Comment by oldandlesswise | Hacker News Reader

Comment by oldandlesswise | Hacker News Reader

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An interesting article; i was reading the replies to this. So here is my take. A UK 40++ entrepreneur.

I have been there and done that - made good £££ from the first boom in 2000. Since then tried a couple of startups all of which failed, for one reason or another. Sadly we did burn through quite a lot of investor £££ in the process and gained no personal value other than experience.

What I think I have learned is that building a small business with around 5-10 people and making a regular salary of £200k a year is a much more enjoyable existence than trying for the millions and never quite getting there.

Working for a large corp, contracting etc is depressing (other than doing it abroad which was fun for a few years and allowed me to travel in my 30's).

We now have a funky office, a very tight team of devs. I guess in some ways I modelled on what Joel did.

After everything, I have learned "bootstrap" + "lifestyle business" is the best route to have a happy and productive life. Our business is a digital agency - mostly wordpress sites for SME market, a few apps etc. Its regular and good money. it is no way as interesting as some of the "startup" ideas we tried over the years, but no VC still on my shoulder anymore :)

> What I think I have learned is that building a small business with around 5-10 people and making a regular salary of £200k a year is a much more enjoyable existence than trying for the millions and never quite getting there.

But what if you get there?

Would you rather have a 1% chance of $100M/year or a 99% chance of $200k/year?

If all one thinks about is the math, they'd take the chance at 100M, because it is a higher number when multipled by the probability. But you can't pay a mortgage with a probability, and some folks want a mortgage (or other lifestyle features).

But I think the point is - would you be up for earning £200k a year when it's still your company doing what you want to do. I am not suggesting comparing a £200k a year with having a job - that's very very different and I would never want that. To me that really is a failure. I often ask the question - what would I do if I had £100m++. maybe I would go travel for a few years, but as I am still in my early 40s I would end up having a small company doing some cool stuff in the latest tech. Its what I enjoy doing. You can only sit on so many beaches!

What is the end game? having £100M+ in the bank account is only the start :) i wondering if anyone who has made some big money reads hacker news - or is that all now do :)

That's fair. I remember talking to a co-founder of a successful company and he said if he ever left, he'd love to run a small engineering team at a company, take a salary, and leave some of the aspects of running a business to others.

It takes all kinds.

But are you sure your math is right? How do you know those are the percentages?

Me personally, I know I’ll be able to pay a mortgage one way or another, so I’d prefer to shoot for high impact.

When you’re running the hopefully-$100m-company you can still pay yourself a six figure salary. It’s not all binary.

I don't know those percentages, but I suspect they are optimistic.

I think it comes down to knowing yourself and your risk profile. Good on ya for taking the swing!

99% chance of $200k/year does not exist.

Ive had my consulting business for about 18 years. We are around 45 people now and this year I should make about 1MM in profit. I envy my friends who have made millions in a fraction of the time, but for every one of those there are maybe 50 who are employees (somehow I know too many people that have made 10MM+ selling a company).

As a recent 30 year old dev in London looking to do just this, I'd really appreciate any advice :)

Join the club!

A business like that would completely suit me. Maybe it's because I'm of a similar age?

I'm 20 years old and have a web and design agency with a co-founder and currently two employees (+ flexible workers). I can relate.

When I was younger (I know how this sounds) I read "The Lean Startup" and drank the Koolaid. I was feeling like a failure because I wasn't building the next big thing (tm) although I had an IQ of 152 and wrote code since ages. I think that some aspects of the startup bubble can be seriously bad for mental health. I've learned to accept myself and the world and cut the bullshit and "will to power"-esque thinking. Sometimes I still have feelings of unmet potential, but fortunately I now understand that a fast-growing startup is one of many solutions (and sometimes not even a solution at all). I can now learn to allow myself to find peace.

I like the egalitarian nature of the community which discourages people from talking about aspects which are only there to fuel their feeling of self-entitlement (like IQ). If I didn't say that I think that my potential is there based on IQ, there wouldn't be a downvote.

It's very telling. HN can be an unforgiven environment for specific topics such as problems with pride, ego and self-reflection. But on the other hand, it's just a downvote.

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