Ask HN: was anything ever easy?

9 points by partymon 13 years ago | 10 comments

Hi HN, I'm building my first startup, and I have been amazed that every good thing that happened so far, we really had to work hard for. That's not surprising per se, but I was really expecting some breaks here and there. Maybe those are yet to come. Was it always hard from the get go, or does it get better?

patio11 13 years ago |

I disagree with the other folks on this page that say that life is suffering and life in five years will be more suffering. That directly contradicts my experience. In many ways my business(es?) are the easiest job(s) I've ever had, and while six years into it I occasionally have a bad day (ask me about Thursday -- still recovering), things are in general on the up and up.

With regards to catching breaks: have you ever heard the phrase "overnight success in only X years"? That characterizes a lot of the breaks which I've personally experienced or had related to me by other people. You sometimes have oh-my-goodness-that's-absolutely-unbelievable-you-are-so-lucky happen to you, but that luck often closely resembles the predictable effects of crystallized hard work.

MDS100 13 years ago | |

What happened on Thursday?

gyardley 13 years ago |

God, yes. Things get much easier.

A certain class of startup-building problems gets way easier as you grow and can afford to hire specialized resources.

Get to the point where you can hire a good finance person? Things just got way easier.

Get to the point where you can hire a dedicated HR person? Things just got way easier.

Get to the point where you can hire a dedicated office manager? Things just got way easier.

Get to the point where you can hire a personal assistant? Thing just got way easier.

Beyond that, your life gets way easier psychologically as you start to achieve some success.

Your family and friends stop wondering when you're going to get a real job? Your life is way easier.

Got a big and diverse enough array of clients that losing a big one won't sink the company? Your life is way easier.

Doing well enough financially that you've been able to build up a sizeable nest egg? Your life is way easier.

As for luck, Bo Peabody's 'Lucky or Smart?' is the classic here - it's a great little book. Companies do get lucky break, but they have to be able to recognize and take advantage of luck when it comes.

modernise 13 years ago | |

You mistake "externalized" for ease.

Always like lunch w the young republicans in here.

gyardley 13 years ago | | |

That'd be true if you only hired people as good as yourself in all the specialized functions. Instead, you hire people better than yourself. Managing finances, for example, is much easier with a CPA on staff.

What on earth could be the point of the second line of your comment?

debacle 13 years ago |

A lot of the times, the first step in the right direction is really hard. The kind of hard that makes projects not happen, deals not get signed, relationships not get built, etc.

But every step after the first in the right direction gets easier.

modernise 13 years ago |

No one punches these keys, ~!@#$%^&*()-+, w regularity who embraces ease, as a cartographical matter of fact. I think the root problem you're asking about is how to deal with confusion and overwhelm, rather than difficulty.

m-i 13 years ago |

If it were easy, everybody would do it. So far however, only a minority is doing startups. IMO too, if it's getting easier, you are doing it wrong.

modernise 13 years ago |

What's sure is that, to quote DHH, "It never gets easier."

If you feel things are getting easier, than you're doing it wrong.

benologist 13 years ago |

Not only will it always be hard, it will probably get a lot harder too.