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"I didn't care enough about money to run a startup." There's the rub. A startup cannot be about the money - it's about changing the world and the way people li
by austenallred 14y ago
"I didn't care enough about money to run a startup."
There's the rub. A startup cannot be about the money - it's about changing the world and the way people live. If you are already doing that and feel fulfilled in your job (which most entrepreneurs simply can't), then more power to you.
You don't start a company for the sake of starting a company, you start a company because a startup is the only possible means by which you can bring to pass the change you want to see in the world and live the lifestyle you want to live. Michael Arrington compared it to becoming a pirate. "The potential for riches was just an argument for the venture. But the real payoff was the pirate life itself."
That having been said, I love the refreshing honesty about the reality of startup failure. A small part of me wishes more people wrote the stories of their failure; TechCrunch would be 90% people running through savings and eating ramen and 10% successful exits. Thank you for giving a real perspective into what entrepreneurship can be like.
- michaelt 14y agoThere's the rub. A startup cannot be about the money - it's about changing the world and the way people live. My reading of the post wasn't that the guy only cared about money - just that a start up operates in the intersection of exciting world changing technology and commercially viable technology. And the guy's exciting world-changing ideas weren't his commercially viable ideas.
- Schwolop 14y agoMore the opposite - I care about money only to the extent that it allows me to stay out of trouble. I don't want to be a millionaire, I'd just like $5M sitting in a bank account at 5% so I don't ever have to think about money again. The technologies/products I was exploring - while awesome, some verifiably so according to the customers we spoke with - weren't likely to lead to profitable businesses. I had to learn the difference between a good idea and a good business model. This is a valuable lesson for any entrepreneur. As something to play around with as a hobby or technology demo they're still great ideas, but as businesses they're not viable (and in one case, perhaps just not yet.)
- austenallred 14y agoAh, I definitely read that wrong. That's a whole different dilemma if the issue is, "I love this technology but it's more than the market will bear." So will you go back to your old job? I know you have a runway for a while should you choose to use it...
- NDizzle 14y agoIt's really hard to get funding for companies/ideas/products that change the world and the way people live. Especially if the product involves tangible goods. You either have to have super rich friends or be a member of the old boys club. Alternately, you can just stick to making software that contributes to the current feedback loop.