Steve Blank

That's always been the case, in software and elsewhere.

Yet, Ford didn't copy Tesla, why not?

Checkout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma but overall the idea is that large corporations have totally different goals and incentive than startups. Also check https://steveblank.com and his startup owner manual trying to clarify that a startup is NOT a small company, rather it's searching for a product/market fit.

So is it worth pursuing a (software) startup?

Honestly if you want to make money, no. It's much easier to work for a large corporation (big economical benefits) or a public institution (work safety). You might not get ridiculously rich either way but you will be safer than most.

If you want to make a ridiculous amount of money though, well you might have to make sacrifices you are underestimating. I don't want to promote the grind culture but checkout Silicon Valley, the TV show, in particular when they discuss VC and promises done. Basically if you ask for a very high valuation you have to deliver on those claims and obviously they investors are going to keep you accountable on that. You might have to work more than you wanted (which might make the whole process a nightmare more than a joy) but more dangerously you might lose the very raison d'etre of the company you founded. If it's "just" about making money, you won't care, if you have a genuine mission, those compromises are going to eat you alive.

So... is it "worth it" very much depend on…

Cool. I'm Malaysian too but located in East Malaysia. I'm working alone on a web project too. From my experience, going alone is emotionally tough, working first may help find people who share the same ambition. Don't give up...."how can you fail if you don't give up" :) Tell yourself you're going to take 4 years (or more if you're still young) and giving it all you have. Even if you fail, you would have gained valuable experience and knowledge.

Be careful of saying that the software is done and launching it big. What you have is probably a product that you think what others will want. Until you get feedback and slowly releasing it to the world, you do not know. Probably getting those unmotivated people around you to try your software might be helpful as a start.

I think historically there's been a higher chance of failure but as long as you learn from the mistakes, you'll do fine. Fail fast.

fyi, I used to lecture CS in Malaysia :) and I failed trying to launch an ecommerce site in Malaysia. But I'm at it again.:)

This article may shed some light on your dilemma
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/10/03/harnessing-entrepreneurial-manic-depression-making-the-rollercoaster-work-for-you/

Keep reading and learning. If you don't already know, I find the following things helpful
- http://ecorner.stanford.edu/
- http://steveblank.com
- twitter

It's not about the idea. It's the execution. If it's a good idea, someone else is probably doing the same thing...unless you…

There's no such thing as "taken" like that. That is to say, just because somebody else is working on an idea, that doesn't mean you can't (or shouldn't) work on the same idea, or a closely related idea. If anything, if you're working on an idea and nobody else is, you should be asking some really hard questions of yourself, like "why is nobody else working on this if it's such a good idea. Am I really that much smarter than EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD??" and so on.[1] If somebody else is working on the idea, then that's at least small amount of validation that it might be a good idea. If they have paying customers, so much the better.

There's a quote I read once, and I wish I could find the original source so I could provide a proper citation, that I think was from Bob Parsons that goes "Never be afraid to enter a crowded market. Just be better than everybody else." That might be a little bit hyperbolic, but I think the general attitude is sound. Don't be afraid to get in there and mix it up and compete.

As the old saying goes "Startups don't die by murder, they die by suicide." Most likely, the other startup you're think about is going to die by suicide anyway. They're going to fail to execute, choose a bad market segment, screw up their marketing, screw up sales, choose SVB as their bank, or any of 1000 other things that are going to send them to the Great Accelerator In The Sky. Just don't make those mistakes, outlast them, and the market is yours!

Steve…

Stop reading books, stop getting courses and start doing things.

Some people have tendencies to never learn from other people, and they make the same mistakes other people have done again and again.

Other people, like you (it is obvious), go the other way, they want to know everything and not fail ever. The way they do it is procrastinating, never getting in the arena or over the stage until they are 100% prepared. And they are never "prepared", because failing hurts emotionally.

You are like a skier that tries to avoid falling down so much he just can't learn.

I created my own business when I was a kid, it is not that hard, offer things or services people need or want. Someone with a CS degree can figure it out.

You need to get out in the real world and fail. Then you can read books and ask for advice. Now you will be able to calibrate all the info that you get from books and people in real scenarios. Without real world experience, most info is worthless.

Spend the minimum amount of time reading, you should be experiencing life and writing down those experiences. Writing every day is much better than reading every day. One in active, the other passive and looks like work but it is not.

Minimize passive things and activities in you life, like TV, until most of your life is active.

This man was a serial entrepreneur:
https://steveblank.com/

Start getting more aggressive, learn from this man:
https://www.john-carlton.com/

You look too "soft",a "wussy", learn…

Do you want to do this for fun or business? If purely for fun, then I don't see any major flaws in your current approach. Sure, you end up with unfinished projects but you're hopefully learning tons and having a blast.

But if you're thinking about structuring things so you can better go from ideas to businesses, you need to reevaluate your entire approach. You need tools that can practically guide you through the stages of creating a software business, not just a general philosophy of getting things done.

Currently in the startup world, there's an interesting convergence between customer development and lean as applied to tech startups. Customer development is described in Steven Blank's "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" and Eric Ries' "The lean startup" is the book on lean startups. Both Blank and Ries have contributed to this convergence that I talk about at their respective sites [1] [2] but there's also overviews available [3] [4]. But why am I even recommending these two approaches? Because they cover business development from start to finish from as applied to software startups, so you know the advice is specific to our industry and very practical in nature. If you're serious about the business of software, customer development and lean startup will help you create a business with better certainty of execution and outcome. Together they provide a very potent combination of roadmap and compass, and principles and philosophy.

[1] http://steveblank.com/

[2]…

Describing yourself as an "aspiring founder" suggests that you are attracted to the idea of being an entrepreneur. It's not unlike aspiring to be a professional sports person or TV/film star. It is the glamour that you find appealing.

Successful startups come about from recognizing a problem worth solving and having a market willing to pay to have that problem solved. Computers and software are means to an end. In addition to building up your knowledge, you also should seek out experience in some domain that you have an talent for. Once you have acquired a critical mass of real world experience, you will see lots of problems that need solving. Some of them might even be commercially viable. Perhaps a good option for you would be to identify startups that are active in an area that you could become interested in.

In addition to your technical education, you could follow some proven entrepreneurial processes. I recommend Steve Blank's blog and book -- http://steveblank.com/

Being a founder also means not being motivated by job security. You either find investors to fund your runway, or build up considerable savings in advance and be self-funded series-A.