Top all-time · #958
Joel Gascoigne
Personal blog · joel.is · on HN as joelg87startupscareer
Joel Gascoigne's personal blog at joel.is covers startups and career. Since 2010, 68 different Hacker News readers have linked it 140 times, most often “Avoid the 50/50 co-founder model - here’s why”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-25, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (13) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Joel Gascoigne's blog for posts on entrepreneurship and startups, including quitting the news, consulting versus startups, co-founder advice, overnight success and remote teams.
- Recommended for · 6 comments
- Called worth a read on ignoring mainstream news; 'fantastic articles' on an entrepreneur's inner development; 'sums this up better than I'; 'great article'; a f
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 13 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Avoid the 50/50 co-founder model - here’s why3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-01-10
- /the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-12-11
- Steady yourself, those world-changing thoughts are not productive2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-02-13
- Buffer pivots to become the most powerful social media tool.2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-03-23
- Why I’m helping startup founders2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-07-28
- How to gain traction in two sided markets2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-01-04
- Reflecting on ways to bootstrap a startup2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-06-19
- Achieving scale by doing things that don’t scale2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-11-14
- How Buffer Handles Team Emails2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-12-05
- The power of ignoring mainstream news2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-09-15
What Hacker News says?
TL;DR: 1) You feel better 2) You were never actually accomplishing anything by watching the news 3) Most current-events-related conversations are just people talking out of their asses 4) There are much better ways to “be informed” 5) “Being concerned” makes us feel like we’re doing something when we’re not My own personal experience: I quit watching the news the day after the 2016 Election ended. I felt so ill the…
Comment linking /the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news/
on “Things You Notice When You Quit the News”Submitted Things I do to be consistently happy as a story · 335 points
HN discussionHere's how I did it. YMMV. [NOTE: I do have a fairly taxing full-time job and also go to a boxing gym 5 times a week or more after work, and still made the time to be a creator after all that, by forcing myself to adhere the following rules I set for myself. Not bragging, it took me over 10 years to finally get the discipline, just trying to tell you it can be done.] 1) Stop watching the news * , on TV and online. I…
Comment linking /the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news/
on “Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?”Submitted Start Something Small as a story · 219 points
HN discussionThis blog post "The power of ignoring mainstream news" by Joel Gascoigne is also worth a read. http://joel.is/post/31582795753/the-power-of-ignoring-mainst...
Comment linking /post/31582795753/the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news
on “News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier”Submitted The exercise habit as a story · 153 points
HN discussionMy friend: "To be who we are, first let's forget who we think we are" - Paulo Coehlo. Your thoughts and feelings are like your body. Don't feed them well, or bathe them regularly, and your thoughts and feelings will smell as bad as your body if you don't shower for a few days, or weeks. http://Joel.is has some fantastic articles about the inner development of an entrepreneur. Ultimately what you do will only be as g…
Comment linking /
on “I'm a loser and I want to change that - now”Submitted Why you should continue working on your bad idea as a story · 123 points
HN discussionAgreed! Tools almost always reflect the flaws of their users — but it’s not to say that the flaws of the tool proper can’t harm a user too. In Slack’s case, I think their notification settings (and the defaults in particular) encourage an always-on culture that can be hard for some corporate cultures to resist. Regarding public communications — I think that only aggravates the noise/always-on issue, but if that’s yo…
Comment linking /how-we-handle-team-emails-at-our-startup-defaulting-to/
on “Workplace by Facebook opens to sell enterprise social networking to the masses”Submitted The power of ignoring mainstream news as a story · 111 points
HN discussionAbsolutely! I have an evening routine, and it's key to achieving the morning routine. I need 7-8 hours of sleep or I'll burn out within a few days and fail with the routine one morning. I'm still following it pretty much how I describe in this article from last year: http://joel.is/post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual
Comment linking /post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual
on “The exercise habit”Submitted Raising funding as a first-time founder as a story · 110 points
HN discussionI wrote a post last year on my sleep ritual, this is actually a key part of me being able to do the morning routine. I'm still following it almost identically to how I describe in the article: http://joel.is/post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual
Comment linking /post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual
on “The exercise habit”Submitted Want to create a new habit? Get ready to break it. as a story · 104 points
HN discussionThis is pretty interesting in light of a post that was on here a couple days ago: http://joel.is/post/6687368692/startup-bootstrapping It seems that if you look at full or part time consulting as simply a way to pay the bills while you work on getting a startup off the ground (or working for free as a super early employee at a startup), to the point that its ramen profitable, then consulting can be quite beneficial.…
Comment linking /post/6687368692/startup-bootstrapping
on “Consulting is like selling crack (go work for a startup)”Submitted Making money with a product: a myth? as a story · 100 points
HN discussionA lot of times people more experienced are so far detached from what you might be going through. I've found people who have just gone through what I've gone through can help a ton. Joel Gascoigne sums this up better than I. http://joel.is/post/28198804700/why-im-helping-startup-found...
Comment linking /post/28198804700/why-im-helping-startup-founders
on “Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO”Submitted Achieving overnight success: Kevin Systrom as a story · 95 points
HN discussion> How many articles do you read each day? 0 - 1 Articles 100+ Comments on 20 - 25 articles. I use the comments as a curation tool, to decide if the article is really worth reading, or click-bait. Sometimes the comments also do a TL;DR; summary of the original article, so that saves me time (esp. on rambling articles that write 1000 words to prove a couple of points or make a statement / take a stance on something).…
Comment linking /the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news/
on “Ask HN: Hacker News users reading habits”Submitted Beware of the social ideas as a story · 91 points
HN discussionI'm hoping to try the co-working vacation this year to see for myself if I'm still as productive in a new city or country without being distracted by wanting to explore this new place I'm in. I think having a space where other freelancers and startups are working would make it easier to get up do some work around like minded people and still enjoy a new place. It's a different twist on traveling that doesn't bind yo…
Comment linking /why-we-go-on-international-retreats-3-times-a-year-with/
on “Co-Working on Vacation: A Desk in Paradise”Submitted Feeling like a fraud while doing startups as a story · 89 points
HN discussionHaha, I could only hope to achieve even half of what Joel Spolsky has :) I've previously written about how I created my sleep ritual ( http://joel.is/post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual ) and what you mention about committing to too many routines has been key for me. I'd say that is the reason I've not managed it until now and also the reason I've managed to put a decent routine in place now and I'm able to keep…
Comment linking /post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual
on “What are you doing to feel uncomfortable?”Submitted What are you doing to feel uncomfortable? as a story · 88 points
HN discussionGreat article. You should also check out Joel's posts about 'overnight success' which imho have a related message: http://joel.is/tagged/achieving-overnight-success The buffer guys do a great job to communicate what success means and what the many many 'one' steps in between look like. Much needed angle in a world that craves for easy sensations. Keep rocking!
Comment linking /tagged/achieving-overnight-success
on “The myth of doing “that one thing””Submitted Work harder on yourself than you do on your startup as a story · 80 points
HN discussionThanks Mark! I wrote this post about how I went from the idea to the first paying customer in 7 weeks: http://blog.bufferapp.com/idea-to-paying-customers-in-7-week... I also write weekly on my personal blog and almost every post has some form of reflection comparing the previous startup with what I'm doing for my current startup: http://joel.is
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: How much time did you invest in your startup until ramen profitable?”Submitted The maker/manager transition phase as a story · 72 points
HN discussionHmm, I guess that is a little misleading. What I meant was to bootstrap by working "on the side" instead of "working in waves" (long stretch of full-time work to build up funds and then a long stretch of full-time on startup). That's the "way" I was talking about in this article, by contrast to my previous article on "working in waves" - http://joel.is/post/2106915988/bootstrapping-waves
Comment linking /post/2106915988/bootstrapping-waves
on “Ways to bootstrap a startup: on the side”Submitted Pricing Your Product: it Doesn’t Have to Be so Complicated as a story · 68 points
HN discussion
