Ask HN: Advice on starting my own company?

by jfaucett on 7/8/2012, 7:01 PM with 4 comments

I've been wanting to break out on my own and start a company for the past several years but have yet to dare it. I've got several projects and ideas I think could be successful, but the financial risk is holding me back. I wouldn't want to freelance, but really just want to bring my ideas into fruition. Is there any advice you can give me on starting up or getting funding for a project? What do I need besides ideas and the skills to make them happen? I would really appreciate also any advice from guys in the european sector since that's where I'm at.

Thanks in advance!

  • by risratorn on 7/9/2012, 7:26 AM

    Imho the wrong word in your question is funding. Do you really need funding to build your tool? If so pick another tool you can get your hands dirty on without the needed funding. It isn't wrong to think about funding upfront but it shouldn't be holding you back to just hack your idea's together and get it outthere. If it gets enough traction you can really start looking for people to help out of get some VC.

    I myself am in a similar situation so i'm not speaking out of experience but I do know that sitting around thinking about how to get money isn't going to get your product/project launched. Just do it already :)

  • by thbucklf on 7/8/2012, 8:32 PM

    Jfaucett,

    I'm embarking on the same journey right now. To be honest, this is such a broad and basic question you need to do some homework yourself. Its all out there.

    Start here. Steve Blank has provided links to everything you might want to read:

    http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/

    Good luck! I've literally spend a week deep-diving into all the different blog posts and tools within Steve's toolbox above.

  • by skndr on 7/9/2012, 12:35 AM

    What current projects of yours have gained traction and what problems do you really want to solve?