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Comment by acuozzo | Hacker News Reader

1. Scratch your own itch

2. Be in love with the problem

3. Talk to potential customers to find what they need, not what they want

What if {{1} ∩ {3}} ∪ {{2} ∩ {3}} = ∅?

That is, what if everything you love to do is not marketable and the solutions to the problems you care about are not marketable either?

> If your starting goal is "I want to start a startup"

My starting goal is "retire by 50 without taking a hit to my six-figure lifestyle".

Achieving it via my technical chops is the only way I know how.

I'm a bad investor and my wife is a spendthrift. It's highly doubtful that we'll get there "the slow way" (e.g. collecting on several corporate real estate investments) by starting at 34.

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> That is, what if everything you love to do is not marketable and the solutions to the problems you care about are not marketable either?

Don't start a startup then.

> My starting goal is "retire by 50 without taking a hit to my six-figure lifestyle".

Don't start a startup then.

You don't build a startup for income security or to get rich quick.

> You don't build a startup for income security or to get rich quick.

Got it. Two questions:

1. What are some acceptable __extrinsic__ motivations to build one?

2. When this thread eventually crosses the "No True Scotsman" threshold, can we discuss the legitimacy of so-called "Lifestyle Startups"?

I absolutely love this advice. Its clear cut and simple. You can not force these things.

> You can not force these things.

Why not?

Computer Science & programming are my passions.

I work as a Software Engineer. I'm not passionate about the projects I work on at my job, but doing so pays the bills.

Why can I not make use of the same discipline that brings me into work everyday to bring my own product to market?

__My issue is in identifying what other people want.__

The CS & programming topics that excite me (i.e. compilers & PL design) haven't had marketable products since F/OSS won in the '80s/90s. The backscratcher I'd design to scratch my own itch(es) can't compete with thousands of free ones worked on by an order of magnitude more people.

I highly doubt every successful payroll/billing/HR startup founder was intrinsically-motivated to build their product.

I'd be satisfied building boring CRUD like https://bonus.ly if I could turn it into a small, successful "Lifestyle Startup" and coast.

> __My issue is in identifying what other people want.__

Probably accurate. So that’s what you need to figure out then. It’s great you are aware of it, now make it the nr.1 most important thing in your life.

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