Others have asked me for advice, but in no way do I feel that I have accomplished my mission. There are greater and more substantial objectives other than being asked advices or receiving praise.
My question was, what is 'success'?
To some people, success is raising a happy family. To others, it is making manager or director or executive as a cog in a Fortune 500 machine. Most of us here want to start a successful company and make a nice profit or reach a liquidity event.
I would consider myself having succeeded if I can do any or all of the following:
1: Make the GUI that I outlined in my first YC application, an interface intended to make the internet really easy to use for non-traditional users of computers.
2: Cure a major illness or create a major technological breakthrough through my own research lab.
3: Take over Equatorial Guinea.
"1: Make the GUI that I outlined in my first YC application, an interface intended to make the internet really easy to use for non-traditional users of computers." The latter was a great answer and it was the sort of answer I was looking for.
I simply believe that there can be a greater objective in a start-up than a simple exit event. I think eBay was a success cause it had a large impact on shopping online and in fact created an entire new market; Amazon pretty much legitimized online shopping; Hotmail brought web-based email to the masses; TripAdvisor introduced reliable, user-generated opinions for all things related to travel, etc.
I personally believe that a start-up's impact on society and/or business is more important than anything else.
When women want you while before they never paid attention to you, your startup has been a success.
