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Bah Humbug (please excuse me, it's just a seasonal expression). While I can feel your pain, this story has nothing to do with SV - it's the story of an entrepre

Bah Humbug (please excuse me, it's just a seasonal expression). While I can feel your pain, this story has nothing to do with SV - it's the story of an entrepreneur. The same story exists in every state in the U.S. and every major city (and most small ones) in the world. Entrepreneurship is very hard. I'm 41 y/o and bootstrapped my first internet company at 24. I owned a nice home, a beautiful vacation (lake) home, a big office building, 2 Mercedes Benz (wife's SUV, my car) & an awesome FICO score before I was 29. It all went away (except for my primary home) by the time I was 35. As entrepreneurs we believe that the charts will always go up and to the right (we can't help it) - but they don't. This year, after TEN (10) F'ING YEARS of working on what everyone in SV would label a little "life style business," we hit $1M+ in revenue. I am confident we will hit $2M+ next year and $100M eventually. Our company is debt free and my co-founder (and best friend since kindergarten) own 100% of the company. My point: It's not easy. We have been working very, very hard for TEN (10) F'ING YEARS on this thing. I lost almost everything along the way...but I never, ever stopped believing in what we were building. When you hear those billionaires claim that "perseverance" is the key to success - listen to them, they are telling you the truth.

the_cat_kittles 14y ago
Well said. I was struggling today with my art, and your words resonated- the truth is deeper than entrepreneurship. I realized that for the millionth time, I was expecting something to be easy, and it never is. It always helps to hear real life stories, thank you.
kposehn 14y ago
Well put.
mav3r1ck 14y ago
The whole point of Monty Python's "Dark Night" sketch was because Cleese wanted to show the ridiculousness of the statement of "always persevere". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight_(Monty_Python) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight_(Monty_Python) I agree with your statements and am glad to hear you're doing well, but I think that sometimes, it is wiser to know when to stop and take a long, hard look at what you are actually best at. But at least most Silicon Valley startups don't make quadriplegics out of survivors.
jseliger 14y ago
>I owned a nice home, a beautiful vacation (lake) home, a big office building, 2 Mercedes Benz (wife's SUV, my car) [. . .] It all went away (except for my primary home) by the time I was 35. One lesson here might be to not buy the fancy, expensive stuff and the lifestyle that goes with it. I bet things would've been a lot smoother with fewer gee-gaws and more cash in the bank.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  Yes, ideally you should earn as much money as possible, and spend as little as possible. Money only does you any good when you don't spend it.
  - arethuza 14y ago
    Though, if you never do anything with your money then it's pretty pointless.
    - sliverstorm 14y ago
      That's what I was attempting to sarcastically point out :)
      - arethuza 14y ago
        Sorry, I'm British so I have to turn my sarcasm detector off to read HN!
    - jseliger 14y ago
      I get the point here, and I'm not advocating never spending money or doing anything with your money, but the vacation house and expensive cars seem like unforced errors that don't really add much to one's life, especially relative to their costs.
- beambot 14y ago
  Indeed. To put it another way: when your income variance is high, averaging (smoothing out expenses) seems pretty important -- at least, it would be to me. Calling a cavalier lifestyle intrinsic to entrepreneurs (in general) seems misplaced. It sounds more OP's individual choice.
cageface 14y ago
This is exactly why I'd discourage anybody from doing a startup unless they really enjoy the challenge and independence of running a startup for its own sake. If you run the odds and compare them against expected returns for a more conservative tech career it just doesn't make sense. Personally, I did the startup thing twice, struck out twice, and don't intend to try again.
larrys 14y ago
I like your points in general and agree but with regard to this statement: "it's the story of an entrepreneur." I think there is a big difference. The life of an entrepreneur doesn't have anywhere near the echo chamber that is on the web especially with regards to tech and silicon valley (and as the OP says "Initially it was everything you read on Hacker News"). Yesterday in fact on HN there were all sorts of high fives over a list of "30 under 30" of dubious origins (no mention of the "expert" judges that picked them). PG was right up there with the congrats as well on that. Back in the day, we had articles in Inc. Magazine (the 80's) and some people read "Entrepreneur" and there was an article here and there in the local newspaper and it was probably more about someone who worked hard then got lucky. I was actually featured in one of those articles and of course it was 7 day a week work as well as luck. But it was definitely not "hit out of the ball park" like you read about today. (I was able to buy a Mercedes at 25 iirc and that was back when they were not as ubiquitous). So there were much less dreamers and more realistic people that entered entrepreneurship then you have now.
nhebb 14y ago
Your comments are an inspiration, but I think they are tangential to the blog post. The way I read it, I think the OP is addressing the Bravo TV show http://www.bravotv.com/start-ups-silicon-valley http://www.bravotv.com/start-ups-silicon-valley. I was able to make it through about 5 minutes of the show. It's all hipster fluff and pretty faces.
gavanwoolery 14y ago
During any gold rush, there are a small amount of people that get rich and many who don't. The only ones who are guaranteed a small fortune are the ones who sell the tools to the miners. Maybe not the best abstraction, but in this case the company I work at does not do anything except for build products that other people ask for (namely, iPhone/Android apps). We raised $0 in capital, started as a one-person company, and grew to 10 people (a bit under 20 with our contractors) in 2 years, several million in gross revenue this year. We have no debt, owe nobody equity, and make all our own decisions (at the cost of working for the occasionally difficult client). Everybody at the company usually works 40 hours a week at most, although I sometimes do up to 80 in light of my stupidly overkill work ethic. We don't have a product, and we don't have an exit, but we are making real money at least an can perhaps bootstrap our own products at some point. (I think 37 Signals did this? Not sure...)
- killerdark 14y ago
  There's more ways of doing it. I might be sitting across the street from you right now, doing 35 hour work weeks for a fortune 500 company, riding the SV income bubble and pulling in $150K a year as a sysadmin that keeps your oh so trendy cloud up in the air (Up, up in the air! Light as a bubble in the wind!), while living a $50K lifestyle. Couple more years and I'll be down south, daydreaming about those good old days full of taking risks (I took the stairs last week!) and how I miss the company gym and free massages, while I'm sipping from my non-alcoholic beverage on a beach somewhere, and considering finally getting my college degree.
oscargrouch 14y ago
i think the "come to silicon valley to become a entrepreneur" myth its looking the same as the 30´s "come to hollywood to became a movie star" myth.. The majority of those girls ended coming back to their little towns or showing the boobs in night clubs.. Why with the entrepreneur myth would be any different?
devgutt 14y ago
My reply is a little too late, but I'd like to thank you, such inspiring history...I'd love to hear more about you would do different and what would avoid.

the_cat_kittles 14y ago

Well said. I was struggling today with my art, and your words resonated- the truth is deeper than entrepreneurship. I realized that for the millionth time, I was expecting something to be easy, and it never is. It always helps to hear real life stories, thank you.

kposehn 14y ago

Well put.

mav3r1ck 14y ago

The whole point of Monty Python's "Dark Night" sketch was because Cleese wanted to show the ridiculousness of the statement of "always persevere". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight_(Monty_Python) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight_(Monty_Python) I agree with your statements and am glad to hear you're doing well, but I think that sometimes, it is wiser to know when to stop and take a long, hard look at what you are actually best at. But at least most Silicon Valley startups don't make quadriplegics out of survivors.

jseliger 14y ago

>I owned a nice home, a beautiful vacation (lake) home, a big office building, 2 Mercedes Benz (wife's SUV, my car) [. . .] It all went away (except for my primary home) by the time I was 35. One lesson here might be to not buy the fancy, expensive stuff and the lifestyle that goes with it. I bet things would've been a lot smoother with fewer gee-gaws and more cash in the bank.

sliverstorm 14y ago
Yes, ideally you should earn as much money as possible, and spend as little as possible. Money only does you any good when you don't spend it.
- arethuza 14y ago
  Though, if you never do anything with your money then it's pretty pointless.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    That's what I was attempting to sarcastically point out :)
    - arethuza 14y ago
      Sorry, I'm British so I have to turn my sarcasm detector off to read HN!
  - jseliger 14y ago
    I get the point here, and I'm not advocating never spending money or doing anything with your money, but the vacation house and expensive cars seem like unforced errors that don't really add much to one's life, especially relative to their costs.
beambot 14y ago
Indeed. To put it another way: when your income variance is high, averaging (smoothing out expenses) seems pretty important -- at least, it would be to me. Calling a cavalier lifestyle intrinsic to entrepreneurs (in general) seems misplaced. It sounds more OP's individual choice.

cageface 14y ago

This is exactly why I'd discourage anybody from doing a startup unless they really enjoy the challenge and independence of running a startup for its own sake. If you run the odds and compare them against expected returns for a more conservative tech career it just doesn't make sense. Personally, I did the startup thing twice, struck out twice, and don't intend to try again.

larrys 14y ago

I like your points in general and agree but with regard to this statement: "it's the story of an entrepreneur." I think there is a big difference. The life of an entrepreneur doesn't have anywhere near the echo chamber that is on the web especially with regards to tech and silicon valley (and as the OP says "Initially it was everything you read on Hacker News"). Yesterday in fact on HN there were all sorts of high fives over a list of "30 under 30" of dubious origins (no mention of the "expert" judges that picked them). PG was right up there with the congrats as well on that. Back in the day, we had articles in Inc. Magazine (the 80's) and some people read "Entrepreneur" and there was an article here and there in the local newspaper and it was probably more about someone who worked hard then got lucky. I was actually featured in one of those articles and of course it was 7 day a week work as well as luck. But it was definitely not "hit out of the ball park" like you read about today. (I was able to buy a Mercedes at 25 iirc and that was back when they were not as ubiquitous). So there were much less dreamers and more realistic people that entered entrepreneurship then you have now.

nhebb 14y ago

Your comments are an inspiration, but I think they are tangential to the blog post. The way I read it, I think the OP is addressing the Bravo TV show http://www.bravotv.com/start-ups-silicon-valley http://www.bravotv.com/start-ups-silicon-valley. I was able to make it through about 5 minutes of the show. It's all hipster fluff and pretty faces.

gavanwoolery 14y ago

During any gold rush, there are a small amount of people that get rich and many who don't. The only ones who are guaranteed a small fortune are the ones who sell the tools to the miners. Maybe not the best abstraction, but in this case the company I work at does not do anything except for build products that other people ask for (namely, iPhone/Android apps). We raised $0 in capital, started as a one-person company, and grew to 10 people (a bit under 20 with our contractors) in 2 years, several million in gross revenue this year. We have no debt, owe nobody equity, and make all our own decisions (at the cost of working for the occasionally difficult client). Everybody at the company usually works 40 hours a week at most, although I sometimes do up to 80 in light of my stupidly overkill work ethic. We don't have a product, and we don't have an exit, but we are making real money at least an can perhaps bootstrap our own products at some point. (I think 37 Signals did this? Not sure...)

killerdark 14y ago
There's more ways of doing it. I might be sitting across the street from you right now, doing 35 hour work weeks for a fortune 500 company, riding the SV income bubble and pulling in $150K a year as a sysadmin that keeps your oh so trendy cloud up in the air (Up, up in the air! Light as a bubble in the wind!), while living a $50K lifestyle. Couple more years and I'll be down south, daydreaming about those good old days full of taking risks (I took the stairs last week!) and how I miss the company gym and free massages, while I'm sipping from my non-alcoholic beverage on a beach somewhere, and considering finally getting my college degree.

oscargrouch 14y ago

i think the "come to silicon valley to become a entrepreneur" myth its looking the same as the 30´s "come to hollywood to became a movie star" myth.. The majority of those girls ended coming back to their little towns or showing the boobs in night clubs.. Why with the entrepreneur myth would be any different?

devgutt 14y ago

My reply is a little too late, but I'd like to thank you, such inspiring history...I'd love to hear more about you would do different and what would avoid.