{"id":211,"date":"2008-04-09T16:53:45","date_gmt":"2008-04-09T22:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pchristensen.com\/blog\/articles\/taking-a-roger-clemens-retirement-from-startups\/"},"modified":"2013-12-23T12:13:05","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T19:13:05","slug":"taking-a-roger-clemens-retirement-from-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pchristensen.com\/blog\/articles\/taking-a-roger-clemens-retirement-from-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking a Roger Clemens Retirement from Startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while ago I announced that I was starting my own internet startup<\/a>. Since then, I’ve gotten nothing done. Well, not nothing, but nothing that resembles a startup. I did register a domain, setup WordPress, and write a few blog posts, but that was it. And then in a WordPress accident while backing up the database for this blog, I wiped out the blog posts I had written for the startup blog, so now it just links back here. So, since I didn’t have any code or users, and I now no longer even have a blog, I’m pronouncing SmallPunch dead (for now).<\/p>\n

So if I didn’t lose much, why quit? A couple reasons.<\/p>\n

First, determination and focus are two of the most important requirements to succeed at a startup, especially for one as time constrained as myself (part-time single founder). Right now because of my family situation (2nd baby due any day now), my focus is definitely not on a startup. All of my attention is focused on balancing home needs with work needs and there’s very little time for anything else.<\/p>\n

Second, while a part-time founder might succeed with regular, predictable time periods to work, my available time is neither regular nor predictable. I take what I can get, but that’s hardly conducive to getting into the right mindset or the flow. Third, I still feel like I have some infrastructure and technology issues to work out. I’m sticking with Lisp because I think it will help me get the most done in the alloted time I have (I don’t see my free time increasing greatly anytime in the next 18 years), but that carries some costs. I’m still figuring out which CL implementation to go with. Since I lack a decent computer that I can run Linux on, I’m going with CLisp, but I’m a little weary of its lack of threading since I will be doing a web app.<\/p>\n

Third, I’m planning on using Weblocks<\/a> as my web framework, but since it’s at something like version 0.1, it’s only been tested and run on SBCL, so who knows what problems I’d run into using it on CLisp. These are not insurmountable issues, but I do need to take the time to hack them out, and it’s hard to do a good job at that with the psychic weight of a startup hanging over my head.<\/p>\n

Fourth, I’d really like to have someone to work with. That’s part of my motive for starting the Chicago Lisp User Group<\/a> and contributing to Hacker News<\/a>. I think I might be able to succeed on my own, but for motivation and load-sharing purposes, a co-founder would be really nice. But I want it to be someone I know and am comfortable working with, so I can’t just whip that together.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I have<\/em> accomplished in that time frame:<\/p>\n