) s/have be/be/g
- hugh 18y ago
  Also... Joan of Arc? Really? I don't remember it working out well for her. Luke Skywalker did okay, but only because his dad was willing to bail him out.
- many 18y ago
  Someone should talk about the willingness of people in technology to cross the boundaries of class. I wonder if Moore's law in some part can be attributed to this quality. Consider sailing the high seas about 500 years ago; you've got a classy captain and some first mates all cramped onto a wooden vessel with a bunch of guys from Texas. That would be interesting. Maybe I'll write it when I get some VC funds next week :-)
alecco 18y ago
I regret my vote for this story. It is completely against what I respect. Please don't guide your life by poems in science-fiction novels. In particular, treatment of fear has nothing to do with being a fearless bad-ass. The bully irrational adrenaline-pumped attitude is part of the reasons for the US problems.

40 points by bootload 18y ago

Wow, this guy tells it how it is. Nice style, kudos for being direct and talking about the fear factor.

Truthfully said. Thanks for trying to get the expectations real. Your post makes me think further that we are not even considering the emerging market opportunities wrt e-commerce. Most people in developing nations don't have credit cards or easy means of doing e-commerce, but its definitely getting there. Lots of scope, and entrepreneurs in the valley should definitely also focus on these markets and get in early with market specific products.

known 18y ago

True scientists celebrate failures.

albertcardona 18y ago

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." --- Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

Eliezer 18y ago
What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn't make it worse. Not being open about it doesn't make it go away. And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn't there to be lived. People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it. -- Litany of Gendlin

tdavis 18y ago

THANK YOU This is the post I wanted to write, but every time I sat down to start everything just came out as a stream of profanity, motivated by article after fear-mongering article about how we're all screwed and you are probably better off just killing yourself right now. Everyone needs to reach between their legs, find their balls (real or figurative) and move on. This downturn/recession/doomsday isn't the end of the world; it's the start of an opportunity, if you ask me.

samson 18y ago

I hope this is the punch in the face everyone here at Hacker news needed. Stop listening to the sideline douchebags, that have just been waiting for their "I told you so moment" or the mainstream blogs that write about it because they know its easy pageviews. If you believe people really want what your creating,then define your value (or potential value), and don't be swayed by the ups and downs of the nah sayers.The best investors know this, and I pretty sure good entrepreurs know this as well. "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"

hugh 18y ago

I agree with most of that, but it was really annoying to read. One would think that if one has time to make every third word a link, put some words in red, and illustrate everything with random pieces of clip art, one could make the effort to capitalize the first letter of each sentence.

fallentimes 18y ago
I had to stop reading half way through because it was so awful on the eyes. I felt like I was reading the dot com bubble off Scoble's belly. Anyways, here it is in plain text (the formatting and capitalization errors are still annoying, however): http://tinypaste.com/c87ae http://tinypaste.com/c87ae
- davidw 18y ago
  It's like it's 1996 and he discovered the font tag.
  - davemc500hats 18y ago
    I'm really sorry about my capitalization & font choices. I really had no idea. I mean, i've been writing that way intentionally for about 3-4 years, but now after readig your comments i'm so sorry and I've seen the light. Jesus H Christ. you want spell checkers & times roman font? read the fucking Economist. (and I do, but not for inspiriation & entrepreneurship).
    - davidw 18y ago
      Sorry, I guess my comment was a bit snarky. However, it's evident that 1) people thought your idea was good, but 2) the cRaZEE f0N+ S+ylz bug them. Overall, that's good: fonts are easy to fix, good writing is harder to come by. Agreed on The Economist, it's a great read.
    - fallentimes 18y ago
      Only if you want anyone to take you seriously. If not, don't bother. It's your blog - you can do whatever the heck you want :). Economist is great.

vaksel 18y ago

there is more risk, no doubt, and the financial woes will be harder. a) No easy credit = you won't be able to self fund your startup with a credit card b) No easy VC = you won't be able to get 20 million dollars to build yourself a widget. It'll also be much more invovled, you'll need to come up with a business model that starts turning a profit from day 1. And you will probably need to start thinking in 10 years, instead of the typical 5. But if you started your startup w/o planning to go for VC or a short-term acquisition, then the market really didn't change that much.

soc 18y ago

ha ha, good article.

liuliu 18y ago

The trend continues. However, there are more Internet startups than ever. They need fund to start. But what they do, mostly, are the same: SNS, or vertical-sns, search, or vertical-search. The market is overloaded, but thank God, the fund is not so easy to get now.

alecco 18y ago

> you are MacGyver. you are Jeanne d'Arc. you are Luke Skywalker. Muaddib3you are Paul FUCKING Atreides, and the SPICE must FLOW, motherfucker. I beg to differ. Entrepreneurs shouldn't have be delusional but pragmatic. And to be pragmatic they need to know how deep is the hole.

alecco 18y ago
And I should have be proofread ;) s/have be/be/g
hugh 18y ago
Also... Joan of Arc? Really? I don't remember it working out well for her. Luke Skywalker did okay, but only because his dad was willing to bail him out.
many 18y ago
Someone should talk about the willingness of people in technology to cross the boundaries of class. I wonder if Moore's law in some part can be attributed to this quality. Consider sailing the high seas about 500 years ago; you've got a classy captain and some first mates all cramped onto a wooden vessel with a bunch of guys from Texas. That would be interesting. Maybe I'll write it when I get some VC funds next week :-)

alecco 18y ago

I regret my vote for this story. It is completely against what I respect. Please don't guide your life by poems in science-fiction novels. In particular, treatment of fear has nothing to do with being a fearless bad-ass. The bully irrational adrenaline-pumped attitude is part of the reasons for the US problems.