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| 3 users recommended this comment. What they said: |
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ryanwaggoner Jun 1, 2009 | on: What was your darkest hour like? | context
Go read "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis. Despite the rather crass title, there's a lot of great entrepreneurial nuggets in there, including one of my favorite stories of all time, where he's burning furniture for heat in his dilapidated apartment in the back of a sweatshop, trying to get his publishing company going. His girlfriend tries to get him to take one of the job offers on the table, and he almost relents because he knows that she'll leave if he doesn't. He doesn't, she does, and eventually he succeeds. If you want to start a company, don't take a job, and don't continue doing freelance. Just start something. Here's a fantastic comment by pj on the subject: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=625644 Just keep walking. |
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aditya Jun 25, 2009 | on: The natural evolution from side project to full-time… | context
Yeah, that is pretty hard, the fact that there's nothing to lose. I think it all comes down to motivation. This quote from pj is possibly the best advice I've seen, although he was probably talking about full-time startups: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=625644 |
justlearning Jul 29, 2009 | on: Ask HN: Favorite inspiring quotes or verses? | context
my latest inspiring quote. (I wish I could make it bold) this quote is not from a book, not a website, not from a blog, but from a post right here on HN. (and quoted by the OP in another post): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=625644 I find quotes with a background/anecdote attached to it more inspiring. They inspire me on a whole different level...much much better than ones in "look before you leap" and the likes in the idiom based quotes league. |
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Stick it out, yes... that's the most important part. That's the hardest part. I think most people who have a startup want to quit at some point. It has to hurt. You have to move through the hurt, because everytime you keep going when you want to give up, someone else out there with the same idea who got to the same point where you want to give up... well, they actually gave up. They gave up which means more customers for you...
I was at a library once and this was a very popular library. There was a whole crowd of people waiting outside before the library opened all wanting to rush inside and find a desk where they could sit and read the books. The security guard had to yell at the people twice DON'T RUN! It was insane.
So what I found was, the people who went the farthest into the library were most likely to find a spot. Some people went in say, half way and instead of simply going farther in, they stopped and turned around and went back and hunted through the desks they'd already passed hoping to find a desk everyone else had passed up.
But on the next floor or closer to the corner, there were still open spots! Those readers simply didn't go far enough. They gave up too soon and so someone who went farther got an open spot those who gave up could have gotten.
It was a metaphor for startups... "Keep walking!" that's my motto. If a customer says no, keep walking, find another customer. If you find a bug, keep walking and fix it. Just keep walking. Don't stop. Don't turn around. You'll stumble, but pick yourself up.
Damn, it's hard sometimes... it's really hard sometimes. You'll want to cry (you'll notice those go from tears of sadness to tears of joy as you walk), you'll want to smash your computer. You'll get depressed. You'll get hungry and have no food. You'll sleep on the floor. Everyone will think you are crazy. You are crazy. Crazy is good.
Just keep walking.