This is so true, I've been thinking about this the past few days. Our startup still has the early-stage passion, but there's always that haunting thought of actual success (ie, business life) looming on the horizon :)
What you say above is so very true. But in my mind, I'm constantly linking back to the face that you _know_ through experience, not just head knowledge.
Businesses make money. I've been given the best of advice by a dev guru, saying the same thing. Don't spend your energy on the vacuous when the substance is what makes money.
That being said, some people don't seem to care about money. And a portion of those don't have to, because it just comes to them. It's these that spur on the rest. I _could_ possibly become a rockstar, so I'm gonna blog like a frenzy of pirhanas on flesh.
Tortoise and the Hare.
The Hare is cool for some people. He's fast and sexy and always getting attention.
The Tortoise is slow and steady. Rock-solid, but perceived as boring.
I'd like to think there's nothing stopping the Tortoise merging with the Hare in a freaky glorious mashup.
For many years I've not pushed my Identity, partly because I wasn't aware of _how_ to do it, but mostly because I wasn't up to snuff. Now I am. I've never had a Rockstar life, never run off the rails. The Business projects (no startups in the web sense) I've invested time and effort into are not making me rich and wealthy right now. But I push on, dreaming of the Hare and walking like the Tortoise.
Phew. Apologies for the crazy long comment. I think I'll turn it into a post :).
Dex
· 1 year ago
Good post - I think a lot of people don't factor in what it takes to follow through and realize how frustrating and monotonous the 'nuts and bolts' part of the experience can be.
Tom
· 1 year ago
Most excellent post. You've outdone yourself! I agree entirely with your perspectives, and I'm always a sucker for good quotes.
micah
· 1 year ago
@tom It being a post about startups, I used only opening lines of books...glad you liked it.
Kath
· 1 year ago
Brings back memories!
From '90-'93 my then-husband was a S/W Engineer for a start-up in Los Gatos. I remember the heady days of the beginning. The excitement, the potential, the what if's?
It was a long long hard road for him and the others. 80 hour work weeks...minimum....days blurring into nights...weekends...what are weekends? No paid vacation. Even payroll was sketchy at times. Minimal benefits. Lots of hard work, sweat, tears and every now and then blood...when spur-of-the-moment volleyball games went awry.
Excitement at one point when they thought a partnership was near. They flew all of the team...wives/sig others included...out to Austin to wine us and dine us and found realtors to take us around to look at houses.
But it was not to be. At least for my husband. He was one of few that didn't get offers. He was happy, since he didn't have a good feeling about the company that was doing the acquiring. Off went the majority of the company to Austin. They held a 'come get what you want of office furniture and spare parts' open house at the Los Gatos location. We picked up an office chair, a folding table, and lots of envelopes and notepads.
Six months later, the ones that moved to Austin were laid off. Brain dump completed, they were no longer wanted or needed.
Every time I hear or read about Startup Weekend, I have to smile. I remember how it was to have a dream and to sacrifice almost everything you have for that dream. Sometimes you make it, most of the time you don't. When all was said and done, I'm so glad my ex gave the startup experience at least one try.
John F Croston III
· 1 year ago
Another great and insightful article. I plan on using a lot of the ideas when I start on my big project.
I learned a lot when we met at Startup Weekend here in DC. The only issue was it was just a big whirlwind of activity and I did not get a lot of time to see all aspects of the process, since it was head down and code.
The nice thing about being a coder is I can do most or all of the coding part myself to work on the prototype, without having to involve others and keep as much of the company for myself. I know I probably should involve others just so I get a different prospective on things. We will see once I get more into the project.
Thanks, again.
Kevin
· 1 year ago
Micah,
Just catching up on reading from last week and I wanted to tell you this was a great post. I think that so many times newbie entrepreneurs have notions of a start-up life that just aren't realistic. I think there may be some good business ideas in helping to smack down those pre-conceived ideals of start-up living.
Perhaps we should start a video series and advertise it on late night public access channels. DVDs for $19.95 could include titles such as:
“Why your ass is burning cash and not making it” “Stop coding and start hiring” “Boards aren’t just at Home Depot” "Manage is a verb and a verb is an action word"
I’ll stop there as I don’t want Hyde to get more t-shirt ideas.
Next time you're in Denver during an afternoon let me know, I'd love to grab some lunch or something. Also thanks for graciously keeping my as a HamSwords member despite my stale KHontent lately!
micah
· 1 year ago
@kevin you know Andrew, he is quite the idea thief...
I am in Denver most Wednesdays, we can connect next week maybe?
All Comments
Great post, keep it up.
What you say above is so very true. But in my mind, I'm constantly linking back to the face that you _know_ through experience, not just head knowledge.
Businesses make money. I've been given the best of advice by a dev guru, saying the same thing. Don't spend your energy on the vacuous when the substance is what makes money.
That being said, some people don't seem to care about money. And a portion of those don't have to, because it just comes to them. It's these that spur on the rest. I _could_ possibly become a rockstar, so I'm gonna blog like a frenzy of pirhanas on flesh.
Tortoise and the Hare.
The Hare is cool for some people. He's fast and sexy and always getting attention.
The Tortoise is slow and steady. Rock-solid, but perceived as boring.
I'd like to think there's nothing stopping the Tortoise merging with the Hare in a freaky glorious mashup.
For many years I've not pushed my Identity, partly because I wasn't aware of _how_ to do it, but mostly because I wasn't up to snuff. Now I am. I've never had a Rockstar life, never run off the rails. The Business projects (no startups in the web sense) I've invested time and effort into are not making me rich and wealthy right now. But I push on, dreaming of the Hare and walking like the Tortoise.
Phew. Apologies for the crazy long comment. I think I'll turn it into a post :).
From '90-'93 my then-husband was a S/W Engineer for a start-up in Los Gatos. I remember the heady days of the beginning. The excitement, the potential, the what if's?
It was a long long hard road for him and the others. 80 hour work weeks...minimum....days blurring into nights...weekends...what are weekends? No paid vacation. Even payroll was sketchy at times. Minimal benefits. Lots of hard work, sweat, tears and every now and then blood...when spur-of-the-moment volleyball games went awry.
Excitement at one point when they thought a partnership was near. They flew all of the team...wives/sig others included...out to Austin to wine us and dine us and found realtors to take us around to look at houses.
But it was not to be. At least for my husband. He was one of few that didn't get offers. He was happy, since he didn't have a good feeling about the company that was doing the acquiring. Off went the majority of the company to Austin. They held a 'come get what you want of office furniture and spare parts' open house at the Los Gatos location. We picked up an office chair, a folding table, and lots of envelopes and notepads.
Six months later, the ones that moved to Austin were laid off. Brain dump completed, they were no longer wanted or needed.
Every time I hear or read about Startup Weekend, I have to smile. I remember how it was to have a dream and to sacrifice almost everything you have for that dream. Sometimes you make it, most of the time you don't. When all was said and done, I'm so glad my ex gave the startup experience at least one try.
I learned a lot when we met at Startup Weekend here in DC. The only issue was it was just a big whirlwind of activity and I did not get a lot of time to see all aspects of the process, since it was head down and code.
The nice thing about being a coder is I can do most or all of the coding part myself to work on the prototype, without having to involve others and keep as much of the company for myself. I know I probably should involve others just so I get a different prospective on things. We will see once I get more into the project.
Thanks, again.
Just catching up on reading from last week and I wanted to tell you this was a great post. I think that so many times newbie entrepreneurs have notions of a start-up life that just aren't realistic. I think there may be some good business ideas in helping to smack down those pre-conceived ideals of start-up living.
Perhaps we should start a video series and advertise it on late night public access channels. DVDs for $19.95 could include titles such as:
“Why your ass is burning cash and not making it”
“Stop coding and start hiring”
“Boards aren’t just at Home Depot”
"Manage is a verb and a verb is an action word"
I’ll stop there as I don’t want Hyde to get more t-shirt ideas.
Next time you're in Denver during an afternoon let me know, I'd love to grab some lunch or something. Also thanks for graciously keeping my as a HamSwords member despite my stale KHontent lately!
I am in Denver most Wednesdays, we can connect next week maybe?
Thanks for the kind words.