6 ms·

Ask HN: Am I crazy?

89 points by amohr 17y ago

So I just graduated college in the spring and I have about $1500 in savings that I could spend on the deposit + rent/moving expenses for an apartment somewhere and continue looking for a job, but something in me is telling me there's a better way. I have a plan, but I want to see if you guys think I'm crazy (If HN thinks it's too out there, then I know I'm off-base) or if I'm going to need more money or what. I have known for some time that there's something different in the brain of an entrepreneur that changes the way they see the world, and I want to find out what that is. So I want to set out to find entrepreneurs, either through appointment or serendipity, and spend a little time with them. Just get to know how they decided to do what they do, what keeps them going, what their hopes and dreams are, etc. I posit that there's commonalities to be found there and a lot of insight to be gained from those commonalities. My contacts are somewhat slim, and it would probably be reasonable to spend a few years building up more, but something tells me now is the time to do this and it's getting harder and harder to ignore. I spent some time as a freelance writer, so I believe I can make the result compelling and interesting. But there's a lot of things I need to work out, and this is where I need your help: - Do I have enough money to do this long enough to produce anything of substance? (numbers at the end of the post) - How should I publish this? It could be a blog that I update regularly, an ebook that I put together as I go, a physical book (leaning away from this for many reasons) or some combination thereof? - Can I somehow monetize this as I'm working on it so as to extend my trip? - How should I pitch the project to potential subjects? Free publicity? Altruism? Numbers: A trip from Chicago(where I live) to NY, boston, New Orleans, Austin, SF, Seattle, back to chicago is 7695 miles. I'm thinking $700 for gas, oil changes, and some other tune-up stuff before I leave/along the way. If I eliminate the west coast, this drops to around 4000 miles, If I just do SF and Seattle (this is probably what I'll end up doing) I end up with around 5000 miles. I have no aversion to couch surfing, sleeping in my car or camping, all of which I've done plenty of. With around 5 days of pure driving, I can spend a month doing this at just over $20/day to spend on food/bribery. My hope would be to get around 15-20 case studies of at least an hour or so interview time, plus maybe shadowing and secondary interviews. Though this is flexible. I think this would be enough for a worthwhile product. So. Am I crazy? Should I do it? Suggestions? Volunteers? Donations...? Also, you can email me at alex |at| mohrslaws.com

revorad 17y ago
Not quite the same thing but Sean Aiken did something similar - http://www.oneweekjob.com/ http://www.oneweekjob.com/ Sounds like fun.
tmikew 17y ago
Do some research on a fellow by the name of Napolean Hill you may find it interesting. You will not likely have a better opportunity than now to do this. It sounds fun to me and I am an old guy. I keep wondering. Why would you not also earn a little money along the way as needed? Doing whatever.
rman666 17y ago
Heck, tell the entrepreneurs your interviewing your story and ask if you can sleep in their offices for the night. You'll probably get the real story if you spend a few hours with them after hours anyway. Aye, [do your tour-of-interviews] and you may [go broke]. [Stay home], and you'll [save $20/day] ... at least a while. And [loosing your soul] in your [cubicle], many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and [do your tour-of-interviews] and tell [our corporate overlords] that they may take our [souls], but they'll never take... OUR [DREAMS]!
bufordtwain 17y ago
You might be a little crazy. Why don't you put the money in the bank for now and find some entrepreneurs to talk to in Chicago instead of chasing all over the place? You have 37signals in Chicago and Adrian Holovaty of Django/Everyblock and that's just off the top of my head. If you want to go on the road that could be fun as well but just saying.
- 3ds 17y ago
  Exactly! There are probably hundreds of interesting people where you live you could talk to and you wouldn't have to spend so much money on the trip. You really should just try the whole interview thing at least once or twice before you head off.
jacoblyles 17y ago

anamax 17y ago

You need to be able to convince your interviewees to participate. What's in it for them? See http://scobleizer.com/ http://scobleizer.com/ for someone else who has solved that problem. One problem is timing. It's not sufficient to turn the interviews into enough money, you have to make that happen at the right time. I think that your budget is a bit low, but that doesn't mean that this will be more doable later or that it's not doable now.

amohr 17y ago
Yeah, this is the thing that's really bugging me. I don't want to bank on people just inherently wanting to share their story and calling in favors. I've got a couple weeks before I can realistically set out, and that will probably be haunting my thoughts the whole time. Hopefully, I could offer enough exposure to present an incentive, but this only really works for the less established.
- lsc 17y ago
  then focus on the less established. there are plenty of really interesting businesses in the 'exchange goods and/or services for money' category that have zero chance (and sometimes less interest) of getting venture capital. Even those that get seed capital are usually interested in talking with interesting people... and if you do this right you will end up with a lot of contacts, and thus be a very valuable person, even without publicity. There is a lot of value to be had in saying "oh, I talked to this other guy last week who was doing something that would complement your product or service."
  - anamax 17y ago
    Second the "focus on the less established". I suspect that you'll get better stories from folks who didn't get VC funding. Lots of writers try to get stories from people who are likely to become famous or already are, but the others are likely to have better stories. Also, many people want their story told, not for biz reasons, but because the think that their life has something useful to show other people. The guy who wrote "The Soul of the New Machine" says that some of the managers said later that having someone around to chronicle the effort improved the experience. He wasn't sure if they were joking when they said that they were going to try to arrange to have a writer around the next time. In other words, think bard.

joshuarr 17y ago

You can either do it, or always wish you did. Your choice.

Frocer 17y ago
This is one of the best quotes I've read on HN. Very true! I have also seen much crazier things. A friend of mine from college who is a stand up comedian, decided to hitchhike his way from NYC to LA to "find Tom" of MySpace. He filmed his entire journey and shared it on the web. Additionally, he also crashed with all his MySpace friends the whole way so his cost is practically 0 (besides the bus tickets). It's definitely doable on an even smaller budget :) Good luck and let me know when you arrive at the valley!
- mkramlich 17y ago
  you left us hanging: did he actually find & meet Tom?
jbarciauskas 17y ago
I think there's a corollary to this - if it turns out you don't always wish you did, it probably wasn't that great. The question then becomes, how certain are you this is something you will always regret having not done?
- jhancock 17y ago
  The problem is you do not know if its something you regret until you have the regret. From my experience, the more regrets you accumulate, the more you learn to not have them and enjoy the process of life.
  - dpcan 17y ago
    He doesn't have to "regret" having not done it, just "wish" he had done it for it to torment him forever.
    - jhancock 17y ago
      I don't mean regret having "not" done it. I'm talking about regrets from doing things and "failing" or fear of that happening.
- stavrianos 17y ago
  there's a simple experiment for this- just put off doing it for some length of time and measure your regret at intervals. After waiting long enough that you're pretty sure you'll regret it forever, you can do it.
ScottBev 17y ago
You sound like you have nothing holding you down and a great trip ahead of you. Once the job and bills start rolling in it becomes more difficult to break away and do it. Not impossible, just more difficult. Just do it! I'd recommend doing the west coast bit if you leaning that way. My way would be Chicago -> Seattle -> San Fran.If time and money and/or your desire permit then swing down the south for Austin -> New Orleans -> NY -> Boston.