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First-Time Startup Entrepreneurs: Stop F*cking Around
- njx 14y agoStartup founders stop using obscenity and cuss words
- diego 14y agoWhy? "Fuck" is an extremely expressive word when used properly. Entrepreneurs must have a thick skin, and know when to use "fuck" and similar words.
- columbo 14y ago>Why? Obviously the only way to answer this is with personal opinion. For me, whenever I see a blog post with "why this fucking sucks" or other language I'm not necessarily offended. However I do feel like I'm suddenly talking to a child. Fuck, Fucking, Fuckshit etc isn't shocking or expressive anymore. It's just an indicator of inexperience. I can't seem to get my point across so instead I'll say I can't seem to get my FUCKING point across.
- Swizec 14y agoWhen writing I often use the word "fuck" or something similar to put a certain feel on a phrase. For effect. Not because it's offensive or a cuss word per se, but because I want the phrase to make a certain sound when the reader reads it. It's a perfectly useful stylistic flourish when used appropriately. (just like deliberately using bad grammar can be ... or emoticons ... or sometimes even putting a delimiting punctuation, but not actually delimiting a sentence)
- pyre 14y agoWe'll know it's out of hand when it's commonplace for marketing copy to say "Fucking use our product, bitch!"
- bane 14y agoI think that happened in the 90s in the video game market. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/Daikatana_ad_-_John_Romero_is_about_to_make_you_his_bitch_-_Suck_it_down.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/Daikatana_ad_-...
- TillE 14y agoYeah, that was not well-received. Though the problem really isn't the "bad language", it's the deliberate rape metaphor that makes it tasteless at best.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- diego 14y agoI appreciate your assessment of my intelligence based on your knowledge of my history, writing and actions. I fudging appreciate it. Or perhaps you aren't smart enough to use the word "you" correctly.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- ams6110 14y agoUsing obscenities is almost always the lazy way out. Its presence signals that whatever is being said might not be totally serious. It's a marker of casual speech, and emotional thinking.
- diego 14y agoI disagree. George Carlin was a master at it, and he was anything but lazy. As for being a marker of casual speech / emotional thinking, sometimes that's exactly what you want to convey.
- iamwil 14y agoIs that the main point of the article? Is that the most interesting point you can make after reading it? Just because something minor in the article offends some semblence of sensibility in you doesn't make it a good topic of discussion on HN. In fact, it's just a knee-jerk reaction from you, and if anything, you're just trolling.
- dkrich 14y agoThe article is being discussed, and certainly the words that constitute the article are fair game. I use profanity all the time. I love it. I go to the bar to hear casual assessments riddled with profanity. I come to HN to read serious discourse. Once the author sets the tone with a title of that nature, he is speaking to his audience in a condescending way that lacks respect. It's a cheap attempt at eyeball grabbing and that is why it is annoying, not that it offends anybody's sensibilities. It's not professional and after reading the first few sentences I had lost any respect for the author, which is probably unfair but his own fault for poorly choosing his language. He's not a fucking rapper, he's guest-blogging on a tech news site. Use some fucking professionalism.
- dbecker 14y agoI would guess you are in the minority on this one, and vast majority of readers don't care about obscenities.
- jakerocheleau 14y agoFounders who end up successful usually learn this lesson early on. It's not something you can read and understand, you just need to live the lifestyle. Don't allow yourself to get distracted, complete small but manageable goals, and just go one day at a time.
- Swizec 14y agoInteresting fact, everybody goes just one day at a time. That's how time works!
- idle_processor 14y agoDon't try to constrain me with your personal measure of temporal granularity, man! Time is a continuous domain, so they don't really go one anything at a time. (Well, unless physiology is shown to have some kind of fundamental clock period.)
- iamwil 14y agoI think one of the things that I find hard to do wrt to time management is whether to take meetings or not. I've tried both ends: both taking all meetings, and taking no meetings. I've found that taking all meetings, the vast majority of them aren't useful (to them or to me). In taking no meetings, I was able to focus, but I do wonder what could have been. So where's the middle ground? Usually, I find that my default stance is 'no'. I have work to do, and I have to guard my time. So I'll only take meetings that are interesting. But I think after reading this, I'll have to also add 'need genuine help' to the criteria. I think something that Stammy could have added under "Workdays are Sacred" is how to say 'no'. What if it's a warm intro to someone that doesn't heed genuine help?
- trhaynes 14y agoHow about just telling everyone that wants to meet that you work from (for example) some coffee shop from 3-5 on Thursdays? Then you can work or meet with the people that come. And nobody is "scheduled" so if three people show up then things will just work out. Or maybe you'll introduce them to each other if the meeting isn't useful. I've heard people call this "office hours" too.
- j45 14y agoThis can work well. I usually take Fridays to do this kind of thing, or maybe Monday mornings if it fits better.
- MaxGabriel 14y agoThat would also have the advantage of letting you get more feedback. Maybe websites don't have this problem as much, because the interactions are more standard and it's easier to gather data, but seeing 3 people use your iPhone app is a pretty big data point for UI.
- j45 14y agoIf you guard your time you won't make connections that make your limited time multiply through the help of others. Likewise you can probably do a little for someone that would help them a lot forward. Don't take meeting when you have work to do. If someone is asking for a meeting so someone can be a witness to their existence, push it to the weekend and take only the most interesting. If there's something concrete you can fill them in on, or be helped with, be concise, clear and direct about it. There's a lot about startups that you can, and should be learning on your own all the time. Work meetings can be doubled up during events, lunch, or coffee. Keep it on topic and on time. Getting together after work is an option too, it doesn't interrupt working time.
- Vekz 14y agoWhat was the observable behavior recognized in your colleagues that prompted the judgement of them slacking off?
- endlessvoid94 14y agoI would also love to know this.
- draggnar 14y agoMe too. it appears that the author is talking about the author's friends' startup, not his own. This doesn't seem to be about actual work habits but the perceived work habits of friends that go to meetups and try to act all "cool".
- _delirium 14y agoSome of this is good, but I don't really like this particular bit: Think about the opportunity cost here. You could be off making six figures but you decided to swing for the fences with your startup. That takes guts. So why would you slack off and waste time? Maybe you didn't leave the 6-figure job solely to "swing for the fences", but also because you wanted a different lifestyle? I know "lifestyle businesses" are perennially unpopular in parts of SV, but part of the whole point of being your own boss is that you really can choose to, say, spend 10% of your workweek attending meetups, even if it doesn't produce a monetary ROI, and you don't have to justify it to your employer. One thing I do agree with in that regard is that it's worth making sure you aren't doing things just because they feel productive, but really aren't, which endless meetings can sometimes fall into. But, participating in interesting communities and culture can be worth its own opportunity-cost price of admission.
- drumdance 14y ago+100. I can tell the guy writing this essay is young. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'd love to be young again too. But when I look back over my twenties I don't find myself wishing I had worked more hours on my startup.
- fearless 14y agoWas your startup successful? Knowing that would help readers decide whether your advice is credible.
- jcc80 14y agoThat would be interesting but anecdotal. It wouldn't establish credibility of the advice one way or the other. Similar to survivorship bias examples. Most famous example I can think of is the 37Signals guys. DHH has talked about how he wasn't exactly burning the midnight oil when he built Basecamp, but instead did it part-time. That worked for him but may not for others. Beyond that, it depends on what you value in life. The commenter probably doesn't care about being the richest guy in the cemetery while someone else may be obsessed with keeping score. Not saying one way is better than another - to each his own.
- aragnu 14y agoAs someone who has been struggling to get my first startup off the ground, this is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you. And my own piece of advice: if you've been trying (unsuccessfully) to launch your first company, listen to what this article is saying. Stop fighting, stop arguing, stop counter-pointing. Just listen for once. And then Do.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Rhino55 14y agoDamn it feels good to be a gangsta A real gangsta-ass nigga plays his cards right A real gangsta-ass nigga never runs his fuckin mouth 'cause real gangsta-ass niggas don't start fights And niggas always gotta high cap Showin' all his boys how he shot em But real gangsta-ass niggas don't flex nuts 'cause real gangsta-ass niggas know they got em And everythings cool in the mind of a gangsta 'cause gangsta-ass niggas think deep Up three-sixty-five a year 24/7 'cause real gangsta ass niggas don't sleep
- jamesjguthrie 14y agoI think I'm going to get my fiancee to tell me once every day - "stop fucking around!"
- Rhino55 14y agoSo I post the first verse of "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" by the geto boys, and I see it gets censored. I'm pissed. This is, in my opinion, brilliant commentary on the OP displaying my genius and superior wit. And I see how far this gets me. Your small mind can't grasp what I'm trying to communicate, so you shut it out. That's a shame, because if you listened, you would understand the deeper meaning of all of this back and forth. But I see how it is, you can't handle anything that isn't sanitized. Pity.
- Zelphyr 14y agoCan't we just say "Fucking"? That little * in place of the "u" isn't fooling anyone.
- jorisw 14y agoTC;DR.