Are Some Startups More Worthwhile Than Others? | Hacker News Reader

Are Some Startups More Worthwhile Than Others?

socialentrepreneurship.change.org

12 pointsnlwhittemore5 comments

Some of the biggest companies with the most social impact were started to solve problems everyone (sometimes even the founders) thought were trivial first world problems.

Microsoft was started to write software for the Altair.

Apple was started to make personal computers when personal computers were considered less useful and marketable than calculators.

Google was started to make a minor improvement to search technology.

IBM was founded to tabulate census data.

Sony started as a radio repair shop.

Oracle was started out of a failed CIA contracting gig.

My point being, it's hard to tell beforehand what a "worthwhile" startup is. Often the founders end up solving a problem they didn't know they were working on. Sometimes, even when they solve a problem they thought was trivial and only interesting to themselves, they open up vast new frontiers of human knowledge through sheer serendipity.

So the argument I'll make (and I'll admit I'm biased) is that the internet is a rapidly maturing industry. There are newer less mature industries that are more likely to be worthwhile (I just started working for a company that is tackling a really mundane task - getting people to put solar panels on their roof).

It's very akin to the last mile problem. At some point you have to stop working with bits, and start working with atoms.

Another way to look at this question is one of - what drives web entrepreneurs? Let's assume that financial reward is one piece of it, and that the process of actually building is itself rewarding - what else influences how HN members have decided what type of companies to build?

Whether others seem interested in the idea. I have only recently started projects that random strangers have sought me out over, and it is encouraging. Also, the feeling of a whether the idea can be achieved. I also shy away from things that feel too mundane (although those things are sometimes great businesses to be in).

I'll keep it going, what else influences how HN members have decided what type of companies to build?

Some startups are more ambitious and tackling larger problems but that doesn't mean anything less is a waste of time.

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