Ask HN: What to do after selling startup?
As a young, recent college CS graduate interested in startups -- I'm curious -- what do most of you plan to do after selling your startup? (And for those who have sold startups already, what do you spend your days doing?)
Contributing to open source projects? Teaching middle schoolers how to program? Traveling the world wasting money on drugs & hookers?
I'm kidding on the last one.
It almost seems like "day jobs", besides providing a basic source of income, also provides a social environment for one to live in.
Thanks!
52 comments
[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 99.6 ms ] threadBut if I succeed, I'll probably keep doing what I do now - code, blog and do startup once again.
The people who do startups like the freedom of working on their own thing. That doesn't extend to just startups. Design video games, or direct a movie, or start a band.
My credit balance.
But I'd certainly go for maximum independence so going to work for a company if I don't have to (which presumably I won't have to if I sell a startup) is out of the question. I want to be able to pursue crazy projects that might or might not turn out to give results.
Oh, and I'd crank up on my knowledge of theoretical CS too.
b) Setup a "Hey everyone, I got some money, and want to be an angel investor...send me your ideas." page. Invest into a couple of promising startups.
c) Start thinking of something new to do. And then do another startup.
I like work, don't get me wrong. There's a certain dignity to it, and I'd go bonkers if I wasn't solving problems for somebody. I just don't feel the need to do the traditional 9 to 5 thing. Or the 8:30 to zomg o'clock thing, which is slightly more traditional for Japanese salarymen.
http://blogmaverick.com/2008/03/09/my-rules-for-startups/
To me personally, thinking too much about exit strategies in an early phase startup seems like premature optimization. Thinking about what you're going to be doing after you sell a company that's just getting off the ground is bordering on mental autoerotica. It's like debating what you're going to do after you win a gold metal in the olympics when you've just started training. There's so much ground to cover between here and there that it'd be better to focus on making sure you qualify.
I've looked into outsourcing to other people but find myself too much of a micromanager to get away with it. No-one deserves micromanagement so I avoid it. Everyone else seems to want to turn trivial tasks into big "projects" with budgets to match ;-) - but that's because they're professional coders with standards, whereas if I can use an off the shelf product or bash something messy together in Ruby in 2 hours, I'll do that instead.
Professional coders tend to gasp in horror at my philosophy and I can't blame them. I'm very much of the "duct tape" mentality when it comes to engineering. Thankfully, you can get away with this on your own non-critical projects.. (it's a bit like the welder who doesn't use a mask when doing his own stuff in the garage) but I don't advise it for career programmers because otherwise you'll end up on The Daily WTF every week ;-)
Side note: Having to do significant work in one's areas of weakness/aversion is what makes the initial phases of starting up disproportionately challenging.
I'd also work less when "not at work", and focus on my family.
Then id probably go and see the world and all of its wonders.