Comments on: Don’t Plan to Get Rich from Your Startup

By: K. Srikrishna

K. Srikrishna — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:45:32 +0000

as @jp commented above, Purpose matters. Money is an outcome of a job well done and with luck, a lot of money can also be an outcome. But the job well done (or as you state well learnt) is the first milestone.

I know many people would have flinched the first time they heard “modest outcome” – as though we are saying do a mediocre job. To them we can say have realistic goals – be clear about what constitutes success, and build small wins on top of which you can build bigger ones. So building a team, shipping a product, getting a 100 customers to pay for it and servicing and keeping them happy are all lessons well learnt in your first time around. And as with FogCreek and other examples your modest 1st success and your hitting for the fences could still be in the same company in different phases.

thanks for another good post.

By: Allan Rennebo Jepsen

Allan Rennebo Jepsen — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 08:31:16 +0000

To some extend this is right on the money. You should always plan for a small success but if you are not open (and maybe even prepared) for a big success you will never exceed your plan. In my mind it is all about being ready for change and embrase it instead of fearing it

By: JP

JP — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:52:37 +0000

If you are motivated by money in general, you will lose. See Dan Pink’s TED talk: http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/the_surprising.php and Simon Sinek’s TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

By: Azeem

Azeem — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:33:19 +0000

This is a good article. I think you could also work at a startup or two as a very early employee, get a lot of comparable experience, and THEN start your “grand” company.

I actually think this is not a bad alternative, because it also mitigates your risk, but maximizes your learning if you are in a team with strong entrepreneurs/investors (versus going at it alone for the first time, regardless of whether it’s a more modest opportunity or not).

I also have friends (and myself included), that like to experiment and build for fun, while working @ a startup; I think all of this combines to yield great experience, before venturing off for your “big idea”.