I want to create a company but I feel stuck
Hello to whoever reads this. I feel like I am hitting my head into a wall because I know what I want to do and achieve but not sure where to go from here.
I have learnt how to write basic code from freecodecamp and some YouTube tutorials but it's still far from where I want to be. I am not trying to be Jeff Bezos but it would make me so proud and happy if I could create a product that 100 people would use daily. I just don't know where to start - should I just blow my savings on paying a random guy to code something for me?
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 28.9 ms ] threadReddit and Tumblr:- solved the problem of sharing links within communities pseudonymously
Tinder:- scaled hookups
Substack:- enabled writers to monetize their periodical content
Twitter:- enabled people to broadcast extremely concise messages globally
Letterboxed:- enabled people to share their film prefs (not sure if this is a real problem, and I actually had to Google this one)
Start by going around and asking businesses near you what the biggest issues are that they face. Sometimes a solved problem in the US may not be a solved problem in another place. Or sometimes a new business trend will open up doors to disrupt traditional businesses. But it all roots back to the problem - if you're not solving a real problem, you're not going to be successful getting even 1 user/customer.
Potential minor problems I would want solved: 1. When I have very interesting discussions with someone I wish I had it recorded so I could post/share it online. I am thinking just daily stuff without having to sit in a room together and do a podcast. This can KINDA be solved by livestreaming nonstop but that's far from ideal and does not have mass appeal.
2. A more modern way of finding jobs - I really believe there's a lot of improvements to be made here esp in Denmark. We use Jobindex, LinkedIn and Jobteaser primarily and all services seem ineffective. Probably just a university student problem. Regardless, it does not sound like an interesting problem to solve like the other ones I mentioned above.
3. Speeddating. I don't struggle with going on dates or picking up girls IRL but it would be more fun if you could just click "QUEUE" on your phone and it automatically sets up a blind date - maybe this actually exists already? Sounds so fun.
On your ideas, I would remark that job hunting and online dating are both still very underserved problems, and as you mentioned, vastly inefficient. Dating is an interesting scenario - OkCupid was actually doing very well at solving the problem with a high success rate, before they started regressing their algorithm after their acquisition by Match.com. On the other hand, job hunting will always remain an elusive problem.
In fact it seems like most goals people mention are to get status.
A business has one goal: to make money. Money is a poor substitute for status. Owning a small business does not really give you much status. Number of employees does give status: which is one reason some businesses implode by employing too many people.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to identify how much of what we do is status games. Here's a previous comment I made on that topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29912252
Meanwhile, find a job you mostly enjoy that pays okay.
The most important signal is that you are not inspired - that is a sign that you rationally think starting a business is a good idea. It isn't: you are just buying into the false startup narrative. If you actually believed in a business, you would have started one.
Additionally the median business costs their founder too much lifetime and all their money.
> should I just blow my savings on paying a random guy to code something for me
That's a recipe for disaster: there's a lot of grifters out there (intentional or not - I don't know).
Disclaimer: successful founder with opinions but suspicious that the opinions above are unuseful.
90% of startups fail and shut down: https://startupgenome.com/article/the-state-of-the-global-st... I assume small businesses have similar or worse stats.
My motivation is not financial but rather adding something historic and positive to the world. My time on this earth is limited. A company can outlive it's founders. I could care less about status or wealth, I got a good degree and will probably find a stable job in a law office in a few years - for what? I enjoy the thrill of taking chances and learning from mistakes. What is a full bank account worth if you won't use it? Some people my age buy cars etc but again - that seems very bland.
I live by the motto of collecting things that can't be taken away from me - that is what I have in my brain. Take all the wealth away from Elon or Jeff Bezos and they'd be billionaires in no time again. How? Experience.
100x6 months = 50 years and then you die. Life is short. Why should I spend the little time I have working on another mans dream? We have a danish saying that "Things comes together in a higher unity" aka life is like a huge puzzle game.
TLDR: Don't be a career. Life is not evolution. You don’t go step 1 -> 2 -> 3 and so on. You can go from step 3-> step 67.
Ask the girl. Shoot the shot. Launch the business. Run the ad. Quit the job. Take the risk.
Problem: how do I feed myself and my family and community good food, and ensure adequate shelter?
Solution: working with your family and community, take care of your natural resources in a large enough area to sustain you (and also accepting that your population will be regulated by the carrying capacity of the land and water), and practice ways to sustain yourselves for generations.
Doing this in a healthy way, together, is meaningful and likely to lead to a peaceful death with no regrets. If you really don't care about the money, consider activism. I'd say your chances at lasting impact are greater in the existential realm. Who is going to care about Facebook or Twitter in a century? With a strong oral tradition, your community's descendants may care about your leadership during catastrophic climate change.