Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

I think the biggest thing is that cheap != easy<p>Sure, you can write good software with a cheap Pc and entirely free software, and there may be very little equipment costs compared to other industries. But that doesnt make it EASY.

I am going to be a complete fool and say the opposite. Starting up is easier than everyone says.<p>Reasons? The cost is really low. You don't have to quit your job. You don't have to invest a lot into your company. If things start to do well, you can afford to do both. What really is the cost? The cost is your time, and if it is something you enjoy, its a win-win situation. Am I defining a hobby? Sure, but starting up can be exactly that. There are advantages to quitting your job and investing every penny you can, but that isn't for everyone.<p>So starting up is really easy. Write some code, release a project. If it doesn't do well, it was fun. If it does do well, keep the ball rolling.<p>If you can't get anything started while you are working full time, I would suggest you will be unsuccessful if you quit your job too.

Saying something requires luck is not the same as saying it is hard. Few people seem to understand that.

i get the feeling people are voting up by the title, not the actual article content.. seriously, this is entirely obvious and of digg caliber.. not what i expect from news.yc

Warning: the stove is HOT!

Why do you people up vote this stuff? This place is turning into planet of the obvious... do you really need to read a page of it's not easy? <p>pfff junk

Successful (software) start-ups are unlikely. They require great aptitude (the possession of which is uncommon) and rarely fabulous luck. The likelihood of a start-up succeeding is the product of two unlikely circumstances.<p>So I suppose it is as easy as being exceptional and lucky. <p>Don't sell your house.

The article is great. The only problem is that we hear the same story every hour or so. What some of us fail to realize is that most startups were not started as startups. As a matter of fact I would say that the majority of successful entrepreneurs did not start with the idea of owning/running a business. Usually engineers/hackers work on a app in their past time out of curiosity and build a product. The business or startup naturally follows.

I disliked this piece for a different reason: his attitude. No successful company was ever built by someone thinking as negatively as this guy.<p>Sure, someone who thinks that if he creates a new facebook widget he'll retire -- that guy may need to hear this. But wait, does he? He'll figure out the problem with that soon enough.<p>The rest of us ... do we need some smug guy telling us that the Plenty of Fish guy was just really lucky? I've read the Plenty of Fish story, and it sounded like there was a lot more than luck involved -- and that luck was the smallest component. Oh, and I've worked at other startups and know people who are quite rich because of them. It didn't take them five years and only luck. It took the right idea at the right time, and in some cases, multiple tries.<p>No, successful, wealth-generating sites aren't born every day.<p>But it's more possible to create one than this guy seems to think.