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I used to encourage everyone I know to quit their job and start a company. Now, after having done just that, I no longer recommend this path. Not because I regr

by porter 12y ago

I used to encourage everyone I know to quit their job and start a company. Now, after having done just that, I no longer recommend this path. Not because I regret doing it. In fact, I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. But the road is, as the article says, about as romantic as "chewing glass." Sure, there are wonderful days when things are working even better than I had planned. But then there are also the regular sleepless nights where I wake up puking, just from the stress. And it's been like this for years. It's a great path for the right person, but if you need someone to talk you into starting a business, then you're probably not cut out to be an entrepreneur. Owning a business isn't all it's chalked up to be. Turns out it ends up owning you. And yet, there's an amazing satisfaction that comes from entrepreneurship that you just can't get by working for someone else.

acgourley 12y ago
When people ask me if they should start a company, I do a short interview with them to understand their motivation. It's usually dissatisfaction with their job combined with a grass-is-greener view of entrepreneurship. I believe in many circumstances people have a higher chance of finding happiness by pouring deliberate energy into finding a great job rather than starting their own company.
- porter 12y ago
  I quit a good banking job after making it through the recession and several rounds of layoffs. My friends thought I was nuts. I had friends take me out to lunch and tell me most people were looking for jobs, not quitting them. But I didn't quit just because I was dissatisfied. At the heart of it, I just felt like a caged animal and I knew I had to break free.
  - acgourley 12y ago
    I don't regret taking the leap, but I also didn't need to be convinced nor did I carefully ask people what they thought. It's sort of something that needs to be done because you're the right kind of crazy.
  - cageface 12y ago
    The thing I've learned from trying to be independent for four years is that you always have to answer to someone. Whether it's a boss or customers or business partners or the platform provider you depend on you are never truly "free".
    - walterbell 12y ago
      Freedom of will to choose whose will can constrain concurrency.
    - maaku 12y ago
      I don't buy this. As CEO you have the right to say "You know what Big Important Customer? You're a dick and I don't want to do business with you." That is a strategically stupid thing to do. You may not ever actually do it. But being able to do that without having to answer to anyone but yourself is enough. There's a very real psychological difference.
      - cageface 12y ago
        How is this any different from telling your boss to go fuck him/herself? Many small businesses depend on one or two big clients for their livelihood.
      - kika 12y ago
        You have the right to say this while being the lowest ranking employee in the company, not CEO. But when you're CEO, you have other people you're responsible for, you hired them and they depend on you being able to run the business so they can feed their families. Saying "fuck you" to the customer who is bringing you 10% of revenue is not what CEO can really do.
        maaku 12y ago
        The CEO is the only person who can do that. Also, DoD you read me 2nd paragraph?
- throwaway8137 12y ago
  I do a short interview with them to understand their motivation. Could you please try me? I have a good job as a software engineer at a successful start up. I am introvert and somewhat shy (although less then I used to be). I don't think many people could imagine me as a CEO. Nonetheless here are the reasons I want to start a company: - I want to do something meaningful. I don't mean curing cancer, but having small, positive impact on other people though software. My current job provides that, but only in very small, indirect way. - I need to have as much control as possible over what I work on, if my work seems pointless it's a huge demotivator for me. - My father is an successful entrepreneur and I think that rolemodel influenced me. - I dream of financial independence in my 30ies (working only when I want to). I know that this is not a good reason, but nonetheless part of my motivation. EDIT: I rewrote some of this, because my I failed to express myself in my first attempt
  - graeme 12y ago
    None of these sound like great reasons. I'm four years into starting a business. Here was my motivation: * A burning desire not to work for anyone else. * A desire, not to retire, but to free up time for all the other things I want to do. Chiefly learning. It is impossible to to convey, in writing, how badly I wanted these things. I had had a small taste of the working world, and couldn't bear the thought of it. I wanted to be free of my time. I had read the four hour workweek, and longed for income to that was mostly automatic. Your motives don't seem like mine. You sound like you might be a better candidate for this: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ That's a reasonable guide to retiring in your 30s. The author was a software engineer. He just reduced his spending and saved a high % of his salary.
    - throwaway8137 12y ago
      I think made a really wrong impression in that post. Somehow I can't really find the right words to express myself right now. While I understand the appeal of passive income, I think I would rather work 24/7 on something really meaningful. Your motives don't seem like mine. That is not necessarily a bad thing. There are many types of entrepreneurs.
paul9290 12y ago
Indeed this stuff is not easy. Here are my personal highs and lows.... Pros & Highs... - My resume is nifty; neat/awesome jobs are easy to land - Been accredited for creating first of its kind idea - Alway receiving spontaneous applause when demoing due to concepts being novel/cool - Featured in many tech publications - Receiving seed money - Winning awards at tech events - Exciting things happen for weeks in a row Lows... - Being pretty much broke & in debt - G/f of many years wants stability before kids - Doing this pretty much alone & at my age (late 30s) connecting w/local techies has been tough. Though I've tried. - Nothing going on for weeks in a row - Not able to keep cool job opportunities for more then a year. Those who hire me are cool with my start-ups then not - INSTABILITY!!! Is it worth it, for me YES, as the highs I noted above can never be experienced at 9 to 5 desk job! Though I do long for stability as I want to have a family.
davemel37 12y ago
>"then you're probably not cut out to be an entrepreneur." I don't know why, but comments like this rub me the wrong way. Not that I don't agree that entrepreneurship is extremely difficult, it is!... just that I think people have a way of surviving and developing coping mechanisms for whatever life throws at them. The fact that you have sleepness nights and puke from the stress tells me that you are not cut out for it.. yet, you are doing it...and without regrets. Humans have a way of being resilliant.There is only one measure that determines if you are cut out for it or not...and that's if you try and it ends up ruining your life. This idea that entrepreneurs tell others - that they are not cut out for doing a startup is really just a classic case of putting others down to prop yourself up. If you want to do a startup, DO IT! Don't let others talk you out of it by convincing you that you aren't cut out for it. Short of a therapist encouraging you to avoid it, I would discount that advice as an insecure founder trying to make himself feel better about coping so poorly.
- afarrell 12y ago
  We should replace that phrase with "Then you've not developed the habits and mindset to be an entrepreneur." People aren't born ready for anything but shitting and sucking nipples. They learn everything else.
vldx 12y ago
In this context, I find Charles Bukowski's poem [1] "Roll the Dice" resonating. I love to re-read it over again from time to time and remind myself that it's a long-term plan and a massive grind. [1] Roll the Dice - https://vimeo.com/78472610 https://vimeo.com/78472610 if you’re going to try, go all the way. otherwise, don’t even start. if you’re going to try, go all the way. this could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe your mind. go all the way. it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days. it could mean freezing on a park bench. it could mean jail, it could mean derision, mockery, isolation. isolation is the gift, all the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. and you’ll do it despite rejection and the worst odds and it will be better than anything else you can imagine. if you’re going to try, go all the way. there is no other feeling like that. you will be alone with the gods and the nights will flame with fire. do it, do it, do it. do it. all the way all the way. you will ride life straight to perfect laughter, its the only good fight there is.
- drvdevd 12y ago
  This is great. Thanks!
WWKong 12y ago
"And yet, there's an amazing satisfaction that comes from entrepreneurship that you just can't get by working for someone else.". Are you sure about this? For everyone? How?

by porter 12y ago

acgourley 12y ago

When people ask me if they should start a company, I do a short interview with them to understand their motivation. It's usually dissatisfaction with their job combined with a grass-is-greener view of entrepreneurship. I believe in many circumstances people have a higher chance of finding happiness by pouring deliberate energy into finding a great job rather than starting their own company.

porter 12y ago
I quit a good banking job after making it through the recession and several rounds of layoffs. My friends thought I was nuts. I had friends take me out to lunch and tell me most people were looking for jobs, not quitting them. But I didn't quit just because I was dissatisfied. At the heart of it, I just felt like a caged animal and I knew I had to break free.
- acgourley 12y ago
  I don't regret taking the leap, but I also didn't need to be convinced nor did I carefully ask people what they thought. It's sort of something that needs to be done because you're the right kind of crazy.
- cageface 12y ago
  The thing I've learned from trying to be independent for four years is that you always have to answer to someone. Whether it's a boss or customers or business partners or the platform provider you depend on you are never truly "free".
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Freedom of will to choose whose will can constrain concurrency.
  - maaku 12y ago
    I don't buy this. As CEO you have the right to say "You know what Big Important Customer? You're a dick and I don't want to do business with you." That is a strategically stupid thing to do. You may not ever actually do it. But being able to do that without having to answer to anyone but yourself is enough. There's a very real psychological difference.
    - cageface 12y ago
      How is this any different from telling your boss to go fuck him/herself? Many small businesses depend on one or two big clients for their livelihood.
    - kika 12y ago
      You have the right to say this while being the lowest ranking employee in the company, not CEO. But when you're CEO, you have other people you're responsible for, you hired them and they depend on you being able to run the business so they can feed their families. Saying "fuck you" to the customer who is bringing you 10% of revenue is not what CEO can really do.
      - maaku 12y ago
        The CEO is the only person who can do that. Also, DoD you read me 2nd paragraph?
throwaway8137 12y ago
I do a short interview with them to understand their motivation. Could you please try me? I have a good job as a software engineer at a successful start up. I am introvert and somewhat shy (although less then I used to be). I don't think many people could imagine me as a CEO. Nonetheless here are the reasons I want to start a company: - I want to do something meaningful. I don't mean curing cancer, but having small, positive impact on other people though software. My current job provides that, but only in very small, indirect way. - I need to have as much control as possible over what I work on, if my work seems pointless it's a huge demotivator for me. - My father is an successful entrepreneur and I think that rolemodel influenced me. - I dream of financial independence in my 30ies (working only when I want to). I know that this is not a good reason, but nonetheless part of my motivation. EDIT: I rewrote some of this, because my I failed to express myself in my first attempt
- graeme 12y ago
  None of these sound like great reasons. I'm four years into starting a business. Here was my motivation: * A burning desire not to work for anyone else. * A desire, not to retire, but to free up time for all the other things I want to do. Chiefly learning. It is impossible to to convey, in writing, how badly I wanted these things. I had had a small taste of the working world, and couldn't bear the thought of it. I wanted to be free of my time. I had read the four hour workweek, and longed for income to that was mostly automatic. Your motives don't seem like mine. You sound like you might be a better candidate for this: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ That's a reasonable guide to retiring in your 30s. The author was a software engineer. He just reduced his spending and saved a high % of his salary.
  - throwaway8137 12y ago
    I think made a really wrong impression in that post. Somehow I can't really find the right words to express myself right now. While I understand the appeal of passive income, I think I would rather work 24/7 on something really meaningful. Your motives don't seem like mine. That is not necessarily a bad thing. There are many types of entrepreneurs.

paul9290 12y ago

Indeed this stuff is not easy. Here are my personal highs and lows.... Pros & Highs... - My resume is nifty; neat/awesome jobs are easy to land - Been accredited for creating first of its kind idea - Alway receiving spontaneous applause when demoing due to concepts being novel/cool - Featured in many tech publications - Receiving seed money - Winning awards at tech events - Exciting things happen for weeks in a row Lows... - Being pretty much broke & in debt - G/f of many years wants stability before kids - Doing this pretty much alone & at my age (late 30s) connecting w/local techies has been tough. Though I've tried. - Nothing going on for weeks in a row - Not able to keep cool job opportunities for more then a year. Those who hire me are cool with my start-ups then not - INSTABILITY!!! Is it worth it, for me YES, as the highs I noted above can never be experienced at 9 to 5 desk job! Though I do long for stability as I want to have a family.

davemel37 12y ago

>"then you're probably not cut out to be an entrepreneur." I don't know why, but comments like this rub me the wrong way. Not that I don't agree that entrepreneurship is extremely difficult, it is!... just that I think people have a way of surviving and developing coping mechanisms for whatever life throws at them. The fact that you have sleepness nights and puke from the stress tells me that you are not cut out for it.. yet, you are doing it...and without regrets. Humans have a way of being resilliant.There is only one measure that determines if you are cut out for it or not...and that's if you try and it ends up ruining your life. This idea that entrepreneurs tell others - that they are not cut out for doing a startup is really just a classic case of putting others down to prop yourself up. If you want to do a startup, DO IT! Don't let others talk you out of it by convincing you that you aren't cut out for it. Short of a therapist encouraging you to avoid it, I would discount that advice as an insecure founder trying to make himself feel better about coping so poorly.

afarrell 12y ago
We should replace that phrase with "Then you've not developed the habits and mindset to be an entrepreneur." People aren't born ready for anything but shitting and sucking nipples. They learn everything else.

vldx 12y ago

In this context, I find Charles Bukowski's poem [1] "Roll the Dice" resonating. I love to re-read it over again from time to time and remind myself that it's a long-term plan and a massive grind. [1] Roll the Dice - https://vimeo.com/78472610 https://vimeo.com/78472610 if you’re going to try, go all the way. otherwise, don’t even start. if you’re going to try, go all the way. this could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe your mind. go all the way. it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days. it could mean freezing on a park bench. it could mean jail, it could mean derision, mockery, isolation. isolation is the gift, all the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. and you’ll do it despite rejection and the worst odds and it will be better than anything else you can imagine. if you’re going to try, go all the way. there is no other feeling like that. you will be alone with the gods and the nights will flame with fire. do it, do it, do it. do it. all the way all the way. you will ride life straight to perfect laughter, its the only good fight there is.

drvdevd 12y ago
This is great. Thanks!

WWKong 12y ago

"And yet, there's an amazing satisfaction that comes from entrepreneurship that you just can't get by working for someone else.". Are you sure about this? For everyone? How?