Before you start a company, answer these questions(venturebeat.com)
venturebeat.com
Before you start a company, answer these questions
http://venturebeat.com/2017/01/15/before-you-start-a-company-answer-these-questions/
33 comments
The undertones of VB jokingly writing Chief Martial Officer is pretty sad from an equality perspective IMO.
I would add to this, can you convince at least one person to work on this with you? Solo founding isn't just a little harder than having a co-founder.
The more you contemplate these questions, the least likely you are to do anything. The only question I think is valuable is: "How many months can you go without a paycheck?" I think the original idea is seldom where most startups end up. It's more than likely a problem you encounter while working on the original idea. In fact, I think the less money you have to start the more hungry you will be for success.
These are somewhat irrelevant questions... one thing that is almost guaranteed is that your original idea will change, and all your loft projections will not come to pass.
> Will your spouse/significant other be OK if you spend three nights a week at hacker meetups?
The ideal spouse/significant other would be one that asks why you're hanging out at hacker meetups every other night when you've just quit your job.
The ideal spouse/significant other would be one that asks why you're hanging out at hacker meetups every other night when you've just quit your job.
lol, yeah. I don't think that if I was a founder I'd be at hacker meetups? I don't get great coding done there. I'd rather come home, have a simple dinner, and then put a few hours in after catching up with the fam. If I was trying to hire I would go to hacker meetups, but I think you can filter for meetups that have high-quality candidates and a good engineers::non-techies ratio. And of course, only stay for the first hour of networking, skip the presentation.
I read comments like this "I want a couple of hours after work to see people I love before I get back to the very important task of more work" and cannot decide if I'm lazy, or the average startup'r is a bit mad.
Doing a 10-12 hour day every now and again because there's a deadline is fine, planning ahead for that to be an average day boggles my mind.
Doing a 10-12 hour day every now and again because there's a deadline is fine, planning ahead for that to be an average day boggles my mind.
Sounds like you don't pass the founder test ')
Sounds a lot like my approach. I've been in business for over 8 years.
This is true, but don't take the comment so literally.
The real question is: will your SO be supportive of you needing to do whatever it takes to keep your initiative moving forward?
The real question is: will your SO be supportive of you needing to do whatever it takes to keep your initiative moving forward?
At least you get free food. My wife and I are fighting about this all the time. It's extremely tough to just work home and not meet other people. You'll need to socialize somehow. You go crazy otherwise. Your spouse will eventually get annoyed listening to you complaining and bouncing ideas off her.
No, no -- the ideal spouse / SO writes half the code, is your co-founder, and joins you at the meetups.
The ideal one would know why you were there if this was truly a passion of yours that you wanted to pursue.
[deleted]
Probably not a bad place for some first users though?
Another reason to support gender diversity goals in software.
Spouse / significant other? On HN?
I started a company, by myself, November 2012. I'm still in business but haven't released the original intended product.
1) What was my motivation? I was tired of working for someone else, I'd had it with commuting, working with people that kept bringing diseases from their kids in daycare and hence getting colds and flus mutliple times per year, living in a state with absurd taxes and cost of living. Working hard to afford a "condo" that might be paid off once I hit 65 was beyond stupid. Oh and I wouldn't work in an "open office space" setup if you paid me $1 million a year. I don't do headphones, ever.
2) Is this idea worth my time? The idea was an iPhone game, I did complete it, but never released it. They released new phones, new ipads with new resolutions, so I was in the process of adding that capability when a consulting opportunity arose (work 100% from home). I could get into why I abandoned releasing iPhone and Android apps, but have decided to redo it in HTML5 and free myself from the rules the stores impose and cut they take. But ultimately I had decided even if my product only generated $30k a year that was good enough. To own and control my time and product was worth that drastic cut if it came down to it.
3) What have you done to validate this idea? I did research into the potential market size, I used to play a similar game on yahoo games before it was shut down and they would have 10's of thousands of players every day. I looked at similar games on iTunes that were pathetic weekend hacks that left much to be desired and they had downloads, so the market existed. And I really liked the game, still do, I play my game on an ipod touch that I hacked to an older date so the certificate never expires. My UI, and the options that I added also made it far more enjoyable to play. I had big plans for multiplayer.
4) Are there real customers for this? Yep, see above. Maybe it won't make me a millionaire, but I could live off of it.
5) Do you have the endurance for the marathon version of your company? Absolutely, I worked non stop for 2 years when I was about to release. I did not make any money during that time, in fact if I had a "real" job I would have given up. A regular job sucks away all mental energy and leaves one like an empty shell at the end of the day (at least that is my experience).
6) CMO (Chief Marital Officer)? Don't have one, did have a girlfriend back then but we lived in different cities so going for a visit was a nice vacation from the work.
7) Is quitting the right next step? As far as I'm concerned you are either all in or it's a hobby that is going nowhere. If I kept working I'd never even had developed a prototype non the less a full working product, with multiplayer server on the back end. So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job. You can't do both, period.
Where is my company now?
Well, I've gotten side-tracked with consulting business. I've never met a customer on site, I work 100% at home. They send me their devices, buy whatever compiler licenses so I can do the work. I work when I want to, so if I want to take a week off to work on a project at home, or take a trip I do.
Last year was crazy, I moved to Wyoming to drastically lower my taxes, even Nevada was not low enough. Bought a house, while taking care of multiple clients sometimes work ing 260 hours a month. Billables were just under $250k last year. Now that I'm settled in the new house, which cost less that just property tax payments in CA, I've cut back the work to maybe $150k this year, which will free me up to migrate my Objective-C app to HTML5. All the valuable code exists on the game server anyway, so no risk there.
Was it worth just quitting and going for it? Absolutely. Did it turn out exactly as planned? Not even close.
If anyone else out there is trying to decide and wants to know more about my adventure, send me an email. I'm happy to share what I've learned if it helps others to escape the rat race too...
1) What was my motivation? I was tired of working for someone else, I'd had it with commuting, working with people that kept bringing diseases from their kids in daycare and hence getting colds and flus mutliple times per year, living in a state with absurd taxes and cost of living. Working hard to afford a "condo" that might be paid off once I hit 65 was beyond stupid. Oh and I wouldn't work in an "open office space" setup if you paid me $1 million a year. I don't do headphones, ever.
2) Is this idea worth my time? The idea was an iPhone game, I did complete it, but never released it. They released new phones, new ipads with new resolutions, so I was in the process of adding that capability when a consulting opportunity arose (work 100% from home). I could get into why I abandoned releasing iPhone and Android apps, but have decided to redo it in HTML5 and free myself from the rules the stores impose and cut they take. But ultimately I had decided even if my product only generated $30k a year that was good enough. To own and control my time and product was worth that drastic cut if it came down to it.
3) What have you done to validate this idea? I did research into the potential market size, I used to play a similar game on yahoo games before it was shut down and they would have 10's of thousands of players every day. I looked at similar games on iTunes that were pathetic weekend hacks that left much to be desired and they had downloads, so the market existed. And I really liked the game, still do, I play my game on an ipod touch that I hacked to an older date so the certificate never expires. My UI, and the options that I added also made it far more enjoyable to play. I had big plans for multiplayer.
4) Are there real customers for this? Yep, see above. Maybe it won't make me a millionaire, but I could live off of it.
5) Do you have the endurance for the marathon version of your company? Absolutely, I worked non stop for 2 years when I was about to release. I did not make any money during that time, in fact if I had a "real" job I would have given up. A regular job sucks away all mental energy and leaves one like an empty shell at the end of the day (at least that is my experience).
6) CMO (Chief Marital Officer)? Don't have one, did have a girlfriend back then but we lived in different cities so going for a visit was a nice vacation from the work.
7) Is quitting the right next step? As far as I'm concerned you are either all in or it's a hobby that is going nowhere. If I kept working I'd never even had developed a prototype non the less a full working product, with multiplayer server on the back end. So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job. You can't do both, period.
Where is my company now?
Well, I've gotten side-tracked with consulting business. I've never met a customer on site, I work 100% at home. They send me their devices, buy whatever compiler licenses so I can do the work. I work when I want to, so if I want to take a week off to work on a project at home, or take a trip I do.
Last year was crazy, I moved to Wyoming to drastically lower my taxes, even Nevada was not low enough. Bought a house, while taking care of multiple clients sometimes work ing 260 hours a month. Billables were just under $250k last year. Now that I'm settled in the new house, which cost less that just property tax payments in CA, I've cut back the work to maybe $150k this year, which will free me up to migrate my Objective-C app to HTML5. All the valuable code exists on the game server anyway, so no risk there.
Was it worth just quitting and going for it? Absolutely. Did it turn out exactly as planned? Not even close.
If anyone else out there is trying to decide and wants to know more about my adventure, send me an email. I'm happy to share what I've learned if it helps others to escape the rat race too...
Hi, my e-mail is [email protected]
Please tell me more about your business and philosophy because this feels very similar to my own journey. I quit my job in october 2016 and try to build html/mobile gaming stuff. My plan assume make 10 000$-15 000$ in this year.
Please tell me more about your business and philosophy because this feels very similar to my own journey. I quit my job in october 2016 and try to build html/mobile gaming stuff. My plan assume make 10 000$-15 000$ in this year.
"used to play a similar game on yahoo games before it was shut down and they would have 10's of thousands of players every day"
please tell me you are rebuilding Yahoo spades or Yahoo pool. Pretty please.
please tell me you are rebuilding Yahoo spades or Yahoo pool. Pretty please.
what's your email?
I thought my email was visible in my about page...
it's [email protected]
You say
> So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job. You can't do both, period.
then you say
> Well, I've gotten side-tracked with consulting business.
Is Consulting not a 'day job'? You are contradicting yourself. Which is it?
> So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job. You can't do both, period.
then you say
> Well, I've gotten side-tracked with consulting business.
Is Consulting not a 'day job'? You are contradicting yourself. Which is it?
No, the consulting is not a 'day job'. Remember, I work 100% from home, in fact my clients are in other states. Currently the one client I cut it back to is in New York. I may not talk to the clients for weeks at a time. Generally we only communicate via email, and very rarely no one is waiting for an immediate response. I might work from midnight to 7 am and then not work for 2 days (and only because that's when I felt like working). Last year was an anomaly, I decided that renting a condo in Tahoe was a waste of money, so I needed money for a down payment and costs associated with buying a house. When I was working full time on my game, I didn't make any money and therefore it really killed my eligibility for a home loan. So last year I ramped up the consulting to not only make a 30% down payment, but to build up $150k (after tax in the bank) for when I go back into full development mode again. Since I have a good, flexible client right now, if things keep going I'll pay off the house end of this year, so if it drags out a little longer it seems like a good trade off. With a paid off house I can live on $1500 a month in Wyoming. With money in the bank, and what I learned last attempt, I'll be able to launch the product and never have to worry about money.
I understand the point though, most consultants are really contractors that are embarrassed to admit it. They have to show up at the client site every day and put in face time. That's not what I do.
I understand the point though, most consultants are really contractors that are embarrassed to admit it. They have to show up at the client site every day and put in face time. That's not what I do.
> Is quitting the right next step?
Why do all these Entrepreneurial articles and stories promote quitting and going 'All in'.
If you develop the discipline and commitment and have the 'applied faith' that your product or startup idea will succeed (based on the parameters you set for success) then you should be able to do it nights and weekends.
Even Matt Mullenweg, WordPress co-founder didn't straight up 'Quit' and work on wordpress full time. He was still working at CNet to pay the bills, and bootstrapped Wordpress with 10,000 $ that he saved from his day job and worked on it nights and weekends.
"I quit my day job and started my own company and make a good living" stories are very very few. The media only focussed on these success stories and not the other 99% that fail and have to go back to a day job, with a mountain of debt.
Why do all these Entrepreneurial articles and stories promote quitting and going 'All in'.
If you develop the discipline and commitment and have the 'applied faith' that your product or startup idea will succeed (based on the parameters you set for success) then you should be able to do it nights and weekends.
Even Matt Mullenweg, WordPress co-founder didn't straight up 'Quit' and work on wordpress full time. He was still working at CNet to pay the bills, and bootstrapped Wordpress with 10,000 $ that he saved from his day job and worked on it nights and weekends.
"I quit my day job and started my own company and make a good living" stories are very very few. The media only focussed on these success stories and not the other 99% that fail and have to go back to a day job, with a mountain of debt.
Probably because most people are incapable of documenting that their work occurred off-hours and without company resources. And even if they are, their employer can still tie them up in litigation if the company ever takes off.
Working contract jobs to support your startup aspirations can make sense, but working as an FTE is pretty risky.
Working contract jobs to support your startup aspirations can make sense, but working as an FTE is pretty risky.
"Are you motivated by the prospect of getting rich?" ... " These are perfectly normal human emotions but horrible reasons on their own to start a business."
Being motivated to get rich is an extremely good reason to start a business. In fact it's one of the few reasons to do so. It's very difficult to get rich if you don't own generative assets (short of being a radiologist and plowing your after taxes/expenses salary into a bank account for 20 years). There are three ways to do it: acquire ownership in a business, either privately or in the public markets; buy assets such as real estate and turn it over at a profit; start a business. The theme of nearly all wealth in the developed world, is ownership. One of the best ways to guarantee you get a shot at that sort of outcome is by starting a business. I grew up in a poor area and knew several millionaires, they were all self-made small business owners.
Being motivated to be rich, is not the same as defining your business around or by that premise, which is what the author is confusing.
Being motivated to get rich is an extremely good reason to start a business. In fact it's one of the few reasons to do so. It's very difficult to get rich if you don't own generative assets (short of being a radiologist and plowing your after taxes/expenses salary into a bank account for 20 years). There are three ways to do it: acquire ownership in a business, either privately or in the public markets; buy assets such as real estate and turn it over at a profit; start a business. The theme of nearly all wealth in the developed world, is ownership. One of the best ways to guarantee you get a shot at that sort of outcome is by starting a business. I grew up in a poor area and knew several millionaires, they were all self-made small business owners.
Being motivated to be rich, is not the same as defining your business around or by that premise, which is what the author is confusing.
100x This.
As a corollary: If you're not motivated by getting rich a job at a big tech firm will probably satisfy most of your non-monetary motivations while at the same time giving you more impact and a much easier life than going the startup route.
As a corollary: If you're not motivated by getting rich a job at a big tech firm will probably satisfy most of your non-monetary motivations while at the same time giving you more impact and a much easier life than going the startup route.
A job at a big tech firm, reasonable spending habits, and 20 years investing in the markets is likely to make you extremely comfortable financially. With almost perfect certainty.
It's not going to be private jet money, but it's going to be easily flying first class money.
It's not going to be private jet money, but it's going to be easily flying first class money.
[deleted]
i've got a really cushy job making great money, and the work life balance is tolerable, but i feel that it's not that exciting. i have had lots of ideas, but i finally think that i've figured out what i really enjoy which is sports and technology. i have been working on madsportslab.com for about a year now, i taught myself golang and swift as part of the process and have released my app to the appstore, now just have to start the marketing part.
the cmo definitely agrees in theory that she can deal with me going full time on this, but i seriously doubt that and think it would make things really bad.
financially i could easily live a few years without salary, but i need to support my daughter so this makes things difficult where i live.
i am thinking of leveraging kickstarter and will continue to work on this as a side hobby, but once i see any traction, i may seriously consider taking the plunge
the cmo definitely agrees in theory that she can deal with me going full time on this, but i seriously doubt that and think it would make things really bad.
financially i could easily live a few years without salary, but i need to support my daughter so this makes things difficult where i live.
i am thinking of leveraging kickstarter and will continue to work on this as a side hobby, but once i see any traction, i may seriously consider taking the plunge