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Comment by law | Hacker News Reader

As a general (and quite accurate) rule, if you have to ask the question, then the answer is 'no'.

If your goals are to become the next Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, etc., the answer is 'no'.

If you're sick of your current job, want a change, and hate being a subordinate, the answer is 'no'.

So, when is it okay to turn your current life, and risk it all for what seems like a gutshot straight draw? It differs for everyone, but the motivator must be sheer passion for eliciting change and realizing a dream. Moreover, the dream must be for you; it shouldn't be for anyone else. If you're developing a product, develop a product that you yourself would back; if you aren't absolutely, unquestionably committed to your product, then it is my personal guarantee that no one else will be.

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>If you're sick of your current job, want a change, and hate being a subordinate, the answer is 'no'.

According to Illusions of Entrepreneurship, most entrepreneurs are in their 40s, not 20s.

Additionally, many entrepreneurs, (I believe it said a plurality) were entrepreneurs because they didn't like or couldn't work well under a boss more than any other reason.

[1] Non-aff link: http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Entrepreneurship-Costly-Entr...

What I was trying to illustrate was that those reasons shouldn't be the only ones for starting your own business. I agree that those qualities may exist in many entrepreneurs, but they might actually be more of distraction than anything else. Passion for your product or solution should be the driving force behind an entrepreneurial endeavor.

>Passion for your product or solution should be the driving force behind an entrepreneurial endeavor.

I had this discussion with a co-worker. While I think you shouldn't have hatred/distaste for your product or solution, I think it's more important that you have passion for helping your customers/clients in a good-for-everyone way. For this reason I'd ideally entrepreneur in the charity sector, because I have a passion for helping charity organizations.

There might be varying shades of grey to this argument. I'm a web application developer, and my co-worker would only pursue building ASP.NET websites related to his passion, music. Less extreme versions would be either building for any platform in any programming language, something music related. Or building ASP.NET web sites/services but not for music. Also varying definitions of "passion".

Perhaps not for a darling product company. But for something like a fencing company? Sure could be a great reason: You're a surly sonofabitch who doesn't like having a boss and fencing pays fine enough, etc.

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