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The US already has the most lenient bankruptcy law in the world. It already has the highest "social tolerance" for entrepreneurial failure. I'm in great health

by arohner 14y ago

The US already has the most lenient bankruptcy law in the world. It already has the highest "social tolerance" for entrepreneurial failure. I'm in great health, and young, so I'm not worried about saving for retirement (yet). But starting a company is still really damned hard. It's years of hard work, too much time at the office, too much time away from friends and family. Too much fear that tomorrow no customers will show up, or they'll go to your competitors or you'll find our your DB backups don't work and you have to go out of business. It's fear that you're not managing employees correctly, or not hiring the right people, or not prioritizing the right things. The government can't make any of those things go away. And the only issue it could help is money, which has terrible downsides to go along with it.

shykes 14y ago
As an entrepreneur I agree that it's very hard and not everybody is cut for it. But I also believe a lot of people who are cut for it might never find out, because they are not given an opportunity to try. Improving healthcare coverage for aspiring entrepreneurs would level the playing field and expand the pool of potential entrepreneurs. And that would in turn create more wealth for all of us to enjoy.
- arohner 14y ago
  I agree we need a better healthcare system. My point was that starting a successful company would still be hard, even if health insurance was taken out of the equation. It'd probably still be hard even if making rent was taken out as well.
jeffool 14y ago
Speaking of bankruptcy laws, I wonder how the ballooning student debt (which cannot be dismissed through bankruptcy) plays into that. Anecdotal, but, did (m)any people here on HN graduate and then start a business while still in debt with student loans?
- jacoblyles 14y ago
  I started a business with a ton of student loans (almost 6 figures). I actually took out an extra student loan I didn't need and put it into Apple stock, using the gains to last another two months. And then I went into credit card debt. I don't recommend doing all that. You can put away $20k pretty easily working in the Valley. That would be much less stressful.
- cobrausn 14y ago
  Speaking as someone with over six figures of student debt (doh) and trying to do a startup at the same time, I'll say this much: I will, so long as I am as far in debt as I am, never go without a good paying day job. This means I am restricted to working on my startup for about 20 hours a week, and only after putting in a 40 hour work week. I can probably only pull this off because I have no kids and a fairly independent wife who will tolerate it if I spend every sunday working all day. Progress is slow, but I don't really have another option with student loan minimums over 1k a month.

by arohner 14y ago

shykes 14y ago

As an entrepreneur I agree that it's very hard and not everybody is cut for it. But I also believe a lot of people who are cut for it might never find out, because they are not given an opportunity to try. Improving healthcare coverage for aspiring entrepreneurs would level the playing field and expand the pool of potential entrepreneurs. And that would in turn create more wealth for all of us to enjoy.

arohner 14y ago
I agree we need a better healthcare system. My point was that starting a successful company would still be hard, even if health insurance was taken out of the equation. It'd probably still be hard even if making rent was taken out as well.

jeffool 14y ago

Speaking of bankruptcy laws, I wonder how the ballooning student debt (which cannot be dismissed through bankruptcy) plays into that. Anecdotal, but, did (m)any people here on HN graduate and then start a business while still in debt with student loans?

jacoblyles 14y ago
I started a business with a ton of student loans (almost 6 figures). I actually took out an extra student loan I didn't need and put it into Apple stock, using the gains to last another two months. And then I went into credit card debt. I don't recommend doing all that. You can put away $20k pretty easily working in the Valley. That would be much less stressful.
cobrausn 14y ago
Speaking as someone with over six figures of student debt (doh) and trying to do a startup at the same time, I'll say this much: I will, so long as I am as far in debt as I am, never go without a good paying day job. This means I am restricted to working on my startup for about 20 hours a week, and only after putting in a 40 hour work week. I can probably only pull this off because I have no kids and a fairly independent wife who will tolerate it if I spend every sunday working all day. Progress is slow, but I don't really have another option with student loan minimums over 1k a month.