Hacker News Reader

Comment by bkeroack | Hacker News Reader

This is what happens when people want to "do a startup" more than they want to build a business doing X. The passion for the idea/product should come first, with incubators (if deemed necessary) being used as a tool towards achieving that goal.

View on HN

This is something I've been struggling to understand with some of the startups I read about on here. My lack of understanding is probably to do with the fact that I'm not an entrepreneur, nor do I desire to be. What I'm missing, though, is why these people want to simply start a company.

I get wanting to start a company around your idea. In that case, the company isn't the goal but rather the medium for pursuing the goal, which is to push your idea/product. I don't understand wanting to start a company for the sake of having a company.

HBO's "Silicon Valley", Arron Sorkin's "Social Network", TechCrunch, The Verge, Hacker News and tweetstorms brought to you by Marc Andreessen glorify the tech-startup entrepreneur. People within our industry have been taught that the best of the best start tech companies. And the best of the best are 20-somethings! It seems so reachable. So everyone thinks this is what they're supposed to do. Anybody who's anybody has launched a startup in San Francisco, right?

People want to do a startup to get rich. Solving interesting problems keeps you motivated, but it's the profit motive that pushes people to actually do a startup. It's the profit motive that drives capitalism, not the "solve interesting problems" motive.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com