Misframe

Mar 11, 2014

There's no rush.

I’ve just finished my first day of Fluent 2014. I’ve talked and listened to people about jobs, careers, internships, startups, and businesses. Also, by quick observation, I think I’m the youngest person here. It’s pretty weird when I’m in conversations where people talk about their jobs or careers. I haven’t been working that long – I think I’ve worked for a grand total of less than 2 years. I barely know what it means to have a job!

I think most people around here are ~30 years old, a decade older than me. I’m just thinking, “do I even belong here?” Like, am I supposed to be doing something else at this age rather than attend a conference like this? Honestly, I can’t think of anything else (other than coding) that I’d be doing.

I think it’s interesting when I talk to people ~15 years older than me about starting a business or working for/at a startup. I’ve started a business and worked for at least one startup but my perspective is totally different. This is how I got started. Who knows where I’ll be when I’m 35? Here’s a thought: did I get a 15-year head start?


I’ve been thinking lately about this business idea I have. It’s no secret, by the way. I’ve tweeted about it several times and if you’ve looked at my GitHub profile recently, you know where my mind’s been lately. I think there’s a market for it, and I think I can make a business out of it. I’ve looked at competitors, other projects like it, asked people about it, and so on. I got a quote from a company that builds a project sort-of like this, and when I saw the bottom line ($4,995), I think I went “holy @!#$!” I feel like the product I envision needs to exist. I’ve also been thinking about an MVP. I thought about finding a “cofounder.” Heck, I’ve even thought about Y Combinator and the UVa i.Lab.

Right now, I’m thinking that I don’t even want to do it. Start another business, that is. I don’t need to. I’m 20 years old. I don’t need to take a huge risk, invest a lot of time and/or money, and put in a lot of effort into something right now. There’s plenty of time for that. There’s no rush.

So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to start working on this thing. As much as I can. I’m going to try to compete directly against that thing that costs $4,995 and (drumroll please……..) make it completely free and open-source. Starting a startup can wait. I have time. I’m not out of ideas. There’s no rush.


By the way, when I started my web hosting business, one of the thoughts that went through my head was, “I have no job experience. Who’s going to hire a 16-year-old without any experience? Maybe I should start something myself…”

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