6 ms·

Why I abandoned my startup

120 points by westonmcbride 13y ago

iagomr 13y ago
Thanks for this. As someone thinking about doing the similar, I was very happy to hear about someone else's story. Keep up!
westonmcbride 13y ago
A raw, introspective recap of why I left my last startup. I hope it helps some people realized what I did - that it is not worth it to do something that you don't love. Would appreciate any feedback!
- Ma8ee 13y ago
  Why doesn't the site let me zoom (iPad Mini)? Good read though, even if I had to strain my old eyes.
- jonny_eh 13y ago
  I've never regretted making a change to my life when I discovered I was unhappy. Kudos on the tough decision!
- cocoflunchy 13y ago
  While you're here, just a quick heads up: the prices on the front page of crowdtest.io is not showing up on my computer (win7-chrome latest). See http://prntscr.com/14u0i7 http://prntscr.com/14u0i7
  - mlebel 13y ago
    Just went and fixed this. Thanks for the heads up. If you've got an app you want to test, shoot me an email and we'll cover your first test.
tlb 13y ago
Please say more about the new problem you're solving. I think lots of people would like to help if they understood how they could make a useful contribution. An article explaining the root of the problem (which is more complicated than "there isn't enough water") would be well received here.
- westonmcbride 13y ago
  Yes sir, more to come on that. Happy to chat about my rough hypotheses in the meantime. Feel free to e-mail me at westonmcbride at gmail dot com.
dmor 13y ago
Awesome to see "The Monk and the Riddle" referenced, it should be required reading for startup people.
ilamont 13y ago
I understand why you left, but what do your cofounders, investors and team members think about your sudden departure?
apalmer 13y ago
'Doing work for money, especially when you have passions and interests in something bigger, is the most soul-sucking and demoralizing thing you can do.' You have lived a very sheltered life.
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  He is clearly sheltered, but he has a point. Most people live demoralized, defeated, horrible lives, and corporate work is the cause because it truly sucks. But let's remember that exceptions can happen for any of us. May the odds be ever in your favor. Personally, I'm OK with working for money as long as I'm actually paid-- at a consulting rate, not a 40-hour engagement. At $500 an hour, I'll do boring work (for a couple hundred hours). If I'm going to be spending 40 hours per week at it, though, for a middle-class salary; the work damn well better be worth doing.
  - apalmer 13y ago
    I am all for doing what makes you happy etc... i just found the comment hilarious. People on earth are getting killed, raped, enslaved, women are stripping to put clothes on their kids back, etc etc etc working for money is not the most soul sucking horrible thing ever. Everything doesnt need to be over the top melodrama, dude didnt like his job, quit it to pursue something he found more meaningful, good for him... i hope the angle he is on does lead to some improvement in the world. but the writing style is annoying.
    - unclebucknasty 13y ago
      OTOH, if those living "sheltered lives" do not have this "melodramatic" sense of purpose and passion for changing the world, then who will help those being killed, raped, enslaved, etc?
  - kamaal 13y ago
    >>Most people live demoralized, defeated, horrible lives, and corporate work is the cause because it truly sucks. I agree, to this 100%. >>At $500 an hour, I'll do boring work (for a couple hundred hours). $500/hr * 8 hrs/day is $4000 per day or $20,000 per week or $80,000 per month. How does one go about by finding such a job? I am darn serious and I'm asking you. Do you know how to find such work? Note: In my country(India) $80,000 comes to around. 40,00,000 per month. That's simply too much, If I ever get paid that much- Frankly speaking I don't even how to spend it.
alekseyk 13y ago
Sounds to me like his girlfriend got him jealous. Seriously, if he could quit a start up and go into charity over night I don't think his bank account was hurting. It always amusing to me how people try to pet their egos, oh hey guys I'm loaded so I'm going to quit my job and sell water to poor kids. Please look how kind I am, everybody else is so selfish and stuck at work because they are not loaded!
- gruseom 13y ago
  Yes, perhaps there is ego involved. But at least it's blended with some wonder and some love. That's better than the form of it that you're expressing here, which is black bile. I wonder why people don't see that when they pour this stuff on others, they're pouring it on themselves as well.
untog 13y ago
I actually said out loud: “My name is Weston McBride, and I can do whatever I want to. I will approach this problem with enthusiasm unknown to mankind, and I feel sorry for anything that gets in my way.” Were you looking in the mirror when you said it? I'll admit that comment is kind of facetious, but I've long wondered whether these sort of self-motivational things ever have a meaningful effect on anything. Anyway, the core truth that this post runs around is that running a startup isn't for everyone. If it was for you, you'd still be doing it. Running a charity might not be either, but it is healthy to re-examine your life at regular intervals and evaluate whether you really are doing the right thing.
mgkimsal 13y ago
==== She went on: “If you have conviction and the right solution, you can get in front of anyone [to raise money, strike a partnership, build a team, etc], so what are you waiting for? You’ve already shown you can build a team and a product, you have the technical background to solve this problem. How does a liquidity event really make a big difference? Why continue being miserable?” ==== You've also now demonstrated that you'll drop everything - that investor money, staff, customers, etc, because you don't like something. How will potable water investors react knowing this story? Part of being successful is sticking through with something. "How does a liquidity event really make a big difference?" If he was really going to exit at $200MM, I'm assuming a decent portion would have gone to him. Having a bank of, say, $10MM should be more than enough to start his potable water business without having to go to investors to get things started the next time (assuming, that is, he believes enough in it to invest a chunk of his own money, not just someone else's).
- robryan 13y ago
  The article states that he transitioned out of the company over 4 weeks, presumably the company was able to go on without him. I don't think investors will take it badly, I don't think they really want to have a founder who's heart isn't in it anymore slaving away at half pace in the hope of making something from the business.
speeder 13y ago
Heh, sometimes doing now what you can, is right. But sometimes, you cannot do it. I have great life plans, but I am moneyless (in fact, having money to by my own food each month is a small victory already), mostly friendless, and powerless (in the sense I do not have political power, or economic power, or friends to leverage, or any other external power). So I am very sure, that doing something else other than my goal, as a step to do my goal, is not wrong... By the way, what I do right now I still love to do anyway :) (I make edu apps for little children... not my life goal, but still a noble thing to do, and I hope, profitable)
guylhem 13y ago
It is both funny and sad to read. So you decided to shed away your chances of success and the financial capacity to back up the projects you believe in +5 years, +10 years, +15 years from now (etc.) for the time preference of working right now on a project - because there is a water problem in this world. Tell me, what are you going to do about hunger? If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part of your (steady) income for that? If you prefer to fix the problem yourself, what are your special skills or experience regarding water? What are you going to do if your project is deemed "interesting" but not worth investing on - especially now that you won't be able to finance it yourself? You must certainly place a lot of trust in the goodwill of the future investors, but basically, here you showed that you didn't care about what you were doing, so why should I or anyone else take your word that you won't drop your next project just as quickly as this one? Unless there is some missing information (ex: you have a 10 years lifespan due to some disease), it doesn't look like refusing the deferred life, but more like taking unneeded risk to get social status (saying you presented at this "Solve for X" conference) under a bleeding heart pretense. Sorry if that's hard - that's just the way I see it. Anyway, it really seems like a bad decision indeed. If you really hated the job so much, it then begs the question - why did you started it in the first place? I really hope you can turn around successfully, and find more meaning in your projects. EDIT: it is good for him, and he will be more happy, but it's not logical. Something sounds out of place in the original post. While he will be more happy, using a charity purpose as the excuse and justification, while it is unlikely to be the best outcome for society, seems phony. Say that you want some fun or social status, that I can believe in. If you really care about solving a problem, who solves it (yourself or someone else) is irrelevant. How it is solved is irrelevant. You just want that fixed. Caring about not getting rich is just as pointless as caring about getting rich. It is a byproduct. You should want to solve the f problem, not want or look for ways to spend your life working on it.
- xtracto 13y ago
  >If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part of your (steady) income for that? There's lot of scientists whose life objective is to solve a variety of world's problems and they don't want to become rich. The point is, this guy did not want to be in a startup, he wanted to work directly on doing something to solve the World's water prblem. That's good for him, and IMO it does not make his decision worse than staying doing something that did not fully satisfied him anymore.
ChrisNorstrom 13y ago
Oh Weston, I'm in your shoes. I'm dreaming for a day when I can start a business that installs high powered vacuum suction motors and large hoses into 20 foot utility box trucks so I can help clean the billions of tons of trash that plague our cities. When I had time I created a hobby of cleaning up small forests and unclaimed land from trash. I'd show up in a green construction vest so people thought I was official and didn't ask questions and would bag all the trash I could find and weighed the bags on a scale. I've got an excel sheet with all my stats. I've picked up over 570 lbs of trash to date. Just in wrappers, McDonalds cups, styrofoam. It's heart breaking to see an area trashy 5 months after I cleaned it up. I stopped doing it because I started wishing death and destruction to the people who littered. It made me angry and bitter towards humanity. I was picking up its trash and it didn't give a damn. I try to ignore it but every time I see trash on the side of the road a part of me keeps saying, "You should invent something that makes it easier to clean that up, think of how clean the whole world could be". The little voice keeps saying "Imagine a giant movable vaccum cleaner mounted on a truck with large hoses sticking out. It could work. Just try.". I can't stop thinking about it. Your story has actually inspired me to try to go ahead and pursue that dream. If it's one thing tax payers are willing to pay for it's less trash in their neighborhood. Anyone interested shoot me an email chris at norcophoenix dot com. I know an electrician, a guy who knows where to order the trucks from, and some really cheap office space for startups. I'm in St. Louis Missouri btw.
- yolesaber 13y ago
  When I was visiting St. Petersburg, I saw that along Nevsky Prospekt (essentially the Fifth Ave of St. Petersburg) sanitation workers were using these large mounted vacuums to clean the streets. They weren't like tracks but rather like carts with a large, vertical component (I assume the vacuum parts) out of which came a hose. They did a pretty good job cleaning up the trash and detritus I saw along the Prospekt. Your idea definitely has some credence.
- Uchikoma 13y ago
  I might totally misunderstand you as English is not my native tongue, but in Germany - and I assume in many other parts of Europe - there are large trucks that go around streets and smaller ones in parks that have vacuums and suck up the trash. Not sure if your idea was the invention or starting a service business to offer street cleaning services.
tks2103 13y ago
"The question left me sick to my stomach." "I went to bed that night with my head spinning." "...I had been living... in the 'trance of fear.'" "I knew that I was powerfully unhappy..., but I was powerless to do anything about it" "That revelation liberated me." "I was buying my life back." dude, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelax. sounds like you are about to do some cool stuff. excited to see what you come up with. but, just so you have a different perspective, this is what i heard: you are leaving one company to start another company. the new company does water stuff, and you really like that.
kumarski 13y ago
Weston what's your hashtag or email address?
- mlebel 13y ago
  weston [at] crowdtest.io
kamaal 13y ago
>> I just have to sell this mobile shopping company for $200M And then.. >>But my girlfriend challenged this: “How does selling a consumer app company help you disrupt the potable water market?” She was right, and I knew it. In the same way Bill Gates can solve problems like Polio, Hunger and Poverty by using his fortune. You need money to solve the world's problems, Is this really so hard to understand? If you have no money you can't solve your own problems. Let alone the world's problems. Without money you will be left working crazy hours to solve your own miniscule problems which aren't relevant beyond house's front door. You were right there, if you had sold that start up for $200 million. You could take your cut, then spend rest of your life focusing your time, energy and passion on the problems you are interested to solve without worrying about mortgage, debts or anything.
- cmdkeen 13y ago
  Bill Gates didn't become that rich by thinking "I'll build this software company, sell it and then do what I'm passionate about". He became successful by following his passion, and was then able to be philanthropic. People who are passionate about saving the world will be far more likely to change the world by focusing on that and use other people's money to do so. The point is if you're miserable in your job, and you could be doing something else anyway you should change. Which is what makes it different from the other soul destroying examples mentioned. Go back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and self actualisation. It could be arguably worse to look back on a squandered life when you know it could be different, those who have no opportunity to change their fate do suffer, but in a different way - they aren't the ones causing their misery.
  - mgkimsal 13y ago
    He was still doing philanthrophic stuff well before stepping down, and it was that much easier to do because he'd stuck with making MS a success first. One can have multiple passions in life, and still prioritize attention to each.
macspoofing 13y ago
Isn't the "potable water market" saturated with startups and NGOs?
dools 13y ago
I'm pretty sure that having a lot of money would give you a head start in solving the world's water problems (or whatever problems you happen to care about). Elon Musk didn't start off founding SpaceX, his first big hit was PayPal right? So I'm sure that "online transactions" was about as boring to an aspiring space entrepreneur as "online shopping" is to you, Weston. Anyway, decisions other people make often look weird to people observing from the peanut gallery - most of all when you make a decision that feels so right it's almost impossible to "unmake" you usually know that, for whatever reason and with whatever reasoning, you've made the right decision for you, now. On the topic of solving the world's water problems, I'm reminded of a documentary I saw years ago by a Ghanaian national in Nigeria, the name of which escapes me and which I can't find anywhere. It was around the time of the "make poverty history" campaign. This guy went to Nigeria and tried to do a few basic things like get a house, find a job, etc. and found that at every turn he was faced by rampant corruption. He even setup an NGO and started accepting foreign aid with very little trouble. The final line in the film is "If you want to solve poverty, you first have to solve corruption" which has always stuck with me. I'm mentioning this because it may be the case that "solving the water problem" for the majority of people won't be a matter of the (relatively) simple application of technology, but a matter of the much more complex application of political will, diplomacy and grass roots activism. You might already have considered this, but since I remembered the doco I thought I'd mention it, too: sometimes there are problems you have to solve before you solve the problem you really want to solve.
- Mz 13y ago
  Gates has said something like "automation multiplies effeciencies in an efficient system and multiplies inefficiencies in an inefficient one." The same can apply to money. I have read that 70% of lottery winners are bankrupt within five years. Money can grease the wheels but cannot buy a solution that does not exist. That is bought with things like blood, sweat and tears, so to speak.
SatvikBeri 13y ago
Good luck!
bdcravens 13y ago
Pursuing your passion: bravo. In reading this, however, I can't help but read into it a belief of the "inevitability of success". Instead of a $200M exit, you might not see $200. (In which case your decision looks even better.) However, your pursuit of clean water might not be successful either: inability to raise money, technologies issues, uncooperative or greedy governments, etc.
epynonymous 13y ago
this reminds me of a quote from the opening for "this week in startups" hosted by jason calacanis http://thisweekinstartups.com http://thisweekinstartups.com, he quotes ruby on rails founder, david heinemeier hansson, "if you're not working on your best idea right now, you're doing it wrong." ideas are a dime a dozen, but think about the one idea that you'd be willing to lose sleep, money, time, life, over. the fact that you're passionate about it will probably justify all that. there are always exceptions, but i think it makes sense, life is short. on the flip side, i think experience gained doesn't hurt one bit.
- mgkimsal 13y ago
  For people who come up with ideas all the time, "work on your best idea right now", taken literally, is paralyzing. And determining what "best" is is, at best, difficult to do.
patatino 13y ago
your story is basically about a guy who quit a job which doesn't make him happy. adding the unlikely possibility of making $200MM by selling the company and starting working for charity doesn't really change anything?
wellboy 13y ago
Without money or credibility it's quite likely that you'll find yourself still doing the startup grind in two years, without having raised money or not even having a company with paying companies. During these two years you'll also find yourself only being able to work on your dream startup 30% of the time, because you have to get money in for the remaining 70% with things you don't love doing. So probably better selling that $200M startup and then start your dream business with $10M in the pocket?
nhangen 13y ago
My guess is that you're in your low to mid 20's, a time when most have achieved some modicum of independence, feel they have the world at their fingertips, and usually, that they deserve said world. I remember it well, not with fondness, but regret, because decisions like these cost me the better part of 7-10 years of my life. Perhaps this is a great decision, only time will tell, but there's something to be said for patience and persistance that leads me to believe this could be a dangerous decision. Here's why... Your chances of a 200m exit are the same as most, and I don't think it's something you could or should have banked on. On the surface, this looks like a lateral move, and my guess is that the occupational differences won't matter in the long run. What will matter is the behavior you have exhibited in making this choice. We gain what we grant ourselves, and in this case, you've granted yourself a rush of impulse, which can lead to addiction and a selfish nature that can become toxic. I don't know you and I can't judge you for it, but from the outside, it seems to me like you are used to always getting what you want, and haven't had to struggle for much. It's OK to want more, and to believe that you should have it. What isn't OK, is being selfish in your path to get there. It's strange because we live in this society that celebrates impulse and selfishness as if it were our birthright. I'm talking to you, lifestyle gurus. On the other hand, we also celebrate steadfast determination and 'grinding it out.' In my experience, success comes as a result both in concert together, but because 'grinding it out' takes long-term effort, most throw it out the window. What I'm getting at is that regardless of what you want, and how quickly you believe you should have it, each and every one of your decisions affects other people. In this case, your decision affects friends, family, founders, investors, and customers. Perhaps there was minimal collateral damage, and it sounds like you were mature in the way you handled this decision, but do remember that it's not just 'your life' at stake. It's everyone's. I'm sure this was a difficult decision, and I applaud you for having the guts to make it and follow through. Just make sure you don't spend the next portion of your life repeating the same behavior because it suits the selfish gene. Now that you've acted on impulse, it's time to stick to it and make that decision count. It's time to do the work.
akrymski 13y ago
I've felt like this many times in my career, especially when work gets hard. One thing I realized though is that one has to do what he does best. If it's selling a web-app - that's fine. Look at Elon Musk - he sold PayPal and then went on to use the money to fund world-changing initiatives. You shouldn't underestimate how many smart people there are working on world changing initiates, even in places like university labs. Unfortunately world-changing research doesn't pay well. Elon Musk on the other hand is a great example of hacking the system - making money the capitalist way, and then fund initiatives you want to be remembered for. It's a risk-reward trade-off of course, but something tells me if you'd think you could walk away with 100M in 2 years from your startup and use the money to solve the world's water problem - you'd probably do that. As usual it just comes down to your estimate in the gains in your startup over the next several years, versus what you think your time is worth.
mattln 13y ago
I disagree wholeheartedly. Money, a reputation and a tract record are equally important to enthusiasm. Look at what Elon Musk has accomplished with his reputation and money multiplying his enthusiasm. Look at what Bill Gates has done with his money. Who has that kind of impact with conviction alone? Deferred plans can still be plans.

120 points by westonmcbride 13y ago

Thanks for this. As someone thinking about doing the similar, I was very happy to hear about someone else's story. Keep up!

westonmcbride 13y ago

A raw, introspective recap of why I left my last startup. I hope it helps some people realized what I did - that it is not worth it to do something that you don't love. Would appreciate any feedback!

Ma8ee 13y ago
Why doesn't the site let me zoom (iPad Mini)? Good read though, even if I had to strain my old eyes.
jonny_eh 13y ago
I've never regretted making a change to my life when I discovered I was unhappy. Kudos on the tough decision!
cocoflunchy 13y ago
While you're here, just a quick heads up: the prices on the front page of crowdtest.io is not showing up on my computer (win7-chrome latest). See http://prntscr.com/14u0i7 http://prntscr.com/14u0i7
- mlebel 13y ago
  Just went and fixed this. Thanks for the heads up. If you've got an app you want to test, shoot me an email and we'll cover your first test.

tlb 13y ago

Please say more about the new problem you're solving. I think lots of people would like to help if they understood how they could make a useful contribution. An article explaining the root of the problem (which is more complicated than "there isn't enough water") would be well received here.

westonmcbride 13y ago
Yes sir, more to come on that. Happy to chat about my rough hypotheses in the meantime. Feel free to e-mail me at westonmcbride at gmail dot com.

dmor 13y ago

Awesome to see "The Monk and the Riddle" referenced, it should be required reading for startup people.

ilamont 13y ago

I understand why you left, but what do your cofounders, investors and team members think about your sudden departure?

apalmer 13y ago

'Doing work for money, especially when you have passions and interests in something bigger, is the most soul-sucking and demoralizing thing you can do.' You have lived a very sheltered life.

michaelochurch 13y ago
He is clearly sheltered, but he has a point. Most people live demoralized, defeated, horrible lives, and corporate work is the cause because it truly sucks. But let's remember that exceptions can happen for any of us. May the odds be ever in your favor. Personally, I'm OK with working for money as long as I'm actually paid-- at a consulting rate, not a 40-hour engagement. At $500 an hour, I'll do boring work (for a couple hundred hours). If I'm going to be spending 40 hours per week at it, though, for a middle-class salary; the work damn well better be worth doing.
- apalmer 13y ago
  I am all for doing what makes you happy etc... i just found the comment hilarious. People on earth are getting killed, raped, enslaved, women are stripping to put clothes on their kids back, etc etc etc working for money is not the most soul sucking horrible thing ever. Everything doesnt need to be over the top melodrama, dude didnt like his job, quit it to pursue something he found more meaningful, good for him... i hope the angle he is on does lead to some improvement in the world. but the writing style is annoying.
  - unclebucknasty 13y ago
    OTOH, if those living "sheltered lives" do not have this "melodramatic" sense of purpose and passion for changing the world, then who will help those being killed, raped, enslaved, etc?
- kamaal 13y ago
  >>Most people live demoralized, defeated, horrible lives, and corporate work is the cause because it truly sucks. I agree, to this 100%. >>At $500 an hour, I'll do boring work (for a couple hundred hours). $500/hr * 8 hrs/day is $4000 per day or $20,000 per week or $80,000 per month. How does one go about by finding such a job? I am darn serious and I'm asking you. Do you know how to find such work? Note: In my country(India) $80,000 comes to around. 40,00,000 per month. That's simply too much, If I ever get paid that much- Frankly speaking I don't even how to spend it.

alekseyk 13y ago

Sounds to me like his girlfriend got him jealous. Seriously, if he could quit a start up and go into charity over night I don't think his bank account was hurting. It always amusing to me how people try to pet their egos, oh hey guys I'm loaded so I'm going to quit my job and sell water to poor kids. Please look how kind I am, everybody else is so selfish and stuck at work because they are not loaded!

gruseom 13y ago
Yes, perhaps there is ego involved. But at least it's blended with some wonder and some love. That's better than the form of it that you're expressing here, which is black bile. I wonder why people don't see that when they pour this stuff on others, they're pouring it on themselves as well.

untog 13y ago

I actually said out loud: “My name is Weston McBride, and I can do whatever I want to. I will approach this problem with enthusiasm unknown to mankind, and I feel sorry for anything that gets in my way.” Were you looking in the mirror when you said it? I'll admit that comment is kind of facetious, but I've long wondered whether these sort of self-motivational things ever have a meaningful effect on anything. Anyway, the core truth that this post runs around is that running a startup isn't for everyone. If it was for you, you'd still be doing it. Running a charity might not be either, but it is healthy to re-examine your life at regular intervals and evaluate whether you really are doing the right thing.

mgkimsal 13y ago

==== She went on: “If you have conviction and the right solution, you can get in front of anyone [to raise money, strike a partnership, build a team, etc], so what are you waiting for? You’ve already shown you can build a team and a product, you have the technical background to solve this problem. How does a liquidity event really make a big difference? Why continue being miserable?” ==== You've also now demonstrated that you'll drop everything - that investor money, staff, customers, etc, because you don't like something. How will potable water investors react knowing this story? Part of being successful is sticking through with something. "How does a liquidity event really make a big difference?" If he was really going to exit at $200MM, I'm assuming a decent portion would have gone to him. Having a bank of, say, $10MM should be more than enough to start his potable water business without having to go to investors to get things started the next time (assuming, that is, he believes enough in it to invest a chunk of his own money, not just someone else's).

robryan 13y ago
The article states that he transitioned out of the company over 4 weeks, presumably the company was able to go on without him. I don't think investors will take it badly, I don't think they really want to have a founder who's heart isn't in it anymore slaving away at half pace in the hope of making something from the business.

speeder 13y ago

Heh, sometimes doing now what you can, is right. But sometimes, you cannot do it. I have great life plans, but I am moneyless (in fact, having money to by my own food each month is a small victory already), mostly friendless, and powerless (in the sense I do not have political power, or economic power, or friends to leverage, or any other external power). So I am very sure, that doing something else other than my goal, as a step to do my goal, is not wrong... By the way, what I do right now I still love to do anyway :) (I make edu apps for little children... not my life goal, but still a noble thing to do, and I hope, profitable)

guylhem 13y ago

It is both funny and sad to read. So you decided to shed away your chances of success and the financial capacity to back up the projects you believe in +5 years, +10 years, +15 years from now (etc.) for the time preference of working right now on a project - because there is a water problem in this world. Tell me, what are you going to do about hunger? If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part of your (steady) income for that? If you prefer to fix the problem yourself, what are your special skills or experience regarding water? What are you going to do if your project is deemed "interesting" but not worth investing on - especially now that you won't be able to finance it yourself? You must certainly place a lot of trust in the goodwill of the future investors, but basically, here you showed that you didn't care about what you were doing, so why should I or anyone else take your word that you won't drop your next project just as quickly as this one? Unless there is some missing information (ex: you have a 10 years lifespan due to some disease), it doesn't look like refusing the deferred life, but more like taking unneeded risk to get social status (saying you presented at this "Solve for X" conference) under a bleeding heart pretense. Sorry if that's hard - that's just the way I see it. Anyway, it really seems like a bad decision indeed. If you really hated the job so much, it then begs the question - why did you started it in the first place? I really hope you can turn around successfully, and find more meaning in your projects. EDIT: it is good for him, and he will be more happy, but it's not logical. Something sounds out of place in the original post. While he will be more happy, using a charity purpose as the excuse and justification, while it is unlikely to be the best outcome for society, seems phony. Say that you want some fun or social status, that I can believe in. If you really care about solving a problem, who solves it (yourself or someone else) is irrelevant. How it is solved is irrelevant. You just want that fixed. Caring about not getting rich is just as pointless as caring about getting rich. It is a byproduct. You should want to solve the f problem, not want or look for ways to spend your life working on it.

xtracto 13y ago
>If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part of your (steady) income for that? There's lot of scientists whose life objective is to solve a variety of world's problems and they don't want to become rich. The point is, this guy did not want to be in a startup, he wanted to work directly on doing something to solve the World's water prblem. That's good for him, and IMO it does not make his decision worse than staying doing something that did not fully satisfied him anymore.

ChrisNorstrom 13y ago

Oh Weston, I'm in your shoes. I'm dreaming for a day when I can start a business that installs high powered vacuum suction motors and large hoses into 20 foot utility box trucks so I can help clean the billions of tons of trash that plague our cities. When I had time I created a hobby of cleaning up small forests and unclaimed land from trash. I'd show up in a green construction vest so people thought I was official and didn't ask questions and would bag all the trash I could find and weighed the bags on a scale. I've got an excel sheet with all my stats. I've picked up over 570 lbs of trash to date. Just in wrappers, McDonalds cups, styrofoam. It's heart breaking to see an area trashy 5 months after I cleaned it up. I stopped doing it because I started wishing death and destruction to the people who littered. It made me angry and bitter towards humanity. I was picking up its trash and it didn't give a damn. I try to ignore it but every time I see trash on the side of the road a part of me keeps saying, "You should invent something that makes it easier to clean that up, think of how clean the whole world could be". The little voice keeps saying "Imagine a giant movable vaccum cleaner mounted on a truck with large hoses sticking out. It could work. Just try.". I can't stop thinking about it. Your story has actually inspired me to try to go ahead and pursue that dream. If it's one thing tax payers are willing to pay for it's less trash in their neighborhood. Anyone interested shoot me an email chris at norcophoenix dot com. I know an electrician, a guy who knows where to order the trucks from, and some really cheap office space for startups. I'm in St. Louis Missouri btw.

yolesaber 13y ago
When I was visiting St. Petersburg, I saw that along Nevsky Prospekt (essentially the Fifth Ave of St. Petersburg) sanitation workers were using these large mounted vacuums to clean the streets. They weren't like tracks but rather like carts with a large, vertical component (I assume the vacuum parts) out of which came a hose. They did a pretty good job cleaning up the trash and detritus I saw along the Prospekt. Your idea definitely has some credence.
Uchikoma 13y ago
I might totally misunderstand you as English is not my native tongue, but in Germany - and I assume in many other parts of Europe - there are large trucks that go around streets and smaller ones in parks that have vacuums and suck up the trash. Not sure if your idea was the invention or starting a service business to offer street cleaning services.

tks2103 13y ago

"The question left me sick to my stomach." "I went to bed that night with my head spinning." "...I had been living... in the 'trance of fear.'" "I knew that I was powerfully unhappy..., but I was powerless to do anything about it" "That revelation liberated me." "I was buying my life back." dude, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelax. sounds like you are about to do some cool stuff. excited to see what you come up with. but, just so you have a different perspective, this is what i heard: you are leaving one company to start another company. the new company does water stuff, and you really like that.

kumarski 13y ago

Weston what's your hashtag or email address?

mlebel 13y ago
weston [at] crowdtest.io

kamaal 13y ago

>> I just have to sell this mobile shopping company for $200M And then.. >>But my girlfriend challenged this: “How does selling a consumer app company help you disrupt the potable water market?” She was right, and I knew it. In the same way Bill Gates can solve problems like Polio, Hunger and Poverty by using his fortune. You need money to solve the world's problems, Is this really so hard to understand? If you have no money you can't solve your own problems. Let alone the world's problems. Without money you will be left working crazy hours to solve your own miniscule problems which aren't relevant beyond house's front door. You were right there, if you had sold that start up for $200 million. You could take your cut, then spend rest of your life focusing your time, energy and passion on the problems you are interested to solve without worrying about mortgage, debts or anything.

cmdkeen 13y ago
Bill Gates didn't become that rich by thinking "I'll build this software company, sell it and then do what I'm passionate about". He became successful by following his passion, and was then able to be philanthropic. People who are passionate about saving the world will be far more likely to change the world by focusing on that and use other people's money to do so. The point is if you're miserable in your job, and you could be doing something else anyway you should change. Which is what makes it different from the other soul destroying examples mentioned. Go back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and self actualisation. It could be arguably worse to look back on a squandered life when you know it could be different, those who have no opportunity to change their fate do suffer, but in a different way - they aren't the ones causing their misery.
- mgkimsal 13y ago
  He was still doing philanthrophic stuff well before stepping down, and it was that much easier to do because he'd stuck with making MS a success first. One can have multiple passions in life, and still prioritize attention to each.

macspoofing 13y ago

Isn't the "potable water market" saturated with startups and NGOs?

dools 13y ago

I'm pretty sure that having a lot of money would give you a head start in solving the world's water problems (or whatever problems you happen to care about). Elon Musk didn't start off founding SpaceX, his first big hit was PayPal right? So I'm sure that "online transactions" was about as boring to an aspiring space entrepreneur as "online shopping" is to you, Weston. Anyway, decisions other people make often look weird to people observing from the peanut gallery - most of all when you make a decision that feels so right it's almost impossible to "unmake" you usually know that, for whatever reason and with whatever reasoning, you've made the right decision for you, now. On the topic of solving the world's water problems, I'm reminded of a documentary I saw years ago by a Ghanaian national in Nigeria, the name of which escapes me and which I can't find anywhere. It was around the time of the "make poverty history" campaign. This guy went to Nigeria and tried to do a few basic things like get a house, find a job, etc. and found that at every turn he was faced by rampant corruption. He even setup an NGO and started accepting foreign aid with very little trouble. The final line in the film is "If you want to solve poverty, you first have to solve corruption" which has always stuck with me. I'm mentioning this because it may be the case that "solving the water problem" for the majority of people won't be a matter of the (relatively) simple application of technology, but a matter of the much more complex application of political will, diplomacy and grass roots activism. You might already have considered this, but since I remembered the doco I thought I'd mention it, too: sometimes there are problems you have to solve before you solve the problem you really want to solve.

Mz 13y ago
Gates has said something like "automation multiplies effeciencies in an efficient system and multiplies inefficiencies in an inefficient one." The same can apply to money. I have read that 70% of lottery winners are bankrupt within five years. Money can grease the wheels but cannot buy a solution that does not exist. That is bought with things like blood, sweat and tears, so to speak.

SatvikBeri 13y ago

Good luck!

bdcravens 13y ago

Pursuing your passion: bravo. In reading this, however, I can't help but read into it a belief of the "inevitability of success". Instead of a $200M exit, you might not see $200. (In which case your decision looks even better.) However, your pursuit of clean water might not be successful either: inability to raise money, technologies issues, uncooperative or greedy governments, etc.

epynonymous 13y ago

this reminds me of a quote from the opening for "this week in startups" hosted by jason calacanis http://thisweekinstartups.com http://thisweekinstartups.com, he quotes ruby on rails founder, david heinemeier hansson, "if you're not working on your best idea right now, you're doing it wrong." ideas are a dime a dozen, but think about the one idea that you'd be willing to lose sleep, money, time, life, over. the fact that you're passionate about it will probably justify all that. there are always exceptions, but i think it makes sense, life is short. on the flip side, i think experience gained doesn't hurt one bit.

mgkimsal 13y ago
For people who come up with ideas all the time, "work on your best idea right now", taken literally, is paralyzing. And determining what "best" is is, at best, difficult to do.

patatino 13y ago

your story is basically about a guy who quit a job which doesn't make him happy. adding the unlikely possibility of making $200MM by selling the company and starting working for charity doesn't really change anything?

wellboy 13y ago

Without money or credibility it's quite likely that you'll find yourself still doing the startup grind in two years, without having raised money or not even having a company with paying companies. During these two years you'll also find yourself only being able to work on your dream startup 30% of the time, because you have to get money in for the remaining 70% with things you don't love doing. So probably better selling that $200M startup and then start your dream business with $10M in the pocket?

nhangen 13y ago

My guess is that you're in your low to mid 20's, a time when most have achieved some modicum of independence, feel they have the world at their fingertips, and usually, that they deserve said world. I remember it well, not with fondness, but regret, because decisions like these cost me the better part of 7-10 years of my life. Perhaps this is a great decision, only time will tell, but there's something to be said for patience and persistance that leads me to believe this could be a dangerous decision. Here's why... Your chances of a 200m exit are the same as most, and I don't think it's something you could or should have banked on. On the surface, this looks like a lateral move, and my guess is that the occupational differences won't matter in the long run. What will matter is the behavior you have exhibited in making this choice. We gain what we grant ourselves, and in this case, you've granted yourself a rush of impulse, which can lead to addiction and a selfish nature that can become toxic. I don't know you and I can't judge you for it, but from the outside, it seems to me like you are used to always getting what you want, and haven't had to struggle for much. It's OK to want more, and to believe that you should have it. What isn't OK, is being selfish in your path to get there. It's strange because we live in this society that celebrates impulse and selfishness as if it were our birthright. I'm talking to you, lifestyle gurus. On the other hand, we also celebrate steadfast determination and 'grinding it out.' In my experience, success comes as a result both in concert together, but because 'grinding it out' takes long-term effort, most throw it out the window. What I'm getting at is that regardless of what you want, and how quickly you believe you should have it, each and every one of your decisions affects other people. In this case, your decision affects friends, family, founders, investors, and customers. Perhaps there was minimal collateral damage, and it sounds like you were mature in the way you handled this decision, but do remember that it's not just 'your life' at stake. It's everyone's. I'm sure this was a difficult decision, and I applaud you for having the guts to make it and follow through. Just make sure you don't spend the next portion of your life repeating the same behavior because it suits the selfish gene. Now that you've acted on impulse, it's time to stick to it and make that decision count. It's time to do the work.

akrymski 13y ago

I've felt like this many times in my career, especially when work gets hard. One thing I realized though is that one has to do what he does best. If it's selling a web-app - that's fine. Look at Elon Musk - he sold PayPal and then went on to use the money to fund world-changing initiatives. You shouldn't underestimate how many smart people there are working on world changing initiates, even in places like university labs. Unfortunately world-changing research doesn't pay well. Elon Musk on the other hand is a great example of hacking the system - making money the capitalist way, and then fund initiatives you want to be remembered for. It's a risk-reward trade-off of course, but something tells me if you'd think you could walk away with 100M in 2 years from your startup and use the money to solve the world's water problem - you'd probably do that. As usual it just comes down to your estimate in the gains in your startup over the next several years, versus what you think your time is worth.

mattln 13y ago

I disagree wholeheartedly. Money, a reputation and a tract record are equally important to enthusiasm. Look at what Elon Musk has accomplished with his reputation and money multiplying his enthusiasm. Look at what Bill Gates has done with his money. Who has that kind of impact with conviction alone? Deferred plans can still be plans.