The main cost of starting a Web-based startup is food and rent. Which means it doesn’t cost much more to start a company than to be a total slacker.
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Most startups fail. It’s the nature of the business. But it’s not necessarily a mistake to try something that has a 90% chance of failing, if you can afford the risk. Failing at 40, when you have a family to support, could be serious. But if you fail at 22, so what? If you try to start a startup right out of college and it tanks, you’ll end up at 23 broke and a lot smarter. Which, if you think about it, is roughly what you hope to get from a graduate program. —Paul Graham —Hiring is Obsolete (PaulGraham.com)
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Graham compares working at a startup with getting a graduate degree. While I think both are valuable, they’re extremely difficult to compare. Graham wants his readers to think otherwise.
I agree with Graham’s argument that the inexperienced have big problems determining if their product/service ideas will actually be something that people want. I’m not impressed with their ability to get good people either though.
The risks of a startup are huge. You might end up poorer but wiser, but there’s the possibility you may end up much worse off. Before taking Graham’s word for what made the companies he mentions such great startups, it’s probably best to read up on them yourself.
I think Graham means that if you create your own startup, then even if it fails, you’ll learn something that might make you valuable to a future employer.
Going to work for a startup would still mean you’re working for someone else, and you’re right, Ron — who knows what you’ll learn in a situation like that.
“you’ll end up at 23 broke and a lot smarter.”
Not from my experience or from discussions about others’. At best more determined, but with a risk of just the opposite. Yes, you’ll learn a lot, but the quality, usefulness, and validity of what you learn is a matter of luck. In a startup, there’s little if any time to learn anything that isn’t a necessity of the moment. The education you get at a startup depends upon the education of those you work with, and how much time they can actually spend teaching you.