[teaspoon]

I work with a lot of entrepreneurs, and the ones I try to avoid are those who think they're doing a favor to everyone they grace with their message. Like street preachers, their zeal makes them blind to the general public's disinterest in their noise, but they're sure their excitement about their social gifting platform will spread like wildfire if they can just. Tell. More. People.

If your heart doesn't cry a little bit every time you ask for a favor from a stranger, or email someone who you know only has a 1 in 10 chance of being interested, then you're probably the guy people avoid sitting next to at Tech Breakfasts.

[edw519]

I began to copy and paste some of what you said, teaspoon, but then I just decided to respond to the whole post with, "Where the hell did that come from?"

If you avoid other entrepreneurs, then maybe you're hanging out with the wrong ones.

If you liken anyone promoting their own business to a street preacher, then perhaps you're the one missing the point.

As for me, I don't ask favors from anyone. I just build what they already need and have asked for. I love writing software and I love sharing it with those who are interested, including those next to me at Tech Breakfasts. I've sold lots of software and built lasting relationships and friendships this way.

So I thought I'd share that with OP, who seems to have a problem doing and enjoying it as much as I do. Your attitude and response does nothing to help him (or anyone for that matter).

[teaspoon]

On a second reading, my comment was needlessly inflammatory. Sorry for that.

Perhaps we're talking about kinds of "sharing". I'm talking about cold-emailing strangers and asking for writeups which, to be fair, is what the the article is about. Those may be necessary evils for one's venture, but recognize when you're doing a favor and when you're asking for one. That understanding is the foundation of any business relationship.

The world could do with more entrepreneurs who hesitate before asking the favor of time and attention, and HN could do with less of the "maybe you shouldn't be an entrepreneur" attitude from everyone else.

[ahoyhere]

Or maybe, just maybe, he's right, and that you WILL want to hear the good news about his product. Customers write love letters to our support department all the time about OUR products.

You're making a classic logical mistake: Just because some men buy their wives flowers after they cheat, doesn't mean that if a man buys his wife flowers, he's cheated.

EDIT: That said, the OP (article not commenter) is not going to get his CEO wings from cold-emailing.