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Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

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Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#121

Post by ThrustVectoring »

SirLJ wrote: post #94
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The typical investor cannot get above average results - the market as a whole is the sum total of everyone trying to beat the market. People aren't as special as they think they are. Investment strategies are littered with the ruined portfolios of folks trying to "beat the market".

Please stop, if you don't want to try, it doesn't mean it is not possible... the truth is that the market efficient hypothesis is not valid and there are plenty examples of people beating the market consistently

Maybe I need to make some background assumptions more explicit. Have you heard of reference class forecasting [1]? The "outside view" of historical results of similar activity is significantly more effective in predicting the results of your actions compared to using the "inside view" of analyzing the details of your plan. Everyone who chooses to buy and sell individual stocks does so because they think it's better than their other choices, so the proper reference class, by default, is "active investors as a whole". The average result of active investors as a whole is the overall movement of the market. Since that's what I expect any stock-picking scheme to yield, I might as well pick the least risky and lowest cost system for it.

Efficient market hypothesis has nothing to do with my opinions here. Whether or not it's possible to beat the market has nothing to do with it either. It's simple averaging - I expect than if I pick individual stocks, I'll get an average result for stock pickers as a group, and that average result is the same as the market as a whole.

Want to know my investment strategy? It's taking every dollar from working that's in excess of my expense budget, immediately putting it long a total stock market index, and sitting on it for about two decades. I don't look at the news, I barely look at the index price, and I'll continue doing this if I lose half my money over the next year. I'll get as good of an expected return, except paying less money in fees and leaving my deferred capital gains invested.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_class_forecasting

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#122

Post by aws_ls »

SirLJ wrote: post #93
logicallee wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel if you want to participate in this community you should have the courtesy to add a disclaimer to your comment that you run a trading school (the link in your profile) when you make comments like this. Also, to me personally, it seems like you're kind of making up what you just said (to get people to go to your trading school). Can you post some proof that your family is set for "generations"? (For example can…

Are you kidding me? All trading schools are scams ran by con artists - this is what my profile says in a nutshell...

I think people reacted this way, because perhaps your suggestion to OP was not appropriate for this thread.

But I do remember reading your comment on the books discussion page few days ago. Actually, I have been thinking along the lines of what your bio description says. And I even bought a book, from the ones you suggested (the history of hedge funds, one). So thanks!

I am interested in that area, but constrained for bandwidth. As I also want to pursue cryptocurrency and/or ML. So not easy to choose, as realistically will have bandwidth to do only one of the three areas. And that too ensuring current project goes in a near 'self driven' way. Nothing is easy :)

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#123

Post by jmknoll »

donw wrote: post #30
atemerev wrote: post #26

Well, my latest startup failure left me with around $50k personal debt, some legal pursuits, expired residence visa in the country I lived in, and a 3 months old baby daughter to care and provide for. And right, no job and no upcoming interviews. I am sorry for a probably uninvited comparison — I am not implying that my situation is harder, and I know that burnout is a serious shit. It takes months to recover. Some t…

(2) is very important advice. Don't worry about the big picture. Every day, find yourself some wins and celebrate them. Maybe it's something as small as brushing your teeth. Dental hygene rocks -- go you! Or leaving the house and going to Starbucks, even if only to browse Reddit. Hey, getting out that door can be a big challenge. Maybe it's going for a run or a hike. You totally owned that half-mile. Whatever it is,…

Piggybacking on your point, there's a ton of value in linear relationships and guaranteed wins.

If you pick up a guitar and play it for an hour, you're probably going to get a little bit better. Likewise, if you go for a run, you're going to be a little bit faster the next day.

These sorts of relationships can be really good for our brains after founding a startup, where there isn't always a clear relationship between what you put in and what you get out.

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#124

Post by lordnacho »

Network. You're in a similar to me when I left my previous firm. What you don't realise when you're going full throttle is how many people want to talk to you.

Catch up with old friends. Catch up with new friends. Get perspective. You have breathing room with a year's income in the bank.

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#126

Post by jondubois »

atemerev wrote: post #26

Well, my latest startup failure left me with around $50k personal debt, some legal pursuits, expired residence visa in the country I lived in, and a 3 months old baby daughter to care and provide for. And right, no job and no upcoming interviews. I am sorry for a probably uninvited comparison — I am not implying that my situation is harder, and I know that burnout is a serious shit. It takes months to recover. Some t…

Your situation sounds much worse. There is no need to apologize for making a useful comparison which brings perspective to the discussion.

No offense but most of the sob stories that make HN front page sound like whining from a spoiled brat. Your case sounds like proper bad/tough.

I guess at least you've gained some skills from all this.

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#127

Post by atemerev »

wsinks wrote: post #117
atemerev wrote: post #26

Well, my latest startup failure left me with around $50k personal debt, some legal pursuits, expired residence visa in the country I lived in, and a 3 months old baby daughter to care and provide for. And right, no job and no upcoming interviews. I am sorry for a probably uninvited comparison — I am not implying that my situation is harder, and I know that burnout is a serious shit. It takes months to recover. Some t…

Are you still at the 50k personal debt, legal pursuits, etc? As someone about to start the dreams - I'm curious.

The debt is less now, and I now have the means and the plan to repay the rest. All in all, everything is good.

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#128

Post by throwaway-273 »

atemerev wrote: post #26

Well, my latest startup failure left me with around $50k personal debt, some legal pursuits, expired residence visa in the country I lived in, and a 3 months old baby daughter to care and provide for. And right, no job and no upcoming interviews. I am sorry for a probably uninvited comparison — I am not implying that my situation is harder, and I know that burnout is a serious shit. It takes months to recover. Some t…

Ha, throwaway here, too - I wanted to post that kind of question as well in the last weeks, but I am starting to figure how to get back on the track.

My background: 39, failed a couple of companies - the last one was the only true high profile project (in biotechnology). As a bonus, my co-founder tried to make me sign some IP related documents once we were going under, proving that the person I was living with the last two years of my life was a complete human disappointment.

I am a scientist, multilingual, deep expertise in chemistry, skills in biotech, IT, and the whole startup salad. CV wise in Europe, I am totally out of the norm, have no life partner, and had to struggle to get back to life. No savings left, so I actually moved in to the cellar of my parents place. Additional bonus: All the stress of the last years start to pay off and gave me some bad health surprises, and I had to face a 2-3 month long depression.

Fortunately, I got our of it, and I am not facing the same thing?

Where do I fit in? What should I do with my beautiful, finite life? Work in a company? Get a wife? Get kids? Save up money to start my next project?

Take a break, think about what you want in life, re-evaluate your situation, and move on. C'est la vie.

If anyone wants to get in touch - here is my email: mfv@freeshell.de

:^)

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#129

Post by mezod »

atemerev wrote: post #26

Well, my latest startup failure left me with around $50k personal debt, some legal pursuits, expired residence visa in the country I lived in, and a 3 months old baby daughter to care and provide for. And right, no job and no upcoming interviews. I am sorry for a probably uninvited comparison — I am not implying that my situation is harder, and I know that burnout is a serious shit. It takes months to recover. Some t…

2) is very important. I was in a rather similar situation as OP and thought "I have to do things to keep my mind distracted", so I started trying to do several things every day. After a while I wanted/needed to have a way to track my own habits and I came up with https://everydaycheck.com . Really, doing a little bit every day helps in not feeling like an imposter!

Re: Ask HN: My company has been acquired and I'm kicked out. What should I do now?

#130

Post by porlune »

It may not make a difference hearing this - but you don't sound like a failure to me. You sound like you're tired and in need of more rest.

29 is young, you still have a lot of bounce left. Take the time you were planning to take to relax and actually relax.

Actively ignore these negative feelings, they do nothing to help you in the way you are experiencing them (in other words, try to see tragedy as opportunity).

I like to remember the simple advice: don't beat yourself up, there are plenty of other people that will do that for you. I also like to remember that "if you don't find time for rest and relaxation, then illness will find time for you." I think I heard that while playing Civ6.

Please also know you are not alone, I often feel like a huge failure too. Somethings I have done recently that have helped me improve my attitude: 1. I got off social media. 2. I started reading and writing fiction again. 3. I started going out more for just the purpose of leaving my programming cave.

I hope this finds you well.

Cheers!

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