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Ask HN: What is an ex-corp. employee, turned entrepreneur supposed to do?

1 points| jpd750 | 12 years ago | reply

HN, I don't know what is wrong with me.-Let me give you a brief look into the past few years: -June, 2012 : graduated college - IT major -July, 2012 : got a job 2 weeks after graduation - great pay, good benefits, GREAT people. Horrible position esp. hated the IT they were using, annoying mid-level management ... I hated not being listened to when i had something meaningful to contribute, not to mention 24/7 on-call and a meager raise (3%, but was prorated to 1.2% because i hadnt been there a year) Stayed there for 1.5 years.Nov 1 2013 : I had, had enough - voluntarily quit the position to start my own company in a field I hadnt formally worked in before, but learned a good amount at the previous position.Today (02/18/14) : Been at it since Nov 1, and for lack of a better word: its been real tough. The results: I've lacked a huge network with people who could help me (I've spent a lot of these past months networking within 50mi of my area making more contacts) -I've reached out to endless contacts I've known in the past (for intros to people who may be applicable first customers) - with varied results: - some have provided me some good leads to people to talk to, some just dont respond at all, some are wishy-washy saying they know the CEO at X large co and I'd be happy to make an intro (then I never hear anything back - after multiple followups) -I've done some cold emailing (via Linkedin) - people claiming they arent the right person, I reply back with apologies, can you lead me to the right person? Thank you. Nothing back..I'm just really at a loss, I told myself Nov 1 13' that I wouldn't be going back to a corporation if I could help myself. I've probably spent anywhere from 2.5-4k so far of my own money.What is a 25 year old to do?

3 comments

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[+] josephlord|12 years ago|reply
1) Use paragraphs.

2) I can't tell if you have a product that you are trying to sell or even what the industry is you are targeting. I doubt you will get useful advice without specifics.

Whatever it is you haven't given it long yet (4 months?), what results were you expecting by this point?

[+] pcrh|12 years ago|reply
You could start by telling people what exactly you are trying to do.
[+] jpd750|12 years ago|reply
InfoSec startup primarily focused around webapps