Wisdom from a HN comment

I have several alerts set-up to be notified when some topics on HN pop up that match my interests. I usually just skim through the title and skip it if it doesn't seem useful. Most of the times I don't even read the article and go straight to the comments, this is where the true value of HN comes from.

One title was so fun, that I had to click it:

“Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice.

The comment

One comment really stood out, with some insightful entrepreneurial tips:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35024191

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Any of us who have had at least two “successful” businesses will tell you that this quote is ridiculous.
What’s your ideal of being successful? If it’s exiting at a billion, then sorry. But you can use a lot of this entrepreneur advice to find some level of success.
The problem is that non-entrepreneur or first timers always try to skip the small stuff.

1. have a good team and hire right. you need just three roles: sales, operation and product.
2. TAM is real and will determine the size you can grow your business.
3. focus on sales first literally. as a founder you should do your own selling. take care of your customers!!!
4. don’t be a crook
5. manage your money right; be cheap.
6. grow where you’re planted. dig deep in areas you know or that your personal networks know.
7. be lucky - this is about timing and also putting yourself in a place to have information first or at least know the value of certain information first.
8. know you’re going to get it wrong sometime and fail; when that happens take a small break and then spin up another

I’ve bootstrapped two companies to success in my eyes which has changed me and my families life.
The first was in the 2000s out of college (~$500k annual) it eventually petered out then in the 2010s (~$5m annual). Now I’m going to do another and I hope to create a $5-10m company all off the advice of other entrepreneurs.
I’ve also failed miserably and had 5-7 business go under or never even really get off the ground.

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I would recommend anyone interested in learning from (or connecting to) more experienced, like-minded individuals to set up some HN alerts based on their topic of interest and skim through the comments; pure gold is to be found there.