6 ms·

I'm an idiot. I quit my dream job to become an entrepreneur...

22 points by wylonis 13y ago

pskittle 13y ago
Would you do it again, rather what would you do differently.
- wylonis 13y ago
  I would do it over and over again. I'll tell you why - building a business from the bottom with a group of guys just creates the most amazing comradery and although we have had a LOT of tough all-nighters and too many Roman noodles, we have grown the business together.
  - acangiano 13y ago
    I think you mean Ramen. Roman noodles is just pasta you eat by the Tiber. :)
    - wylonis 13y ago
      hahaha - yep! :) Sorry bout that!
    - stronglikedan 13y ago
      Maybe he imported noodles from Rome? ...these fancy entrepreneurs and their start-up monies.
robogrowth 13y ago
your project sounds incredibly smart, congrats and good luck! For someone like myself who is very tall, but somewhat small in the waste for my height I have a hard time finding clothes. 36/34 jeans are near impossible. I'll give it a shot once you launch!
- wylonis 13y ago
  Thanks Rob - appreciate your kind words. You could also just shoot me an email after you sign up and take the short body quiz, and ill be sure to bump you :)
- testermark 13y ago
  hmm... I'm normally 34/36 (w/l), they are usually on stock and my size hasn't changed in the last ~20y. But actually I like 34/37 more with some shoes. The 34/38 jeans were rather hard to find, and then I had them custom shortened a bit. Now someone make more tall ladies please... ;-)
  - wylonis 13y ago
    It's really odd - seems like this post was taken down for 30 minutes and re-posted when i had dropped? I've only been on here for 2 weeks - is that normal?
not_paul_graham 13y ago
I mistook this site to be that of Mark Suster [0] at first glance. Pretty similar domain names. Just fyi for others. [0] http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/ http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/
a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
I remember reading many years ago about some retailer initiatives from the likes of LL Bean to offer in store body scans. Then you could order online with confidence that what you were ordering fit on your 3D wireframe. I guess that never panned out. It would be great.
marknutter 13y ago
> Ok, so I work 80 hours per week - it just doesn’t feel like it. Working 80 hours per week only sucks if you’re working on something you aren’t passionate about. Trust me, I’ve tried that. This isn't sustainable. It's likely not healthy, either. It doesn't matter how fun you're having while you work 80 hours per week, it's not good for you. Most successful businesses grind away for years before they finally become profitable. The rocket-ship success stories like Whatsapp and Instagram are the exception to that rule. The whole mentality that you need to work yourself to the bone in the name of "passion" to build a successful business is poisonous. Even if you happen to be one of these super humans that can sustain that amount of work more than a year it's likely that your co-workers are not. It's also likely that they will not complain about it because they don't want to seem like the weak link. All the while, though, it will do damage to them and to the company in the long term. Maybe working 80 hours a week is a sign that you're over-engineering. Simplify, focus, and work less. The product will likely become more focused, less bloated, and have a much better chance of surviving over the long haul.
- blisterpeanuts 13y ago
  But sometimes, there's just that much work to do, and in a 5 or 6 person company, the work load is just that much greater while they're bootstrapping their way to a product.
  - wylonis 13y ago
    Exactly. AT an early stage, the product goes through a ton of changes and when they happen the team often needs to work even more to catch up. Having a team that's willing to go through that kind of pressure and still keep truckin' improves the odds of success.
- acconrad 13y ago
  And to be fair WhatsApp has been around for years...most of these "rocketship" companies aren't in fact rocket ships and take years before they become famous, and then once they're famous gain traction seemingly very quickly.
- 13y ago
ebbv 13y ago
The only part of this article I agree with is the title. > If you’re in doubt then you probably aren’t made out to be an entrepreneur anyway. This kind of attitude is so childish and stupid it's hard to put into words.
qwerta 13y ago
... probably yes, ask that question again in 10 years. I bootstrapped because I had to stay at home with new born baby. I took my open-source hobby project and turned it into business. Work load, working hours, and money are similar to my previous job. I only miss my old colleagues.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
segmondy 13y ago
The human mind has an amazing way of copping, there are few stupid things that I've ever done that my mind never found a way to rationalize and justify. From the simple things just as eating that extra cookie or not working out to extremely important things like deciding if college is good or career decisions. If we couldn't justify it and cope, we do lose our mind. I don't have my dream job, and I'm not about to quit it to be an entrepreneur. If I had my dream job, I wouldn't quit it either. I need more to be an entrepreneur, and I'm not there yet.

22 points by wylonis 13y ago

pskittle 13y ago

Would you do it again, rather what would you do differently.

wylonis 13y ago
I would do it over and over again. I'll tell you why - building a business from the bottom with a group of guys just creates the most amazing comradery and although we have had a LOT of tough all-nighters and too many Roman noodles, we have grown the business together.
- acangiano 13y ago
  I think you mean Ramen. Roman noodles is just pasta you eat by the Tiber. :)
  - wylonis 13y ago
    hahaha - yep! :) Sorry bout that!
  - stronglikedan 13y ago
    Maybe he imported noodles from Rome? ...these fancy entrepreneurs and their start-up monies.

robogrowth 13y ago

your project sounds incredibly smart, congrats and good luck! For someone like myself who is very tall, but somewhat small in the waste for my height I have a hard time finding clothes. 36/34 jeans are near impossible. I'll give it a shot once you launch!

wylonis 13y ago
Thanks Rob - appreciate your kind words. You could also just shoot me an email after you sign up and take the short body quiz, and ill be sure to bump you :)
testermark 13y ago
hmm... I'm normally 34/36 (w/l), they are usually on stock and my size hasn't changed in the last ~20y. But actually I like 34/37 more with some shoes. The 34/38 jeans were rather hard to find, and then I had them custom shortened a bit. Now someone make more tall ladies please... ;-)
- wylonis 13y ago
  It's really odd - seems like this post was taken down for 30 minutes and re-posted when i had dropped? I've only been on here for 2 weeks - is that normal?

not_paul_graham 13y ago

I mistook this site to be that of Mark Suster [0] at first glance. Pretty similar domain names. Just fyi for others. [0] http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/ http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/

a8da6b0c91d 13y ago

I remember reading many years ago about some retailer initiatives from the likes of LL Bean to offer in store body scans. Then you could order online with confidence that what you were ordering fit on your 3D wireframe. I guess that never panned out. It would be great.

marknutter 13y ago

> Ok, so I work 80 hours per week - it just doesn’t feel like it. Working 80 hours per week only sucks if you’re working on something you aren’t passionate about. Trust me, I’ve tried that. This isn't sustainable. It's likely not healthy, either. It doesn't matter how fun you're having while you work 80 hours per week, it's not good for you. Most successful businesses grind away for years before they finally become profitable. The rocket-ship success stories like Whatsapp and Instagram are the exception to that rule. The whole mentality that you need to work yourself to the bone in the name of "passion" to build a successful business is poisonous. Even if you happen to be one of these super humans that can sustain that amount of work more than a year it's likely that your co-workers are not. It's also likely that they will not complain about it because they don't want to seem like the weak link. All the while, though, it will do damage to them and to the company in the long term. Maybe working 80 hours a week is a sign that you're over-engineering. Simplify, focus, and work less. The product will likely become more focused, less bloated, and have a much better chance of surviving over the long haul.

blisterpeanuts 13y ago
But sometimes, there's just that much work to do, and in a 5 or 6 person company, the work load is just that much greater while they're bootstrapping their way to a product.
- wylonis 13y ago
  Exactly. AT an early stage, the product goes through a ton of changes and when they happen the team often needs to work even more to catch up. Having a team that's willing to go through that kind of pressure and still keep truckin' improves the odds of success.
acconrad 13y ago
And to be fair WhatsApp has been around for years...most of these "rocketship" companies aren't in fact rocket ships and take years before they become famous, and then once they're famous gain traction seemingly very quickly.
13y ago

ebbv 13y ago

The only part of this article I agree with is the title. > If you’re in doubt then you probably aren’t made out to be an entrepreneur anyway. This kind of attitude is so childish and stupid it's hard to put into words.

qwerta 13y ago

... probably yes, ask that question again in 10 years. I bootstrapped because I had to stay at home with new born baby. I took my open-source hobby project and turned it into business. Work load, working hours, and money are similar to my previous job. I only miss my old colleagues.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

segmondy 13y ago

The human mind has an amazing way of copping, there are few stupid things that I've ever done that my mind never found a way to rationalize and justify. From the simple things just as eating that extra cookie or not working out to extremely important things like deciding if college is good or career decisions. If we couldn't justify it and cope, we do lose our mind. I don't have my dream job, and I'm not about to quit it to be an entrepreneur. If I had my dream job, I wouldn't quit it either. I need more to be an entrepreneur, and I'm not there yet.