Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches

Arrogant illogical reasoning like "The business plan exists for a reason." does not add any value to the article. Apart from that, I really enjoyed it.

I fall in the still-in-school category, too. I think the biggest barrier for a student to start a company is not the lack of social skills, but the ability to calmly think it through and write it down.

Nice article, though I disagree with the "while in school" part. Not only is it possible to build a successful business while studying, it's often even an advantage to start in school. The key is to find alignment between your studies and your start-up function. Then focus on those aligned functions and find partners for everything else. This can work very nicely for true technology start-ups but is harder for operational/execution start-ups (e.g. websites, services, etc.).

I am not sure if this is allowed on HN (new here), but I wrote a while ago about ways to mesh university with start-up activities: http://bit.ly/hJmCEQ

"There is one Golden Rule: Don't borrow money from family or friends."

I've actually seen lots of successful projects that did just the opposite (including one famous Amazon.com). DO borrow money from family and friends, but make it clear it's a 'risky loan' and they might not see it back. If they really back you up, I'm sure they won't blink (much less create bad blood)...

Anyone realized yet this post is from 2003? Further - "first step - write a business plan", "find an accountant"? Really??? After all this time speaking about MVP, validating your idea with paying customers, and finding product/market fit. gimme a break