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Heh.. every time I read one of these 30 somethings founders (as I am) striking it rich on some buy out deal etc.. I think to myself, why the f%$k am I still c

Heh.. every time I read one of these 30 somethings founders (as I am) striking it rich on some buy out deal etc.. I think to myself, why the f%$k am I still cranking behind this desk? Then I return to work the next day oblivious and pretty much content sigh...

mtw 11y ago
because they tried hard enough?
- joshbaptiste 11y ago
  Just to point out that having a "stable" job tends to make me not try harder to push my own ideas.
- jedicoffee 11y ago
  Because they tried more times.
kyleblarson 11y ago
That's a valid question to ask yourself if you also bootstrapped a profitable newco that (so far) has generated 60mm in revs.
jerf 11y ago
If you're pretty much content... is there a problem here? If HN taught me anything, it's precisely that I am not an entrepreneur. That's not to be sneezed at... it's saved me a lot of pain and headache! (While I'm happy where I am, I could be a pretty good "very early engineering" hire.)
sageabilly 11y ago
Because some of us don't burn with firey passion in every cell of our being for whatever idea it is that we're grinding on at present, and that's OK. It's REALLY REALLY HARD to get to the point where your idea goes from concept to reality to buy-out and there's many, many, many sleepless nights and stressful days to get there. Some people have that burning drive, and some people don't, and neither one is better than the other. Every passionate entrepreneur needs employees, and employees need people to work for and products they want to contribute to. Some of us are entrepreneurs, and some of us are employees.
- johnpowell 11y ago
  That implies hard work equals success. Keep fucking that chicken.
  - ZoF 11y ago
    Nope, it implies being a successful entrepreneur is hard work.
  - oldmanjay 11y ago
    Are you of the opinion that everything is luck? I certainly see that bandied about quite a bit. As an optional follow-up, if you do believe it all comes down to luck, do you also believe that is fundamentally unfair?
    - irishcoffee 11y ago
      > Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity I suppose this depends on the definition of luck. Unfair, no. Lebron James was born with talents ~nobody else has been born with. Was he lucky? Yes, in that he didn't have a say in the matter. Did he work hard? Yes. You're asking a very complicated question, which as it turns out, is a very fun thought experiment.
  - austenallred 11y ago
    I'm not seeing how that was implied. Saying, "You don't have to be an entrepreneur" is not implying "every entrepreneur is successful."
bdcravens 11y ago
These articles don't tell you about the 30-somethings that burned their life savings chasing an idea and not getting the same result. Ultimately, the narrative that success is directly the result of hustle isn't necessarily true.
- fweespeech 11y ago
  Yep, pretty much this. The math is pretty clear that 75% of the time, you will fail. > There is recent research by Harvard University’s Shikhar Ghosh that three out of every four venture-backed firms fail, which was newsworthy because the failure rate was higher than normally cited by the venture capital industry. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/01/27/do-9-out-of-10-new-businesses-fail-as-rand-paul-claims/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/01/...
  - aaronbrethorst 11y ago
    > The math is pretty clear that 75% of the time, you will fail. The math is way worse than that: http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/19/heres-a-look-inside-a-typical-vcs-pipeline-a-must-read-for-entrepreneurs/ http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/19/heres-a-look-inside-a-typi... If you manage to get VC funding, you're still going to fail three times out of four. But, that assumes you're one of the 8.3% of companies reviewed by a VC firm that gets funding. What percentage of nascent companies don't even get so far as a warm intro to a VC?
    - free2rhyme214 11y ago
      The worst that happens is you gain entrepreneurial skills and lose a few thousand dollars in the process. SMB's have always had these odd's for hundreds of years. It really depends on what you value: freedom or perceived security.
      - kasey_junk 11y ago
        You seem to be severely discounting opportunity cost.
balls187 11y ago
Of course, you don't read about the other 99.9% founders who haven't struck it rich and are still cranking behind a desk.
- Salgat 11y ago
  This is basically it. Don't get me wrong, it can take a lot talent and hard work to hit it big, but alongside that that talent is a large series of fortunate events (luck) that helped that person achieve their goal, whether it happened to be timing, networking, etc.
mrobataille 11y ago
stop comparing yourself to other people
tptacek 11y ago
Do you feel that way every time someone wins the lottery? :)

mtw 11y ago

because they tried hard enough?

joshbaptiste 11y ago
Just to point out that having a "stable" job tends to make me not try harder to push my own ideas.
jedicoffee 11y ago
Because they tried more times.

kyleblarson 11y ago

That's a valid question to ask yourself if you also bootstrapped a profitable newco that (so far) has generated 60mm in revs.

jerf 11y ago

If you're pretty much content... is there a problem here? If HN taught me anything, it's precisely that I am not an entrepreneur. That's not to be sneezed at... it's saved me a lot of pain and headache! (While I'm happy where I am, I could be a pretty good "very early engineering" hire.)

sageabilly 11y ago

Because some of us don't burn with firey passion in every cell of our being for whatever idea it is that we're grinding on at present, and that's OK. It's REALLY REALLY HARD to get to the point where your idea goes from concept to reality to buy-out and there's many, many, many sleepless nights and stressful days to get there. Some people have that burning drive, and some people don't, and neither one is better than the other. Every passionate entrepreneur needs employees, and employees need people to work for and products they want to contribute to. Some of us are entrepreneurs, and some of us are employees.

johnpowell 11y ago
That implies hard work equals success. Keep fucking that chicken.
- ZoF 11y ago
  Nope, it implies being a successful entrepreneur is hard work.
- oldmanjay 11y ago
  Are you of the opinion that everything is luck? I certainly see that bandied about quite a bit. As an optional follow-up, if you do believe it all comes down to luck, do you also believe that is fundamentally unfair?
  - irishcoffee 11y ago
    > Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity I suppose this depends on the definition of luck. Unfair, no. Lebron James was born with talents ~nobody else has been born with. Was he lucky? Yes, in that he didn't have a say in the matter. Did he work hard? Yes. You're asking a very complicated question, which as it turns out, is a very fun thought experiment.
- austenallred 11y ago
  I'm not seeing how that was implied. Saying, "You don't have to be an entrepreneur" is not implying "every entrepreneur is successful."

bdcravens 11y ago

These articles don't tell you about the 30-somethings that burned their life savings chasing an idea and not getting the same result. Ultimately, the narrative that success is directly the result of hustle isn't necessarily true.

fweespeech 11y ago
Yep, pretty much this. The math is pretty clear that 75% of the time, you will fail. > There is recent research by Harvard University’s Shikhar Ghosh that three out of every four venture-backed firms fail, which was newsworthy because the failure rate was higher than normally cited by the venture capital industry. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/01/27/do-9-out-of-10-new-businesses-fail-as-rand-paul-claims/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/01/...
- aaronbrethorst 11y ago
  > The math is pretty clear that 75% of the time, you will fail. The math is way worse than that: http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/19/heres-a-look-inside-a-typical-vcs-pipeline-a-must-read-for-entrepreneurs/ http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/19/heres-a-look-inside-a-typi... If you manage to get VC funding, you're still going to fail three times out of four. But, that assumes you're one of the 8.3% of companies reviewed by a VC firm that gets funding. What percentage of nascent companies don't even get so far as a warm intro to a VC?
  - free2rhyme214 11y ago
    The worst that happens is you gain entrepreneurial skills and lose a few thousand dollars in the process. SMB's have always had these odd's for hundreds of years. It really depends on what you value: freedom or perceived security.
    - kasey_junk 11y ago
      You seem to be severely discounting opportunity cost.

balls187 11y ago

Of course, you don't read about the other 99.9% founders who haven't struck it rich and are still cranking behind a desk.

Salgat 11y ago
This is basically it. Don't get me wrong, it can take a lot talent and hard work to hit it big, but alongside that that talent is a large series of fortunate events (luck) that helped that person achieve their goal, whether it happened to be timing, networking, etc.

mrobataille 11y ago

stop comparing yourself to other people

tptacek 11y ago

Do you feel that way every time someone wins the lottery? :)