| > I'm 25, I feel like I'm losing at life already Don't, I'm 37 and I never had a successful startup, when I was 25 I didn't even know what I want in life. It seems to me people more and more seem to put milestones in their lives "if I don't get to be X by age Y then I have failed" You are putting yourself to failure. compare yourself to yourself, don't compare yourself to black swans like the Zuckerbergs of this world, they are one in a billion. There are more talented and smart people who are great that didn't create a successful startup than there are people on facebook. I would say you are in a crisis mode now, and for now your startup is done for, but this doesn't mean that once you get back on your feet financially you can't go back and revisit that idea. If you post your contact details and tech stack I'm sure you could find some temporary gigs to keep you floating. I never went into startups because I lacked that financial backbone when I was younger, and had a family later. But I'm happily employed and like my side projects. Going into a startup is a long term game, you are taking lower salaries so you can pay top talent more than you are paid yourself, and you don't want to burn all that seed money (if you are lucky to have any, or using your own savings). It sounds to me like you need some real remote, US dollar rate work ASAP. If you have been living on a $200 a month, I'm sure that there are people here that would hire you in an hourly rate that would make you earn that in a day or so at last... I would personally take a break from the startup, use this stage to get some freelance pipeline, get my pockets full of money (or get a remote fulltime job in a startup), save 6 salaries, and only then go back and trying a startup. Startups have very low success rates, it's all about trying many things, MOST startups fail as you know. this is why you need some savings first. If you don't have a place to sleep, and food to eat, then you CAN'T RUN A STARTUP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs |
I agree that people tend to focus more on "when" and not "if".
I've always focused on doing something eventually... and then doing it far better than anyone else, especially those who rush into it and end up with something suboptimal. People always ask, "How did you do/get X?" Well, I was patient. Instead of spending effort/resources on tiny incremental changes, I just kept waiting until I could make the big thing happen, and do it right. Sometimes I have to wait 5 - 10 times as long, but I get what/where I want eventually.