I'm a female founder and I applied to YC, not technical though. I did find a tech cofounder, and if need be, I can add another third tech cofounder as well. One of my strengths is keeping the programmers motivated and focused. Wish me luck. :-)
1. Depends on what the problems are and if they are fixable. If there are solutions, if others have done it before, or if you know you can persevere and win in the end than obviously stick to it.
2. How passionate are you about the idea/product/industry? If you know deeply inside your heart that's what you want to do then you either persevere or pivot by changing something small or trying a different angle. If it's a throwaway idea and you're in it for the money and quick bucks then it doesn't matter if you do another idea or project...then fail fast.
3. How much time/money have you already invested into it? Can you salvage it or is there something valuable you can save out of it? If you spent a few hours on a landing page and it doesn't convert, toss that. Or if the project was started in a weekend and you don't really have much to lose if you start another project because you don't think it'll work after a sample testing.
4. But if you spent a year or two years on your company and all your life's savings on it, then ask yourself why you did that and if those reasons are still valid today.
1. Startup Weekend (They might have one in your city.)
2. Internet Marketing Summit
3. Founders Institute
4. Toastmasters/Rotary or other business clubs in your city
5. Tech Conferences
6. Online Forums/discussion boards (marketing/biz/tech ones)
Since I'm on my computer all day and at home a lot, I have to go to events to meet people which I'm getting better at.
That's an interesting question. The other things I'd like to know is, "Why did those startups fail? Was there anything the founders/employees could have done to save it? What did they learn from their experiences."
If it's a marketplace, marketing, or product problem then ok. But if the team fell apart, if there were internal conflicts, or if someone didn't pull their weight...then those might not be good candidates to bring on board to other startups no matter how smart they are. What bothers me about some teams are, there are people that you can tell have no initiative, they do the minimum of what's required, and they don't double check to make sure that everything works and invariably something minor comes up to trip up the project that could have been prevented. I hope I never get those people on my team, if I do they need to go.
Another thing I'd also like to know is, "How many of those people from failed YC startups founded another startup or did they just go back to a job or to being an employee at another startup?"
Those are basically the same types of questions I have as well. I reckon there is a lot to be learned from the YC network of startups. It's a great space for a grad student at Stanford's or Berkeley's iSchools to investigate.
That's an awesome quote. I'm going to write it down.
He touched so many people by being such an inspiration, I'm going to miss him. I'm writing a book, a life manual or something like that, and I wanted to ask him a question or to give a unique quote for the book but I guess I waited too long to ask. I was thinking about that last month when he resigned. This just goes to remind me that I better hurry up and get that book written or my project finished...just in case.
"The problem with the Internet Startup craze isn't that too many people are starting companies; it's that too many people aren't sticking with it. That's somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That's when you find out who you are and what your values are." --Steve Jobs
When things get tough, I read that and remind myself to keep going.
India is way too crowded. Plus there's the language issue, standard of living, and whether the salary/pay would be the same as the salary in US and other challenges.
I'd definitely make a pro/con list depending on the opportunity and country and make up my mind then.
I wouldn't mind New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, or a nice European country or maybe even Costa Rica. I'm open minded.
I think you should do something you enjoy and love. Life is too short, but then again, I'm not one to ask regarding traditional "jobs" and job longevity. Ha!
I would want to know what's going on if I were the CEO. And regardless of how many applicants, I believe in common courtesy and being upfront with people. I'm probably going to be very involved in the hiring process until the company gets so big that we'd need a HR department.
I really can't stand all the problems/complaints about the whole tedious job search process right now and that's why I'm going to build my startup to fix some of these problems. It's nice to know that my startup is in the job search industry and how much flaws and complaints there are, so I know I'm on the right track to doing something good for a lot of people.
When my friends and mentors asked me why I picked my cofounder and what made me decide to, my answer was that I'd enjoy working with him.
I said that if I was going to be busting my butt for the next few months or years, I'd want someone that I would really enjoy working with and can get along with and that's mellow/laid back/low key/no drama. His talents and skills were lower on the priority list than that #1 must -have.
I hope you have better luck finding someone that's no only skilled but that you can get along with and is compatible with you work-wise/personality wise.
