4 ms·

"The second biggest danger with going solo is the loss of motivation." I found this to be true, a few weeks a go I mentioned my idea to an old friend of mine a

by habs 18y ago

"The second biggest danger with going solo is the loss of motivation." I found this to be true, a few weeks a go I mentioned my idea to an old friend of mine and he was sold. I have found a cofonder and now things are back on track. I was lucky, the guy I'm now working with is my best friend from grad school. So I already knew I wouldn't have a problem with him. I do think that having somebody else working with you makes a huge impact. Not only on the product itself but also on your mentality.

cperciva 18y ago
"The second biggest danger with going solo is the loss of motivation." I agree with this... however, there are ways to get motivation other than adding a co-founder. For example, I find that living in my parents' basement and having them ask me every few weeks when I'm going to start making money is very good motivation. :-)
- babul 18y ago
  ...better still, they should give you a deadline upon which they will throw you out (in a nice way, of course) or charge rent :-) For most people (atleast that I have observed), becoming independent really focused them and helped raise thier game and productivity^. Nothing is as motivating as neccessity? ^n.b. not applicable to Putnam winners ;-)
  - aneesh 18y ago
    Being a Putnam winner doesn't automatically mean you're productive, just that you're damn smart ;-)
    - deleted 18y ago
      [deleted]
    - babul 18y ago
      ...but you will have needed to focus and raise your game to get one?
    - cperciva 18y ago
      I think you're more right here than you realize. The Putnam competition, in spite of being six hours long, is severely time limited: Each year, there are probably hundreds of people who could solve all 12 questions if only they had enough time, but only six people who manage to answer more than 8 or 9 questions within the time limit. If you're going to solve Putnam questions in an average of 30 minutes or less (including carefully writing out the solutions) the only way to do it is by having flashes of insight. Working hard doesn't help, because there isn't enough time to work hard. Putnam winners are people who successfully apply Feynman's algorithm for problem solving: 1. Write down the problem. 2. Think hard. 3. Write down the answer. (Feynman, incidentally, was one of the first Putnam fellows.) For a competition which is theoretically about mathematics, a shockingly large number of Putnam Fellows end up moving to a different field. I think this is the reason why: Mathematics is a very old field, where it's very hard to do anything without working hard. Putnam fellows by their nature tend to seek the instant gratification of finding simple and beautiful solutions to problems -- and so we're drawn away from mathematics and into more immature fields like computing. Yes, Putnam fellows are smart -- but we're no more disposed towards hard work than anyone else.
- habs 18y ago
  Good point, but your parents will never say to you "we need to drop certain functionality to improve the core framework in order to secure a stable release" or "private static long MAGIC_NUMBER = 1024*1024; ?!?! you crazy man!! what the hell does this do?" I personally find it easier to work on a project when I have somebody to look things over with. It's very easy to get side tracked when you work on things by yourself, well thats what I find for myself any way.

by habs 18y ago

cperciva 18y ago

"The second biggest danger with going solo is the loss of motivation." I agree with this... however, there are ways to get motivation other than adding a co-founder. For example, I find that living in my parents' basement and having them ask me every few weeks when I'm going to start making money is very good motivation. :-)

babul 18y ago
...better still, they should give you a deadline upon which they will throw you out (in a nice way, of course) or charge rent :-) For most people (atleast that I have observed), becoming independent really focused them and helped raise thier game and productivity^. Nothing is as motivating as neccessity? ^n.b. not applicable to Putnam winners ;-)
- aneesh 18y ago
  Being a Putnam winner doesn't automatically mean you're productive, just that you're damn smart ;-)
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - babul 18y ago
    ...but you will have needed to focus and raise your game to get one?
  - cperciva 18y ago
    I think you're more right here than you realize. The Putnam competition, in spite of being six hours long, is severely time limited: Each year, there are probably hundreds of people who could solve all 12 questions if only they had enough time, but only six people who manage to answer more than 8 or 9 questions within the time limit. If you're going to solve Putnam questions in an average of 30 minutes or less (including carefully writing out the solutions) the only way to do it is by having flashes of insight. Working hard doesn't help, because there isn't enough time to work hard. Putnam winners are people who successfully apply Feynman's algorithm for problem solving: 1. Write down the problem. 2. Think hard. 3. Write down the answer. (Feynman, incidentally, was one of the first Putnam fellows.) For a competition which is theoretically about mathematics, a shockingly large number of Putnam Fellows end up moving to a different field. I think this is the reason why: Mathematics is a very old field, where it's very hard to do anything without working hard. Putnam fellows by their nature tend to seek the instant gratification of finding simple and beautiful solutions to problems -- and so we're drawn away from mathematics and into more immature fields like computing. Yes, Putnam fellows are smart -- but we're no more disposed towards hard work than anyone else.
habs 18y ago
Good point, but your parents will never say to you "we need to drop certain functionality to improve the core framework in order to secure a stable release" or "private static long MAGIC_NUMBER = 1024*1024; ?!?! you crazy man!! what the hell does this do?" I personally find it easier to work on a project when I have somebody to look things over with. It's very easy to get side tracked when you work on things by yourself, well thats what I find for myself any way.