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Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

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Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#131

Post by mentos »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #71
bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

Money won’t make you happy I have always hated this saying because it's worthless without the context of who is getting the money. I grew up poor - money definitely made us happy because we could afford to move out of my aunt or my grandmother's house. Everyone loves to cite the study that "above $75,000/year money doesn't make you happier" - without realizing that it's simply saying that there are diminishing return…

"Having money isn't everything, not having it is."

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#132

Post by glangdale »

bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

$100M now? Some people are apparently harder to please than the sage and former governor of California:

"Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

This is, of course, a joke, but there is clearly a couple thresholds that are decisive: the first around the point of "no longer need to work immediately" and the second at "no longer need to work at all if one is willing to have a modest retirement". I suspect that if one is sort of person who thinks that $20M or $100M is a important further threshold for some calculation ("all of my descendants will be able to go to college, for the next 12 generations" or "I need to be able to buy anything that I can current conceive of wanting") there's probably no real end to it.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#133

Post by xixi77 »

the_af wrote: post #94
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money won’t make you happy I have always hated this saying because it's worthless without the context of who is getting the money. I grew up poor - money definitely made us happy because we could afford to move out of my aunt or my grandmother's house. Everyone loves to cite the study that "above $75,000/year money doesn't make you happier" - without realizing that it's simply saying that there are diminishing return…

> without realizing that it's simply saying that there are diminishing returns above that point But I thought everyone got that point. It's not as if people thought every additional dollar brought them misery. People who quote this understand that you don't need this additional money, and that the effort/sacrifices to get it are not worth it.

Sure, I take it that they don't need it. But they do not know if you, or me, or anyone else needs it, and whether the effort is worth it for others, and really shouldn't pretend that they do.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#134

Post by sosborn »

rcarrigan87 wrote: post #68

The most dangerous part of Entrepreneur Porn, especially of the TechCrunch flavor, is the idea funding equates to success. Funding won't fix an unsustainable business model, it will just enable you to waste more time.

> the idea funding equates to success

This never made sense to me. I've always viewed funding as a last resort.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#135

Post by superuser2 »

rwhitman wrote: post #93
hkmurakami wrote: post #50

I remember a slew of articles mid 2015 that raised the criticism that founders came from privileged backgrounds. The article also mentioned "the cult of the entrepreneur" and the idolization of these characters. I am born and raised in SV and yet I frankly do not understand the fetishization of entrepreneurs and the idea that this line of work is somehow holier than any other. Isn't that the root of the problem, rath…

There's a narrative we're told about entrepreneurs that we're not told about Wall St. One of the founding values of America is that anyone with innovative entrepreneurial drive can start their own business and build wealth from nothing. It's what brought so many immigrants to this country, and is even taught to us in school as being the backbone of capitalism. Most people in America have never actually met a successf…

*Anyone with access to capital a financial cushion to land on when their business fails, I.e, is paid more than subsistence wage, and can play the social game with investors, and can actually get a meeting with investors.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#136

Post by antod »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #71
bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

Money won’t make you happy I have always hated this saying because it's worthless without the context of who is getting the money. I grew up poor - money definitely made us happy because we could afford to move out of my aunt or my grandmother's house. Everyone loves to cite the study that "above $75,000/year money doesn't make you happier" - without realizing that it's simply saying that there are diminishing return…

> "Money can't buy happiness [but it can buy] a WaveRunner. Have you ever seen a sad person on a WaveRunner?"

That's not buying happiness - that's just sucking the happiness out of everyone else in the vicinity that isn't on a WaveRunner themselves :)

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#137

Post by antod »

Mimu wrote: post #77
bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

As my dad says (I don't know if it's from him or somebody else but who cares): It's better to have rich issues than poors issues.

I remember a Burt Reynolds interview (with Ruby Wax I think) when he said something like "I've been poor and miserable, and I've been rich and miserable - I'll take being rich and miserable any time". Nothing exactly earth shattering there, it just stuck in my mind for some reason.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#138

Post by TheGrassyKnoll »

BjoernKW wrote: post #108
rday wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see your consulting model. You speak as if keeping a full sales pipeline while making multiple clients happy is a simple thing. I'll agree that a single person consultancy is 0 risk. I can accept a job offer tomorrow and stop accepting new clients. But growing your consultancy is just as risky as any other business, if not more so. You don't have a wide range of low paying clients, like a SaaS model.…

Well, no it's not simple. It means a lot of work and persistent marketing and sales efforts but it isn't particularly risky. I'm running a single person consultancy. If I need help with handling the work depending on the client I can hire other freelancers. The secret to reducing risk is to always be selling / marketing and to not accept full-time projects. This precludes many project offers but you can stay flexible…

> "...persistent marketing and sales efforts..." ..."This just became a job"

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#139

Post by bgilroy26 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #71
bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

Money won’t make you happy I have always hated this saying because it's worthless without the context of who is getting the money. I grew up poor - money definitely made us happy because we could afford to move out of my aunt or my grandmother's house. Everyone loves to cite the study that "above $75,000/year money doesn't make you happier" - without realizing that it's simply saying that there are diminishing return…

Your last quote captures the point of the age-old phrase.

The point of "Money can't buy happiness" is that happiness doesn't have a UPC. The connection between money and happiness has tangible intermediaries. You have to spend the money in order to be happy.

The wisdom of it is putting the ball in the hands of the listener.

A lot of times people can get excited just about making money. That's fine because there are so many wonderful things you can buy. On the other hand, I'm sure there is at least an inkling of a further goal behind the idea of making money. No one is trying to be the guy from the parable who dies with a ton of money in the bank (guy has no descendents/will either). Money can be a trap if it is used as a proxy for future desires that are never realized.

"Money can't buy happiness" leads to the question: What is it that you do want?

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#140

Post by cm2187 »

jclos wrote: post #86
cm2187 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was at university (a few years ago but not that long ago), the majority of the other students only had one idea in mind, becoming a civil servant, doing 9 to 5, job for life, no pressure, lots of holidays and free time to do other things, and early retirement (I am not even kidding, 20yo students looking forward to retirement). Working hard, creating jobs, professional success clearly wasn't on the list. I'd r…

You make it sound like having different life objectives than you is a shameful thing. What is wrong with some people preferring to invest in time rather than this (very personal) notion of professional success because it makes them happier?

Good for them. Terrible for society. What if Pasteur had this "can't be bothered, let's go fishing" attitude?
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