I know this isn't going to be a popular stance here, BUT...
I was really glad to see this, especially "Make things. Help people. Be happy." There are so many stories about financial success/failure, exits, and investing here on HN that it seems like the only way to be a "good" startup is to be one that's heavily reported on and makes tons of money/will be exiting soon.
My startup (Branchrock Books -- http://www.branchrock.com) is in epublishing and isn't glamorous -- there's no new tech, no big idea, just a guy who wants to pick out interesting things that people will enjoy reading. Of course, my friends are all largely positive about our first offering, but most encouraging is what I've heard from friends of friends who don't know me: things like, "I don't usually read this kind of book, but I couldn't stop" or "I'm really glad I read your story because I wanted to know what it was really like" and especially "I don't really read on the computer, but 99 cents isn't much and I wanted to try your book."
I think that as someone running a startup of any kind, knowing that you've affected even one person positively is a great thing, whether or not you're aiming for or ever will get that first million dollars.
I was really glad to see this, especially "Make things. Help people. Be happy." There are so many stories about financial success/failure, exits, and investing here on HN that it seems like the only way to be a "good" startup is to be one that's heavily reported on and makes tons of money/will be exiting soon.
My startup (Branchrock Books -- http://www.branchrock.com) is in epublishing and isn't glamorous -- there's no new tech, no big idea, just a guy who wants to pick out interesting things that people will enjoy reading. Of course, my friends are all largely positive about our first offering, but most encouraging is what I've heard from friends of friends who don't know me: things like, "I don't usually read this kind of book, but I couldn't stop" or "I'm really glad I read your story because I wanted to know what it was really like" and especially "I don't really read on the computer, but 99 cents isn't much and I wanted to try your book."
I think that as someone running a startup of any kind, knowing that you've affected even one person positively is a great thing, whether or not you're aiming for or ever will get that first million dollars.