Ask HN: Am I missing something?

13 points by leejw00t354 12 years ago | 15 comments

Has anyone here been in or is maybe currently in a position where they're not sure if they have what it takes to create a successful startup?

I've been working on startups since I was 16. I'm 22 now and I've never built or made anything close to what I'd consider a success. In the last 4 years I've worked extremely hard, dedicating nearly all my free time to planning, building, learning, networking and reading about startups/business with no success. What I find frightening is just how hard it is to judge ones ability, especially when it comes to something as complex as ones ability to create a successful business. I personally believe I have what it takes, but I have to accept all evidence would suggest otherwise. We've all seen the contestants on game shows such as X-Factor that truly believe they're something special when they can't even sing on pitch. Maybe that's me in my own domain. Maybe that's you?

lacker 12 years ago |

Yeah, I felt like that before I started Parse. This isn't like X-Factor. You will never really know if you have what it takes, until either you succeed, or you give up. That's just how this works.

tagabek 12 years ago | |

Was there a specific moment in time where knew Parse was going to be huge, or did everything just evolve gradually to you?

lacker 12 years ago | | |

Gradually.

benologist 12 years ago |

Almost every startup fails and almost every founder is a failure almost all of the time.

It might help to remember that.

ScottWhigham 12 years ago |

Another old-timer here... It's all in how you define success. Various definitions of success might be:

- Someone that Crunchbase wants to interview for every late-breaking tech news story

- Someone who runs a single person company that makes $60,000 profit after taxes

- Someone who has earned FU money by building their own company(s)

- Someone who has over $1m in the bank in cash

- Someone who has built a recurring revenue stream from just an idea

- Someone whose business hasn't failed yet

- Someone who built a company from an idea and that business sustains them

- Someone who built a company that has employees

- Someone who was able to buy a company and turn that company into a better, more profitable company/outcome

- etc

There's not just one definition. So what is "a successful startup" to you? Your definition of success goes a long way to defining your happiness, I think.

palidanx 12 years ago |

I'm about three years into the start-up world (I'm 31 now), and I sometimes ask myself the same question.

What I'm doing a little bit different now is really getting out there trying to sell the mvp after it is built. I get burned more often, but at the very least I know a little bit more on what my customer wants.

Hang in there'

xauronx 12 years ago |

I try to see it as more of a hobby. Some people try to perfect their free throws, wood carving, guitar playing, etc. A lot of the time they're going to "fail", or see flaws in what they've produced. It's just a matter of keeping at it, being good enough until you've succeeded in some way.

The other thing you need to be careful of is getting blind to your small successes. There are probably 10 things a day that I do that people new to programming would be confused by, or wish they could do. They're so commonplace to me that I just do them with no appreciation that I did something someone else would find difficult.

orangethirty 12 years ago |

I had my first business at 14. Now 34 (20 (?!) years later. gosh...). Have never knocked one out of the park, but have have some good base hits, and a few doubles. Its all about the game, and how you play it.

timmm 12 years ago |

Don't make success a binary thing, imagine it as continuous and incremental.

If you've had no levels of success yet then change your approach. Forget networking or pitching or X factor that shit is almost irrelevant. Find a way to make a profit albeit however small it may be and build from there.

Don't start with an idea that requires critical mass or a community just start with a simple product that you can sell.

meerita 12 years ago |

I want to think I failed from the moment I have the idea to starting something. I failed so I have nothing to lose but I want to believe I can revert that by making the stuff and finishing it.

cup 12 years ago |

I guess it depends on what you're looking for out of all this. If you're just trying to create a product so that you can offload it down the line then maybe you should question your initial intentions, there are other ways of making money after all.

If on the other hand you want to change society or improve the lives of people and you have recognised a way of doing so then don't give up. Treat your choiec as a journey or adventure. You're going to have set backs and failures and spend many nights thinking about quitting but you will overcome them and the struggles will make you a better person in tthe long run.

Just because you don't get to the summit of everest doesn't mean you haven't achieved anything and it doesn't mean you haven't improved as an individual and it doesn't mean the next time you try to climb you'll fail again either.

Edit: Also, update your blog, its long overdue!

leejw00t354 12 years ago | |

Thanks for this. I've noticed I'm a very status driven individual and consequently I find the journey to be often a hard thing to appreciate. I also know I'm always extremely discontented by what I have and I question whether I will ever find that holy grail of success I'm looking for where I will stop worrying about all of this and just accept I made it.

I think the only answer is to force myself to focus more on my journey. Try to enjoy the highs and lows as they come. My friend has rather good philosophy on this where he defines his personal success by the action he takes and not by the amount of money he makes or some other external measurement he doesn't have total control over.

Plus I'll be updating the blog very soon!

dany007 12 years ago | | |

I think you have to hang in there if this is what you really want. Perseverance is a key factor and from what I see you have it( you did it for 6 years ). Money is a measurement of success (it shows that you have made something people want and are willing to pay for), it is not the only measurement, your service could be free and still be valuable to others.

mailarchis 12 years ago | | |

Someone wise once said.... The journey is the reward.

All the best.

thoughtcriminal 12 years ago |

If you believe you have what it takes, keep going.