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Ask HN: Is grpcurl home page compromised?

3•jicea•1h ago•0 comments

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Ask HN: Go all in on startup idea, or stay W2

2•Mnexium•7h ago•15 comments

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Viable open source Claude Design alternative?

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Ask HN: What LLM models are you using and why?

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Ask HN: What are you working on (non-AI)?

46•BrunoBernardino•6d ago•58 comments

You've reached the end!

Open in hackernews

Ask HN: Go all in on startup idea, or stay W2

2•Mnexium•7h ago
I want to ask HN because it feels this community is more tech oriented then most out there. I have been building an idea for the past couple of months, I think it is a good idea, if not for fear I'd dive head first full time into the idea. Personally, leaving stable W2 is scary, diving into the unknown start-up land is equally scary. Putting in all the effort for an unknown pay off, if any.

I don't really have the network to vet my idea, to tell me wether it is good or bad, something worth building or not? Something worth diving into or not.

My idea is https://mnexium.com - it is a LLM infrastructure layer. All the things you need to do to get an LLM up an running Mnexium would handle.

The reason I want to jump into this start-up is mainly because I'd use this app, and I build it because I needed something like it. Is that enough signal to continue to build?

I would really love to hear others opinions on what they would do? If they've navigated something similar?

I think the last bit I'd add to the above is I have this nagging feeling that I want to build something, from scratch. Build it to the best of my limited ability - but I don't want to fail.

Appreciate it

Comments

maryamshafaqat•6h ago
If you are already building it and would actually use it yourself thats a strong signal. I did focus on getting real users first before making a full leap.
Mnexium•6h ago
I agree that users (hell even 1 real user) would be motivating and validating from an idea perspective.

May I ask how long it took you to find your first user? and the path you took to find said user(s)?

maryamshafaqat•6h ago
For me it took a few weeks I mostly started by sharing in relevant online communities and just talking about the problem before pushing the product itself.
Mnexium•5h ago
Good advice - appreciate it
nullfern•6h ago
The market has quite a bit of competition which isn't a bad thing, in fact it is good validation of the idea.

The issue is that you are quite late to the party and I don't see a differentiator in your product.

Regardless, I would focus on getting a few paying customers first to validate the idea while still working a job so you can eat.

Mnexium•6h ago
I agree and good advice. Being so new to this and not having a network to bounce ideas off of or even try the app makes that part difficult to go from 0 to 1 for me personally.

While I agree that competition exists and it is validating that the labs and others are working on solving this problem. I am trying to focus on a broader solution. Competitors will focus only on memory - but not so much on the other infrastructure requirements to create an AI app (chat history, etc).

I am also trying to create a moat around the difference in how we validate and create memories. Most will have a single pipeline, I want to have multiple and compare - this does increase my COGS however.

Appreciate the message -

simantel•3h ago
> not having a network to bounce ideas off of or even try the app makes that part difficult to go from 0 to 1

This wouldn't change if you quit your job.

Keep your job, stop building, and start talking to potential customers.

jryan49•5h ago
I mean a lot depends on your life circumstances. Do you have a family to support? Do you have any money saved up? How old you are? It's tempting for me to quit and work on something I've wanted to work on for years but... The risk feels too high cause I feel like if I fail, it will be impossible to find a new job where either I made as much as I had before, or a job at all.
austin-cheney•3h ago
Honestly, getting VC cash does not look like the challenge it used to be.

Look attractive, be confident, and talk about reselling AI... boom cash.

The real question is: what do you want to be doing in 5 years? Do you want to be explaining to people why you are cleaning up some pitch deck mess that still doesn't make money or would you rather be slaving away for your current employer with next to no equity?

Look, I am sure your idea absolutely brilliant and fantastic, but weigh this decision on more practical terms. If you already have a family you will need either a war chest of cash (at least $35k ready to spend over the next year but $150k would be better) or the unlimited and unquestioning support of people who really should be doubting your ideas just a bit harder.

After all, some of the most successful startups started with singular boring ideas. If you are amazing at sales and execution then you can afford to go all in on your boring idea.

Blackstrat•2h ago
Another concern is how to weather the AI bubble. Right now, everyone going all in on "AI" reminds me of the 90s when companies like Exodus Communications, Level 3 Communications and others built out heavily only to see it all evaporate. Yes, eventually what these companies were doing became the cloud but none of them are active participants. I would argue that before jumping into reliance on current AI trends that one evaluate where on the Technology Adoption Curve that the industry is. I suspect we're still at the Early Adopter phase and the build out is based on a bit of irrational exuberance. Couple that with the growing backlash against new AI data centers and depending on current trends seems exceedingly risky. Everyone argued in the 90s that "it was different this time" as they are arguing today. It's not. It rarely is. Go back and read the history of the PC starting with Apple and moving into the 80s Compare that to today's market. Same with the emergence of the Internet. Where are companies like Prodigy, Compuserve, or the incubators such as CMGI. Sometimes people have ideas and can ride technology waves and make huge money. But at the end of the day, that's far rarer than "having a good idea".

https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/co/2026/05/11503360/2...

brudgers•2h ago
I don't really have the network to vet my idea

Then the most important thing, from a business perspective, is building that network.

Customers are the best network, again from a business perspective.

Although network building in general is often hard, building a network of customers is usually really, really, really hard. Not only do you have to overcome fear of rejection by asking for money, but also you have to actually get money from someone before they actually are a customer.

And because writing an "Ask HN" is easy, it is probably not on the road to building a general network and certainly not on the road to building a network of customers because you aren't asking for money.

So my advice, start learning how to ask people for money (it is a skill developed through experience (and rejection). Talking to people is what selling is. Good luck.

didgetmaster•2h ago
Almost everyone comes up with an idea during their career, where they think 'this could be really big'.

The idea of abandoning the 9 to 5 job to strike out on your own can be strong. There are many stories where a solo entrepreneur or small startup team did just that, and are now well off, if not insanely rich.

But the other 90% you never hear about. They work hard to try and get their idea to market, but it never pans out. A myriad of reasons can cause a project to fail, long before it replaces your salary today.

Your personal circumstances along with talent and drive, should play a pivotal role in deciding to make the jump. Unless you have a comfortable amount to savings, I would recommend keeping your day job and working on the side project in your spare time. Don't quit your W2 until you get some real traction on it.

codingdave•1h ago
> I don't really have the network to vet my idea

Then do not do it. Without a network to vet the idea, you don't have the network to get your initial sales either. You are coding blind, hoping you land in a place the market actually would pay for.

mirmor23•43m ago
(briefly looked at the website). If you find traction for this idea, that's great. I use claude, and its feedback memory mechanism is already too much for me -- it crams a lot of 'project related' but unimportant cruft, and it keeps growing, and purging it is a chore (its own lexicon, lack of why it is relevant etc). My preference is to front end lot of disciplined design work, so it's memory tends to be quite useless really. The difficulty of getting paid $20 per month is another challenge. Either way, I wish you the best!
dbehera•32m ago
You can build this along with your w2 and once it hits a critical mass then you can quit W2.