Right, but what attracts you to doing a startup? Is it building something amazing? Is it leading other people to success? Do you just want to get rich?

I'm an engineer, and here's what I want out of a startup: I want to build something amazing. I want to be a part of something that people use every day. I want to solve important problems. I want to watch my projects grow, I want to watch the people around me be successful, and I want to hang out with people who are a LOT smarter than me. Arguably you have to have these qualities to be in the business of startups.

Now, you and I are not necessarily at odds. In fact, chances are, I would probably like you. But how do you show me? Here are some helpful things that you DON'T want to do:

* Don't just sit around. Show me that you have some sort of flair for the tools at your disposal, some panache for making things happen, show me that at least you understand how useful the tools at your disposal are (and that you get how they can affect the world around you).

For example: this one guy created an Ask HN [http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1351244] that pointed to an extremely simple rails app that he deployed on Heroku for free [http://roomie.heroku.com/]. All it is is one page that tells people who he is, what he does, and that he's looking for a roommate who is smart, a hacker, and interested in the same things. Of course, he actually is a code monkey (and you are not), but you get the idea. If you did something like that and lived in my area, I'd be like, "Fuck yes, I want to be involved with what he's doing!"

* Don't have nothing about you online. The problem for people like you is that you don't hang out with coders. I assume you don't, btw, since you asked this question. This is a problem because good hackers tend to hang out with other good hackers. So how do you show me, the hacker, that you are an awesome and worthy addition to any startup team? Maybe you write for TechCrunch, but probably not, so what are you going to do?

As a person interested in startups, there's a number of things I could judge you by. Me personally, I would start with whether whatever it is that you're doing captivates me. Maybe you are the guy from the last bullet point. Maybe you realized that business and CS at your uni are not connected at all, even though they really should be, and you created a student-based initiative that pays kids to go build cool projects they're interested in, and you blog in detail about how you got the money to do it, what challenges arose, etc. Maybe you're this guy: [http://alecbrownstein.com/project.php?cat=3]. Regardless, in general just remember that I'm a startup-focused hacker, so I'm interested in the whole process in general, not just tech. You NEED TO SHOW PROWESS FOR THE THINGS I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT, even if it's business or "other" stuff.

This brings me to a sub-point:

Be connected to the community. Did you just do something cool? TELL PEOPLE. There are tons of ways to do it. Did someone ask a question you can answer? RESPOND and FOLLOW UP. Get people excited about the answer. There are tons of people here. Some are rich, some are just getting started. A lot are smart. All are interested in what you're interested in. So, for the love of god and all that is holy, REACH OUT, and use it to your advantage. There is nothing really separating you from these A-M-A-Z-I-N-G (sometimes I-M-P-O-R-T-A-N-T) people around you. Don't believe me? Checkout this guy's story: Anyway, when people like me see that you've got traction in the community, we will be impressed.

* Not a "don't", but one last thing is, by being a part of the community, you naturally cultivate interests. I think that being successful is part figuring out where you fit in the picture of all your interests. A lot of people have the problem of seeing things the way they want them to be, rather than the way they are. So just be realistic about where you are. If you try to just be successful, you'll almost certainly fail. So I would say that, rather than trying to be successful, just ask what you can do that's interesting with your life. That's a good starting place. So maybe that is a don't: don't be fooled into thinking that where you end up is where you're going.

That should get you started. I'm sure you'll be fine. If you ever to actually get started, PLEASE drop me a line. I like hearing stories like that. Or post it to HN so we can read about it.

EDIT: I hope you don't mind if this makes its way to my Posterous!