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Comment by nhangen | Hacker News Reader

I think you and I read a different article. What I got from Mark's piece was that entrepreneurship isn't all glitz and glamour like it's made out to be on the tech blogs and in the business magazines. It's hard work, and sometimes the chances of success look bleak.

My company did not seek venture funding, but I don't feel that changes the dynamic of Mark's post as it relates to me. There's something in there for everybody.

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It isn't all glitz and glamour, and people should know that. However, my issue with the article is not the 'it's not all glitz and glamour' but the 'it's shitty, you never see your family, you're constantly stressed, and your chances suck'. That is discouraging, and totally unnecessary.

If you're going to do high risk/high gain, it's warranted and good advice. But to imply that this is what entrepreneurship is like is unfortunate.

He deals primarily in the high risk/high gain market though. I think if you asked Mark he would say a business that lets you make just what you need -- a lifestyle business -- isn't a bad thing at all. The people that want to start a high risk business and raise money to help them swing for the fences should be prepared for some stress though. Those people are his audience. I don't think he meant that simply choosing a path of entrepreneurship means that everyone will have this experience.

You're probably right, but he should have chosen his words more carefully. It's very easy to misunderstand him and conclude that starting a business is inevitably going to be shitty.

While there are many scenarios in which things come easy, I've yet to find myself involved in one. I've either had to build on the side while working full-time, or work 60 hour weeks, nights and weekends, in order to keep money coming in. In either case, while I've not been sleeping in hotels, I've seen much less of my family than I'd like. I think it's equally dangerous to purport that entrepreneurship is simple and easy going. That's the same myth that make money entrepreneurs/bloggers promote in order to sell ebooks.

Fair point. It wasn't my intent to make it sound easy, and I should have been more careful with my language. What I wanted to communicate is this - Entrepreneurship can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be, and the kind of business you aim for has a large impact on how stressful it is.

That I can definitely agree with. I think you'd have less haters if you left out the 'bitch please' portion of the argument.

Sound advice, I'm still figuring out how to blog well. I think that some controversy (=haters) can be a good thing, and hope to strike a better balance in the future.

Suster's article seems to say that sometimes it is glitz and glamour but sometimes there is also stress and suffering.

In reality, most entrepreneur experiences are frankly boring. It's just a lot of hard, sensible work mostly in a job that isn't terribly exciting to describe to strangers with growing financial stability along the way with maybe a few scary bumps in the road. Most software startups are more comparable to a food cart or the local nail salon than they are to nascent world-changing mega-corporations.

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