Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

techinasia.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 166 posts

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#141

Post by rchaud »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #103
rwhitman wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yes, I mostly agree with your point. I have been reading a lot of biographies of successful entrepreneurs lately and have discovered that quite a lot of spinning and outright fabrication occurs in how their backgrounds are presented. Like right now I am reading Elon Musk's biography. It's said he had a "tough" upbringing. Yet he had access to a "Commodore VIC-20" in apartheid-era South Africa and further was able to…

Not just that, but he also attended Queens University, one of the best public universities in Canada at a total cost of almost zero due to his ctizenship. I believe he completed his undergrad studies at Amherst College, however.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#142

Post by the_af »

xixi77 wrote: post #133
the_af wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The point is precisely that nobody "needs" millions of dollars. That kind of money is well beyond the point of having the peace of mind you'll never go hungry or stop having a comfortable standard of living.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#143

Post by Retric »

bgilroy26 wrote: post #139
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…

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 s…

High scores in video games are effectively meaningless. People still chase them.

IMO, dying with a lot of money is no sadder than devoting your life to packman. It's hard to think of being a CEO as a Hobby, but internally the rewards are similar to a guild leader.

People tend to attach a lot more meaning to cash than it really deserves. It's not a virtue, just a token of exchange and nothing more.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#144

Post by jclos »

cm2187 wrote: post #140
jclos wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

First, I have to admire the audacity of you using a lifelong academic, who is an employee of the Ministry of Education, to further a point about entrepreneurship.

Second, show me a proof that there is a societal benefit of having a majority of high risk taking entrepreneurs within a country, or even that any country can sustain an artificially high number of entrepreneurs.

Third, if you actually bothered to look up the observatoire de la création d'entreprise you would have seen that the number of created businesses has steadily increased, and is being supported more and more by our lagging, yet trying to evolve, government.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#145

Post by amorphid »

theseatoms wrote: post #3
amorphid wrote: post #2

Can confirm. Tried startup. Worked hard. Ran out of money. Ended up homeless. It sucked.

Sorry to hear it. Have you written about your experience anywhere?

I haven't written about it in detail, no. It's been long enough that it doesn't hurt when I think about it anymore. Maybe I'll jot some words down and share with them y'all.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#146

Post by amorphid »

realusername wrote: post #5
amorphid wrote: post #2

Can confirm. Tried startup. Worked hard. Ran out of money. Ended up homeless. It sucked.

I would also be interested about your story, what was it about ?

The short version is that I got hit pretty hard in 2008 when the economy melted down. I was working as a tech recruiter for startups, and I was being referred around by a few venture capitalists. When the VCs stopped investing, their portfolio companies stopped hiring, and my income dried up pretty quickly.

Being a savvy and sensible business person, and thinking that I had a surefire idea that was guaranteed to work, I took the money I'd set aside for taxes and seed funded my startup. I learned along the way that building software is hard, expensive, and that my idea wasn't something I could easily execute on.

I did bounce back, and now I'm a full time developer with a healthy appreciation for what it actually takes to get a company off the ground :)

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#147

Post by cm2187 »

jclos wrote: post #144
cm2187 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

First, I have to admire the audacity of you using a lifelong academic, who is an employee of the Ministry of Education, to further a point about entrepreneurship. Second, show me a proof that there is a societal benefit of having a majority of high risk taking entrepreneurs within a country, or even that any country can sustain an artificially high number of entrepreneurs. Third, if you actually bothered to look up t…

I was responding to your comment on why it is a good thing that people should not seek professional success.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#148

Post by amorphid »

helpfulanon wrote: post #51
amorphid wrote: post #2

Can confirm. Tried startup. Worked hard. Ran out of money. Ended up homeless. It sucked.

Same here. Also would add a compounding series of negative results including depression, being almost shadow-banned from the business due to lack of optimism (no joke), then alcohol problems etc I'd take a bet there are many many others on HN that can attest to this outcome, but lurk due to shame or emotional pain. Losing everything because of misjudgment is not an easy thing to admit to publicly, especially in a com…

Yeah, the downward spiral towards being on the rocks was just as bad, if not worse, than being homeless. Watching your bank account dry up is not fun. Coming to the realization that your friends and family can't, or won't, be able to catch you when you hit bottom is pretty sobering. Not having the skills necessary to negotiate not having a place to live is terrifying. It's weird getting to the point where you might not even be able to pay for your cell phone bill. And being depressed is, well, depressing. I have no intention of ever reliving that experience.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#149

Post by rwhitman »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #103
rwhitman wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yes, I mostly agree with your point. I have been reading a lot of biographies of successful entrepreneurs lately and have discovered that quite a lot of spinning and outright fabrication occurs in how their backgrounds are presented. Like right now I am reading Elon Musk's biography. It's said he had a "tough" upbringing. Yet he had access to a "Commodore VIC-20" in apartheid-era South Africa and further was able to…

Elon Musk's dad was an engineer, and his mother was a model. Even if assuming he wasn't crazy wealthy, he was at least partially exposed to engineering, and brushed with educated people from an early age.

Not to mention, from Wikipedia "In 1995, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web software company, with US$28,000 of their father's (Errol Musk) money."

I adjusted for inflation, that was $44k in today's dollars - quite a substantial amount of money to be gifted from a parent. Plus in 1995 the very idea that the web not only existed but had investment potential was still limited to tech geeks.

So at a time when I literally spent 2 full years furiously arguing to my own dad about why he should simply allow me to hook up my modem using the household phone line, somewhere else in the world is Elon Musk - smart, exceedingly well educated, born in a year with a small generational cohort, along with his also ambitious brother - cashing a generous $28k check from his engineer dad to build, at the exact perfect time in history, a website business in a space that has been duplicated literally thousands of times since, and later sells it for $307 Million. How many people even have the opportunity to nail a combo like that?

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#150

Post by Riod »

r2dnb wrote: post #121
vinceguidry wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I spend my time working on my company on evenings, week-ends. I could do that. It sounds interesting enough. I do read a lot about startups and business and tech. The friends I have dinner with seem amazed at how much I know about this stuff, despite putting far less time into it. But when I get right down to it, spending all my time trying to squeeze blood from a stone doesn't really hold all that much appeal to m…

I understand the reasoning but the need for capital depends on your situation. For example if you want to start a software business and are a good developer you need no capital. The only thing you need is time to work on your venture. It might look like it's the same because taking time to work on your venture requires to have money but there's a big difference. You might want to read this : http://read.reddy.today/r…

The author could work on getting his/her point across. I mean if I need something and see something that addresses that need, why would I not then want it? Any help would be appreciated.
Post reply on HN