Ideas Without Time/Money - How Can I Make Them Happen?
Or I'll start and then my wife gets angry that I spend so much time in front of the computer outside of my day-job (also in front of a computer), and I end up having to leave it half-done or less. This has happened a couple of times - sorry, if you were one of the users. It's on my list and I will get another release out.
I would like to see these ideas done up while still retaining some limited say in their implementation and management, but again the lack of capital makes actual hiring impossible.
The question is, should I just give up on these and release them into the wild and hope for the best? Should I take a stand, find some (so far unavailable) financing and hire a couple of people to work with me on them (and leave the day job and hope I can still pay my rent)? Should I leverage (or develop - same risk as above though) a crowd-sourced development system (GitHub, etc.) and find a way to equitably split any income with contributors? Should I move to a more tech-centric area with more educated investors? Find a risk-taking dev and start hitting the incubators (although my wife will probably not like that idea)?
I am open to all suggestions at this point. I would prefer to be a part of whatever develops, but I also have a strong desire to see at least a few of these actually happen no matter what.
None of them are small ideas (from a man-hours perspective), but I think a pair of good web devs and a designer could probably bang each of them out in 3 to 6 weeks. Except the one which is probably a good 4 to 6 months.
Thanks in advance, HN!
23 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 67.5 ms ] threadLike many other smarter people have said - it's not the idea. it's what you do with the idea. and it sounds like, as is the case with 99.9% of the population, you're not in a position to do much with your idea.
so come up with an idea that you can execute yourself :)
The key though as nolite mentioned is passion. You cannot be a successful entrepreneur without it. If your wife yell at you and you are passionate enough about what you are doing, yell back.
This is your dream. Make it happen.
What won't work - finding somebody more motivated and giving him 80%... if you have 20% then you will be a cofounder and long nights and plenty of work will be required of you. Also getting money an hiring people won't work - as a CEO you will still have plenty of work and it will be even harder because you will need to coordinate their work - if your wife tells you to go to bed then you cannot finish that spec for a designer and he will not do his job. One or two times like that and you will lose speed.
Finally, a thing that helps - having users (and paid users even more). Get stuff out of the door as fast as possible. Asap = 2 weeks if we're talking software.
Without ability to execute, telling no-one about your ideas won't do you any good.
Pick ONE smaller project that adds enough value to a user that he will pay for it. Drop everything else. Try to find the right partner, but don't wait around. Have a timeline and income projections you can show to your wife (and yourself). As long as you meet your targets, then everything will be fine. Actually finish it without quitting. Make money. All else is denial.
I was in your same situation. Once I managed to find a way to work remotely now I'm able to organize my time more efficiently and find time for my side projects/ideas.
You claim that some of those projects could be done by 2 people in 3-6 weeks. So 1 person (e.g. you) could do it in 6-12 weeks.
Guess what, I've been working on my side project, on and off, for 4 years. I have exactly the same amount of hours in a day and a full-time job.
If you can't muster the energy and will power to sacrifice your other time consuming activities and focus for 3 months on finishing something, then no amount of additional time will help you. You're just not made for this game.
If you can't convince yourself that your "very good ideas" are worth a little bit of sacrifice to finish them, then why should anyone else believe that? Why would any investor believe that?
And 9 women can give birth to 1 baby in 1 month. I agree that prioritizing is important, but there is a lot more to morale and motivation than that. In my experience, having someone to work with is one of the key motivators. Prioritizing becomes easy after you are in it with someone else.
Surely, a partner can help you out when you're in an emotional pit, but it doesn't mean you need a partner. The most healthy relationships are the ones that consist of people who don't have problems with themselves.
As for myself - I wouldn't start a business with anybody who has motivation problems. Sorry.
This this this.
Everyone has good ideas, and most of the smart folks i meet have a million-dollar idea a day, and a $100M idea every month.
You're overvaluing your ideas in all likelihood.... which makes you think you're missing some opportunity. You're not, part of being an entrepreneur is selecting between multiple GREAT ideas, or pivoting between them.
In terms of risk, you miss 100% of shots you don't take....
.... and most folks over-estimate the down side risk. Save up $50k, quit your job and try for a year. If it doesn't work out then you go back to being a working stiff for another year or two while you save up another $50k and try again.
If you ask investors for money for your idea they won't give it you... you have to create something with potential, show it to them and ask for advice. If it's good they will then give you money.
I hope it can help. Although its still in its infancy.
My story: I'm 31, I left comfortable game-engine programmer seat at AAA gaming company because I wanted to build my own products (have been already hacking on browser extensions during evenings for past 8 months). Had savings just for 3-4months. Reduced my burn rate by moving to a very cheap rent. Started doing web-dev freelancing to save money, my goal was to have at least 1 year of runway. After 8 months of cheap life, I finally stated working on my own startup idea (it was basically http://about.me, but with more technical page builder). My GF left me after 2 months and after next 8 moths I started to have some disputes with my co-founder and few weeks later I gave up. I started to work remotely for SF-based startup. The goal was to learn how to "do it right" and to earn money for my next trial. It took it to me next 6 months to recover financially (and socially a bit). After then I started hacking on TotalFinder during the evenings and one year later finally I made it.
You may read about my last year here: http://blog.binaryage.com/the-second-year-of-binaryage
Unfortunately I have to add, that with non-entrepreneurial spouse it would be probably much harder to take it off the ground. It makes sense. Most women expect your time/money investment into partnership/family. Also most of them is averse to risk taking. Why she should stay with you when she would do better with fine salaried non-stressed guy who works 8to5? Better he hates his job, because he will be rushing home for recovery.
You need to make your wife co-investor/partner in building your product, she must invest at least your time she acquired by marriage or she has to help out other way to make similar contribution. So we reduced this problem to the problem of looking for the right co-founder, which is very hard problem to solve anyway :-)
1. Find out what she wants and needs from the relationship and make sure she gets it. That is probably the best way to get a spouse off your back about something. (My ex husband and I could have saved thousands of dollars on furniture if he had just been willing to talk to me and pay attention to me. I really wanted his attention, not a new couch, but couldn't get it unless we were doing something like shopping for furniture.)
2. Work on rearranging your life so other stuff doesn't suck up so much time. Maybe shorten your commute, hire a maid, or in some other way make more time so you can pay attention to the wife and also work on your ideas.
3. You also might check out this previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1527830