Ask HN: Keep Going?

Slow down and start talking to people. You don't have monthly costs, investor expectations, or debt forcing you to work at a fast pace. Take it slower, start having more social interaction, and start talking to people again.

If investors are contacting you, you surely have something worth pursuing. No matter what, tough it out as long as you can.

To cope with the loneliness, get yourself out there. Are you alone in the "I need like-minded folks to talk to" way? Or in a more "I want to hang out and have fun with people" way? Either way, you can do something about it.

For the former: go hang out with people. It is easy enough to cold-email people and invite them to lunch or coffee (where in the bay are you, btw? let's go have lunch!) Go to tech meetups. Join users groups and go to their activities. Coincidentally, this is probably the best way to find co-founders.

The latter is a bit more tricky, but you can approach it the same way. Make use of meetup. Volunteer. Join a book club. Make it a point to talk to 1 stranger every day or every day you go outside the house. Go to bars by yourself and talk to people.

There is probably a large set of people who fit into both categories.

One way or another, keep at it through the hard times. I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Instead of moving into your own place, have you thought about moving into a place with some other people? It would be a good way to be around people daily and also get connected into more social groups.

    Should I just stop complaining?

Just to say, in general, answer to this question is almost always yes.

One thing you will learn is that it's drive that pays off. If you feel like quiting in the bad times during startup you're going to have a hard time when your company runs into hard times in the future once you've invested more into it. Look at the guys form airbnb, they lived of cereal and were broke but they never lost hope. Like bradly said find some like minded roommates. Also congrats on having investors contact you, thats a good sign. Keep it up.

Where in SV are you? I'm about 5 months out of college and working on a startup too, would be down to meet up. Send me an email ambition2188 at gmail

A cheap temporary band-aid solution is to work in cafes sometimes. Just being around people can help; as does the change in environment.

If you're enjoying the project, and think it can go somewhere, then don't give up. It's the hard times that flush out those who aren't committed.

As for being lonely, try jumping on Twitter. There will be hundreds of people in your local area on it who will most likely be very friendly. I've met at least 50 people in real life who I would never have known were it not for twitter, and have even made a couple of friends overseas. Meetup.com is another great resource for finding like-minded people.

Why you are thinking about quitting when you've dedicated so much to your project and are getting investors interested in your product is beyond me. If the problem is loneliness just get out more! What difference will it make to move out anyways? Just work on your company and make a habit of speaking to people all the time. In no time you'll get rid of the 'loneliness'.

Sounds like your should stick with your start up. Fix the problem instead of giving up. The problem being, from what I read, you are dissatisfied with your current level of social interaction.

Establish a routine in which you regularly interact with people. Consider taking 5-10 hours of your week (or whatever works for you, and devote it to something unrelated to your startup. A part time job in a social place, like a cafe, or perhaps volunteer for a cause that matters to you. Check out classes in your community that you might enjoy. Maybe a martial art, or other physical activity to get two birds with one stone.

If you want to find more like-mind people, look for entrepreneur's and small business networking events and meets ups. You don't have to be in the valley to find people that are working on making a successful business.

Best of luck to you!

why not try working at Hacker Dojo, you can get the work done and make new friends the same time.

in SV proper? head by the Hacker Dojo. You can bring your laptop and work, but there is a whole lot of social interaction going on there, too. It's better, I think, than a coffee shop for social interaction because it's expected that people will start talking to you. It's better than most parties or other social situations, 'cause it's completely acceptable to bring your laptop, and to mumble something about a deadline or needing to work whenever you are tired of talking.

Why do you use throw-away account? If your question was linked to a real person -- you would get more meaningful advice and possibly some other help.

Are you the same http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=throw999

Thank you everyone for the advice. It has helped me monumentally.

YES!

Seriously, most people won't get to the point where you with their 'start-ups', so you seem to have a live one. If you ever wondered about stopping before this is the worst time to decide to do so, just another 6 months and you'll know what you've got.

Keep at it and make a go of it, you're very close to launch, why on earth would you give up at this stage. All the sunk costs you've already had, now is the time to push on and make a go of it.

Some words from the great Churchill might aid: "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up."

I'm in almost the exact same situation as you. Just graduated this year, worked for a startup, then moved to SF with a relative to work on our own startup. Would love to meet you and chat, let me know.

get a girlfriend

Get it launched, get users, get making money. ASAP.