Yes. The hardest thing is to get it going. And even, if you didn't get accepted into YC, you would have started a habit of creating and working on projects that you want to work on. Which is invaluable.

What is your definition of a cool project? I've posted about this before - and I hate to sound like a broken record player but some of the most interesting projects were done in a very short time. Yes, you might not be able to create something in 4 hours but once you get the momentum going, a weekend project might produce something.

"So, imagine my amazement when I had a glance at Twittervision, which was created by David Troy using Ruby on Rails in 4 hours"

In the fair chance, you haven't heard this Ira Glass segment about the process of creating/making (which I learned about from News.YC) - it inspires me and may well you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

I definitely try to make my projects simpler and shorter, especially because I worry about my endurance. One problem is that I constantly have new ideas that often seem even simpler than the one I am currently working on. So it is tempting to switch to the even simpler project, which ultimately leads to too much distraction.

* You can't do it all with a few days of coding * You need little wins along to way to keep the wind in your sails.

For a website-based project, you want to put pen to paper and come up with a plan for "What Has to Happen For Me to Make My First Sale":

* Demo

* Website

* Marketing

* Processes in place post-sale

Those are easy - so focus on coming up w/ a plan of action and timeline/budget for implementing those. It's amazing just how much the planning process gets you starting to feel energized and, "I'm actually doing it!"

Good luck :)

> "Hoping to be accepted into YC (for example) could provide a good motivation boost."

YC should not affect your motivation at all!

It sounds like your goal is not to start a successful business, but to be accepted into YC. This brings up two things.

1) If you don't seem dedicated and committed to an idea, you are not an attractive investment. Anyone reviewing your application is likely to pass. Investors look for people that will succeed without them. What will your motivation be in the case that you are accepted into YC? Why do you equate YC with success?

2) Don't even think about YC right now. Like with all deals, you should assume it won't happen until after it is set in stone. You can avoid the discouragement and de-motivation that comes with rejection by keeping your focus on the most important thing, the improvement of your product.

> "...the projects I finished successfully (most I didn't finish) usually took too long, and did not reach the scope I was hoping for."

You need to finish a project by yourself. Start small if you have to, but the only thing that matters is that you finish something that you start. I think this will help your confidence and help you get out of this pattern. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't turn out the way you had hoped, but don't let it drag on forever if there doesn't seem to be potential.

> "I suppose the obvious path to take is to work on a demo day and night, and anyway, giving up is not an option..."

I suggest reading some 37signals on this one. Just because you work on something day and night does not mean it is time well spent, and sometimes giving up is indeed the best option.

On a side note, don't get your identity in your achievements, failures, or age. You are never too old or too much of a failure to do anything.

I think it wouldn't be a loss to focus on the application, because whether I would be accepted or not, I would make progress with my project/startup. But without the YC application, I would probably choose different projects. For example smaller targets or less "sexy" projects. Maybe I would finish my old projects instead of starting a "YC potential project".

This kind of "double-win"-thinking might be a frequent cause of my downfall, because I don't focus on the most important point: what do I really want to do. Instead, all the decision factors might get too confusing in the end.

I take your point and will try decide on my favorite project irrespective of it's imagined YC potential.

Take a deep breath. Zoom out and for the next 2 months do nothing else but focus on yourself. When you leave work don't have the idle thoughts about what to eat for dinner and such. Cut the AC cord off your TV (or whatever usually distracts you). Focus on doing only 1 thing, improving your self. Start and finish a project that makes you proud. It doesn't have to be the most original thought in the world, so don't waste time coming up with the 'big idea' - in a way, it doesn't really matter what it is.

Just make sure you know 1 person who's life will improve because of it.

If you really want to change your life and put your stamp on something meaningful, you have to dig deep. You are totally capable of this!

It sounds like you:

- don't have an idea you're passionate about

- don't have much (any?) entrepreneurship experience

- have difficulties finishing a project once you lose interest

- want to "make it"

My advice would be:

- evaluate what "making it" means. Hint: it's not YC. Is it just working on something cool? (you don't necessarily need to start a business for that). Is it setting up a successful "lifestyle" business? Is it getting seed/angel/VC funding, hiring employees, and dealing with the responsibility towards your investors/employees/customers, and working towards an IPO or acquisition?

- Find someone who has what you might be missing: passion about an idea, ability for long-term commitment to a project, (possibly) entrepreneurship experience. Provide the technical strength, and rely on them to keep you motivated when you need it.

- I want to say "just do a cool project", but it's not necessarily that easy - if you haven't so far, maybe there is a reason for it, like the ones you outlined. On the other hand, I AM going to say it - just do a cool project! It's up to you to make this time different.

Is it possible that might fit what you're looking to do?

I find it hard to work on something else while I am consulting (day job), so maybe for me your scenario is unlikely. On the other hand I need to earn money, so it certainly is a possible road.

No ####! Of course it's hard. Do you think I wanted to work 70-80 hour weeks or play with my 2 year old? I wanted to play of course but the long-term vision of creating lifetime security for my family over weighed the short-term work. Read PG's essay "Inequality and Risk" (http://www.paulgraham.com/inequality.html) for more.

I don't know YC's deal but can you tell me whether or not the term sheet they put in front of you is a good one? If you say, "I don't know" or "No" or if you haven't even thought that far, I'd say you are rushing into it. I would guess that, if you have the mindset of, "If I get funded I'll do it", it's gonna be hard to get funded.

Just wondering -- I don't have kids yet, but I'd be worried that all that money/security may not be enjoyable if I hadn't built my relationships with my kids when they were young.

[edit: sorry for the offtopic, BTW.]

There are many others, the opportunity cost to your corporate career for example. The reduced bank account balance from where it could be if you sold your soul. And the list goes on.

As much as we like to romanticize the process, there are a lot of risks and pitfalls. Luckily for a lot of us, it is not a choice and we just aim to minimize these hurdles!

My kids are the most important thing to me and, in life, you make trade-offs: bigger house or nicer car? Get my teeth fixed or go to the Bahamas? Work 50 hours a week doing something in which I have little control for 50 years or work my ass off for 5-7 years so that I have control for the next 45 years? That's how I see it.

"Hard" - maybe that sounds silly in that context, and lazyness is my only problem, but I don't think so. Even while consulting I dream of working on my projects on the side. From experience I just wouldn't plan for it to succeed. Also, my health is very important to me, also in terms of longterm security for the (prospective) family.

Why do you want to do a startup? What would you do if you didn't need any more money?

I used to want to do research, but these days if I wouldn't need the money, I would probably still do research in terms of doing a startup. I would like to see something useful come off the things I research. I need to do a startup because it is the only way I can see to be able to work on my own ideas and make them real. Not needing money would probably just mean riskier startups.

In theory I could imagine that would be possible within a corporation, too, but I don't see the path for me to get into such a position in a corporation. So the only option I see is to startup.

I think the only thing that bothers me is that you don't seem to know why you want to do a startup. Prove something to other people? Yourself? Make money?

Something like 90% of people want to start their own business, but only 1% actually does. Don't really remember exact stats, but that should be pretty close

I think one of the things that makes YC successful is the constant pushing and positive re-reinforcement.

... your've gotta be kidding right?..right?

These days, I am still interested in games, but it is not a priority anymore. My main interest was always AI, and I thought games would be a nice area for experimenting with AI. On the other hand, sometimes I still think that maybe I should just create a really nice browser game, never mind that there are already zillions of them around. I enjoyed programming games, so writing a browser game would most certainly be enjoyable.

I wouldn't call something like 3boobs game design, because it is mostly an existing game concept, not much to design. Programming a chess client (which I also did) is also not game design.