A Students Guide to Startups.docx
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A Students Guide to Startups.docx
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AStudentsGuidetoStartups
AStudent'sGuidetoStartups
October2006
(ThisessayisderivedfromatalkatMIT.)
Tillrecentlygraduatingseniorshadtwochoices:
getajoborgotogradschool.Ithinktherewillincreasinglybeathirdoption:
tostartyourownstartup.Buthowcommonwillthatbe?
I'msurethedefaultwillalwaysbetogetajob,butstartingastartupcouldwellbecomeaspopularasgradschool.Inthelate90smyprofessorfriendsusedtocomplainthattheycouldn'tgetgradstudents,becausealltheundergradsweregoingtoworkforstartups.Iwouldn'tbesurprisedifthatsituationreturns,butwithonedifference:
thistimethey'llbestartingtheirowninsteadofgoingtoworkforotherpeople's.
Themostambitiousstudentswillatthispointbeasking:
Whywaittillyougraduate?
Whynotstartastartupwhileyou'reincollege?
Infact,whygotocollegeatall?
Whynotstartastartupinstead?
AyearandahalfagoIgavea talk whereIsaidthattheaverageageofthefoundersofYahoo,Google,andMicrosoftwas24,andthatifgradstudentscouldstartstartups,whynotundergrads?
I'mgladIphrasedthatasaquestion,becausenowIcanpretenditwasn'tmerelyarhetoricalone.AtthetimeIcouldn'timaginewhythereshouldbeanylowerlimitfortheageofstartupfounders.Graduationisabureaucraticchange,notabiologicalone.Andcertainlythereareundergradsascompetenttechnicallyasmostgradstudents.Sowhyshouldn'tundergradsbeabletostartstartupsaswellasgradstudents?
Inowrealizethatsomethingdoeschangeatgraduation:
youloseahugeexcuseforfailing.Regardlessofhowcomplexyourlifeis,you'llfindthateveryoneelse,includingyourfamilyandfriends,willdiscardallthelowbitsandregardyouashavingasingleoccupationatanygiventime.Ifyou'reincollegeandhaveasummerjobwritingsoftware,youstillreadasastudent.Whereasifyougraduateandgetajobprogramming,you'llbeinstantlyregardedbyeveryoneasaprogrammer.
Theproblemwithstartingastartupwhileyou'restillinschoolisthatthere'sabuilt-inescapehatch.Ifyoustartastartupinthesummerbetweenyourjuniorandsenioryear,itreadstoeveryoneasasummerjob.Soifitgoesnowhere,bigdeal;youreturntoschoolinthefallwithalltheotherseniors;nooneregardsyouasafailure,becauseyouroccupationisstudent,andyoudidn'tfailatthat.Whereasifyoustartastartupjustoneyearlater,afteryougraduate,aslongasyou'renotacceptedtogradschoolinthefallthestartupreadstoeveryoneasyouroccupation.You'renowastartupfounder,soyouhavetodowellatthat.
Fornearlyeveryone,theopinionofone'speersisthemostpowerfulmotivatorofall—morepowerfuleventhanthenominalgoalofmoststartupfounders,gettingrich. [ 1 ] AboutamonthintoeachfundingcyclewehaveaneventcalledPrototypeDaywhereeachstartuppresentstotheotherswhatthey'vegotsofar.Youmightthinktheywouldn'tneedanymoremotivation.They'reworkingontheircoolnewidea;theyhavefundingfortheimmediatefuture;andthey'replayingagamewithonlytwooutcomes:
wealthorfailure.You'dthinkthatwouldbemotivationenough.Andyettheprospectofademopushesmostofthemintoarushofactivity.
Evenifyoustartastartupexplicitlytogetrich,themoneyyoumightgetseemsprettytheoreticalmostofthetime.Whatdrivesyoudaytodayisnotwantingtolookbad.
Youprobablycan'tchangethat.Evenifyoucould,Idon'tthinkyou'dwantto;someonewhoreally,trulydoesn'tcarewhathispeersthinkofhimisprobablyapsychopath.Sothebestyoucandoisconsiderthisforcelikeawind,andsetupyourboataccordingly.Ifyouknowyourpeersaregoingtopushyouinsomedirection,choosegoodpeers,andpositionyourselfsotheypushyouinadirectionyoulike.
Graduationchangestheprevailingwinds,andthosemakeadifference.Startingastartupissohardthatit'saclosecallevenfortheonesthatsucceed.Howeverhighastartupmaybeflyingnow,itprobablyhasafewleavesstuckinthelandinggearfromthosetreesitbarelyclearedattheendoftherunway.Insuchaclosegame,thesmallestincreaseintheforcesagainstyoucanbeenoughtoflickyouovertheedgeintofailure.
Whenwefirststarted YCombinator weencouragedpeopletostartstartupswhiletheywerestillincollege.That'spartlybecauseYCombinatorbeganasakindofsummerprogram.We'vekepttheprogramshape—allofushavingdinnertogetheronceaweekturnsouttobeagoodidea—butwe'vedecidednowthatthepartylineshouldbetotellpeopletowaittilltheygraduate.
Doesthatmeanyoucan'tstartastartupincollege?
Notatall.SamAltman,theco-founderof Loopt ,hadjustfinishedhissophomoreyearwhenwefundedthem,andLooptisprobablythemostpromisingofallthestartupswe'vefundedsofar.ButSamAltmanisaveryunusualguy.Withinaboutthreeminutesofmeetinghim,Irememberthinking"Ah,sothisiswhatBillGatesmusthavebeenlikewhenhewas19."
Ifitcanworktostartastartupduringcollege,whydowetellpeoplenotto?
Forthesamereasonthattheprobablyapocryphalviolinist,wheneverhewasaskedtojudgesomeone'splaying,wouldalwayssaytheydidn'thaveenoughtalenttomakeitasapro.Succeedingasamusiciantakesdeterminationaswellastalent,sothisanswerworksouttobetherightadviceforeveryone.Theoneswhoareuncertainbelieveitandgiveup,andtheoneswhoaresufficientlydeterminedthink"screwthat,I'llsucceedanyway."
Soourofficialpolicynowisonlytofundundergradswecan'ttalkoutofit.Andfrankly,ifyou'renotcertain,you should wait.It'snotasifalltheopportunitiestostartcompaniesaregoingtobegoneifyoudon'tdoitnow.Maybethewindowwillcloseonsomeideayou'reworkingon,butthatwon'tbethelastideayou'llhave.Foreveryideathattimesout,newonesbecomefeasible.Historicallytheopportunitiestostartstartupshaveonlyincreasedwithtime.
Inthatcase,youmightask,whynotwaitlonger?
Whynotgoworkforawhile,orgotogradschool,andthenstartastartup?
Andindeed,thatmightbeagoodidea.IfIhadtopickthesweetspotforstartupfounders,basedonwhowe'remostexcitedtoseeapplicationsfrom,I'dsayit'sprobablythemid-twenties.Why?
Whatadvantagesdoessomeoneintheirmid-twentieshaveoversomeonewho's21?
Andwhyisn'titolder?
Whatcan25yearoldsdothat32yearoldscan't?
Thoseturnouttobequestionsworthexamining.
Plus
Ifyoustartastartupsoonaftercollege,you'llbeayoungfounderbypresentstandards,soyoushouldknowwhattherelativeadvantagesofyoungfoundersare.They'renotwhatyoumightthink.Asayoungfounderyourstrengthsare:
stamina,poverty,rootlessness,colleagues,andignorance.
Theimportanceofstaminashouldn'tbesurprising.Ifyou'veheardanythingaboutstartupsyou'veprobablyheardaboutthelonghours.AsfarasIcantelltheseareuniversal.Ican'tthinkofanysuccessfulstartupswhosefoundersworked9to5.Andit'sparticularlynecessaryforyoungerfounderstoworklonghoursbecausethey'reprobablynotasefficientasthey'llbelater.
Yoursecondadvantage,poverty,mightnotsoundlikeanadvantage,butitisahugeone.Povertyimpliesyoucanlivecheaply,andthisiscriticallyimportantforstartups.Nearlyeverystartupthatfails,failsbyrunningoutofmoney.It'salittlemisleadingtoputitthisway,becausethere'susuallysomeotherunderlyingcause.Butregardlessofthesourceofyourproblems,alowburnrategivesyoumoreopportunitytorecoverfromthem.Andsincemoststartupsmakeallkindsofmistakesatfirst,roomtorecoverfrommistakesisavaluablethingtohave.
Moststartupsendupdoingsomethingdifferentthantheyplanned.Thewaythesuccessfulonesfindsomethingthatworksisbytryingthingsthatdon't.Sotheworstthingyoucandoinastartupistohavearigid,pre-ordainedplanandthenstartspendingalotofmoneytoimplementit.Bettertooperatecheaplyandgiveyourideastimetoevolve.
Recentgradscanliveonpracticallynothing,andthisgivesyouanedgeoverolderfounders,becausethemaincostinsoftwarestartupsispeople.Theguyswithkidsandmortgagesareatarealdisadvantage.ThisisonereasonI'dbetonthe25yearoldoverthe32yearold.The32yearoldprobablyisabetterprogrammer,butprobablyalsohasamuchmoreexpensivelife.Whereasa25yearoldhassomeworkexperience(moreonthatlater)butcanliveascheaplyasanundergrad.
RobertMorrisandIwere29and30respectivelywhenwestartedViaweb,butfortunatelywestilllivedlike23yearolds.Webothhadroughlyzeroassets.Iwouldhavelovedtohaveamortgage,sincethatwouldhavemeantIhada house .Butinretrospecthavingnothingturnedouttobeconvenient.Iwasn'ttieddownandIwasusedtolivingcheaply.
Evenmoreimportantthanlivingcheaply,though,isthinkingcheaply.OnereasontheAppleIIwassopopularwasthatitwascheap.Thecomputeritselfwascheap,anditusedcheap,off-the-shelfperipheralslikeacassettetaperecorderfordatastorageandaTVasamonitor.Andyouknowwhy?
BecauseWozdesignedthiscomputerforhimself,andhecouldn'taffordanythingmore.
Webenefittedfromthesamephenomenon.Ourpricesweredaringlylowforthetime.Thetoplevelofservicewas$300amonth,whichwasanorderofmagnitudebelowthenorm.Inretrospectthiswasasmartmove,butwedidn'tdoitbecauseweweresmart.$300amonthseemedlikealotofmoneytous.LikeApple,wecreatedsomethinginexpensive,andthereforepopular,simplybecausewewerepoor
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