Hacker News Reader

Comment by herpaderpa2000 | Hacker News Reader

herpaderpa2000

Honest or not, starting a startup for the sake of making money (whether that money will fund a more altruistic "end-goal" or not) is probably not the right reason to build a company.

...or at the very least I don't think it's the reason that you want to advertise.

View on HN

Honest or not, starting a startup for the sake of making money (whether that money will fund a more altruistic "end-goal" or not) is probably not the right reason to build a company.

Making money was exactly pg's reason for starting Viaweb. YC wouldn't be so hypocritical as to deny someone for advertising that as their reason, when YC itself wouldn't exist if its founder hadn't started a startup for the purpose of getting rich.

Exactly. To be more specific, I recall pg saying that his main motivation was that he wanted to solve "the money problem" (the fact that having to make money doesn't allow you the time you need to do other things).

What other reason is there? I could think of 1) money to use yourself, 2) money to use altruistically, 3) because your startup itself will benefit the world, 4) because the market "is just begging to be disrupted", 5) because you need to prove it to yourself, or to someone else. (They're all reasons for me.) So what is the reason that you think is the best to advertise?

And it's definitely honest.

I agree that "making money" is not the best reason. Because what it indicates about you is that 6 months down the line, when you're having trouble making money or growing your current revenue base, you're someone more likely to give up than someone doing something because they actually are passionate about solving a problem.

I think that that is a huge generalization. It depends what the person's reason for wanting to make money is. And it depends on whether there are other reasons besides making money.

Perhaps it is a generalisation, but if they notice that, say, people who mention money are 50% less likely to be successful, they'll probably keep that in mind and perhaps at least deduct some mental points for it.

Best reason for a startup: "I want to solve problem X"

That's an intermediate goal; there has to be a reason why you want to solve a problem.

The knee-jerk reaction I see people having is that your language indicates a short-term commitment to the startup, kind of like a question mark...ergo...red flag.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com