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Ask HN: How do you stay motivated at your startup?

16 points by nubela ↗ HN
I always knew I wanted to work at a startup and the ideation and execution of the product was the easy part (I am a developer). But everyday I face small obstacles that bit by bit eats me away inside. And I have to buckle up and remind myself why I am doing this. It doesn't help that I am in this alone, and having a remarkably hard time finding talented individuals who would complement in what I lack, and am down to my last month in savings. And have begun seeking seed/angel funding.

I am going all out this last month to try to secure myself a certain posterity in my startup. This really mean making public pitches to various relevant user groups in my varsity. And cold emailing angel investors with my pitch.

How do/did you stay motivated? How can I go about convincing other people of my idea? I am not particularly good at that.

17 comments

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bennesvig
I enjoy listening to motivating talks for at least a little bit each day. Seth Godin has a few on doing great work and I'll listen to Zig Ziglar for about 20-30 minutes a day. A month of this has had a significant impact on my thinking.

Just curious, what's your startup?

thebmax
Interesting, I do this too. The self-help audiobooks are a good way to keep fresh motivational material coming your way. Also, working out for at least an hour each day to get yourself out of the house (or office) and onto something else. I make it a habit and a thing that I essentially have to do so I am not tempted to stay in and keep working.
nubela
Thanks! I will definitely check out some the motivating talks before I retire to bed later. (Its 2.14am in Singapore now) My problem has been really amplfied a big deal because of the asian culture here. The talented developers already secured great job offers from banks, or Facebook, or Microsoft. In fact, the asian concept has had many great people conform to "find a great job and your future is secured". Which is really annoying because it is so hard to convince people based on the prospects of probable success! Then there is the funding part, I am working my ass off and I refuse to talk to anyone until I know exactly what I am going to do and something to show first. I'm getting there. But money is getting really tight now.

As for my startup, I am working on a platform that allows users to save and share worthy experiences one encounters everyday which I'd like to call them Checkpoints. I have some pixel mockups here that I am using as a wireframe for my development process. http://imgur.com/LGDtO

I am going to do something crazy soon and start doing things no entrepreneurs have done before here just so I can get my word out that I am looking for great people! Until then, I have to fantasize a little bit about success just so I can chirp along the next day :)

Permit
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_you...

Try your best to keep your goals to yourself. When you start explaining your idea to someone else, the thought is that you receive a dopamine reward associated with completing that goal. Common wisdom suggests that if one tells all their friends about their awesome idea, they'll be more motivated to finish it, but this just isn't true. Individuals who explain and take credit for their idea are more likely to feel more accomplished than those who keep it to themselves.

This was one of the biggest things for me. Be humble. Keep ideas to yourself and reward yourself on results, not just ideas.

gyardley
With all respect to Derek, I suspect this advice depends on personality type. For me, common wisdom is 100% correct.

A goal no one knows about is easy to quit without loss of face. But if all my friends know I'm doing something, I'm bloody well going to do it.

I always tell my friends I'm going to do something when it's something that really needs to get done. So far, whatever dopamine reward I get from talking about it has overpowered by the knowledge that I said I'd do it and it's not done yet.

As always, your experience may vary.

quadtodfodder
I personally tell everybody on fucking earth what I'm doing. Largely because when I'm into something, that is all I think of - I'd be hard pressed to talk about something else.

The weather? War? Religion? WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY TIME WITH TRIVIAL TALK? I AM MAKING THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER OVER HERE!

bmelton
I suspect that most advice like this DOES depend on personality type, but with enough different people offering their insights, presumably the majority of personality types are covered, if one chooses to read enough motivational literature.

My motivation is progress, most of the time. If I'm not making progress, I'll often switch to some easier task that I know I can get done quickly to get my brain in the right space and make 'getting into the zone' a downhill process.

Sometimes, switching back to whatever task was slowing me down is like going back uphill again, but I often find that I'll usually abandon the easy task because, while doing that, the harder task has been mentally solved (once you stop thinking about a problem, yadda yadda).

Of course, where I generally suffer is in getting all the easy tasks done. Solving a problem is fun. Writing a login page isn't, generally speaking. Making a 'reset your password' form isn't. So all those things often get left by the wayside, and I end up with an awesome project that is completely unsellable because the last 10% goes untouched while I work on something else.

no-go-mojo
I work that way too, which leaves a lot of unfinished projects, because I do the hard/interesting stuff, and think "oh this is done, I just gotta do x, y and z which I'll wrap up later." Now I've started to set a check point before I start which must be crossed in order of my project to be finished.
md1515
Sometimes I think about having a terrible boss working in some huge company where I am told what to do and go into work 8-5 every day.

...then I realize I need to get my butt in gear and make the startup work, because I can't handle that!

Joakal
Although I accept that there's going to be rejections, I need to keep up the optimism. So I play games, code, or whatever I can do to lose myself. Sometimes I have a whole stack of movies that I've been considering to watch for something non-interactive.

If I was going to be with people I know; spouse, partner, etc, I'd talk to them about exchanging motivations and staying strong (movies, coop games, etc). And to be someone I can get off my chest.

To add, I would print out a sheet along the lines of "You're going to enter a period of many rejections. Stick to the plan. I even added predicted breaks. Don't give up until the same duration of rejection afterwards has passed."

rdudejr
What I do is go look at the other products which sucked, which originally motivated me to make a better mousetrap.

Then I get back to doing it.

no-go-mojo
Wish I could say something like inspiration, grand visions, or something someone a lot cooler would say, but it's my shitty day job. The shitter the day goes at work, the more I am motivated. The more I realize I am smarter than my boss' boss, that most of these people are sheep and I have nothing to show for it, the more I'm driven.

It has gotten so bad that I often look forward to meetings that will make me feel insignificant among a lot more significant yet stupid people who are brown nosing each other to death (corp America). I have on occasion thanked the almighty for putting me in such a shit hole and thus giving me the desire to improve my situation. Satisfaction must be the death of all motivation, because the dissatisfied me is the driven me.

bmelton
All due respect, you need to find a way to self-motivate fast, or your future projects are destined to fail, if what you say is true.
no-go-mojo
I fall in love with problems, my own, others', or whomever's, and try to find a way to solve it. I know most builders of software fall in love with a solution first/and idea or a grand vision - but little ol' me don't think like that, but thanks, you make a good point for someone who is a builder.
fezzl
I build a startup alone in the same country and thus same environment as you (Singapore), and I know how it can feel running a startup and not having anyone understanding what you do. Sometimes it even feels like you get less credit than you really deserve for getting this far by yourself, while some so-called fresh university graduate gets a job at, say, GIC or Intel and receives congratulatory praises from everyone he meets (even though it's barely a feat).

The good thing about such external pressure is that it keeps you in track -- they will not respect you until you have something real to show. Use that as your motivation. Get your first revenue ASAP; that in itself produces an awesome feeling and would probably keep you going for some time.

Figure out how you checkpoint app is going to make money. Work part-time at the moment to pay the bills (this is Singapore, go teach tuition at $30-40/hour). But keep focusing on making your app a revenue-generating machine. Start charging very early.

Your parents, friends, and society in general will not get off your back unless you produce real results, and rightfully so. Go make money, that's all I can say!

kellco
Nubela,

Since I'm working on my startup too and Asian, I understand your frustration and what you're going through. Since you're a programmer, my advice would be to secure a business/marketing person ASAP because generally technical people aren't that great at pitches and meeting people. Also, when you have a team it helps you stay on track and you get great feedback, encouragement, support, and everyone helps out. I got a great team currently and I didn't have them a few weeks ago. It's a matter of winning them over slowly, building trust, good/honest communication, getting them to know you and your project/idea and making them believe that you really care about your project and that you're passionate about it.

That's how I won over my 2 mentors/advisors, the best corporate attorney in the state, and my programmer co-founder.

2nd thing I'd do in your situation is what I call back against the wall, what can I do to make some quick cash and that I can do with small short term projects? Since I'm the marketing type, my list of ideas will generately be ebay, sell stuff, affiliate marketing, promote something, do a workshop locally, or whatever I can come up with. Brainstorm a list that works for you. But avoid getting a job until it's the absolute last resort.

3rd thing I do is go to networking events to meet more people and possibly find your team. I met mine at a Startup Weekend and business functions. You just need to get out there, seriously, just do it.

To stay motivated, I remind myself why I'm doing this. I think about what my vision is and how many millions of people I can help and the impact it will have. I also think about what I hate about the whole industry and why I'm trying to change/revamp it, that drives me. You have to find out what motivates you internally. If it's just money and fame, that's too easy because you can do that with other things so why your particular project? So for me, it's become a cause and a mission that I really believe in so it's been easy convincing people to help me and getting them to see the cause/mission and how it will help others.

I wish you luck in your project and don't give up. Take care!