rich people with too much free time
My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
71–80 of 131 posts
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#72Does this seem... incredibly lame?
Without the context of what the community was like, I can see how some people might feel this way. I know nothing other than what I read in the article, but I think there is a lot of details left out about the people, activities, and ideology behind the project. It's not really any more lame than people playing D&D, but I can see how the less whimsical people of the world would call people roleplaying as elves and orcs to be lame.
You have to admit, though, that being handed a mysterious invitation by someone who refuses to tell you more is the closest thing you'll ever have in real life to getting your acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Even capturing a small amount of that magic and excitement is pretty cool, if you ask me.
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#73The first time I saw a game of MTG I was instantly hooked. 20 years ago on my way to class I saw some guys playing the game and I stood there watching for a while. I was invited to play and that was it. Played for a few hours, skipped class, walked away with a deck, skipped many, many more classes thereon.
Nothing had ever wrapped me in such a way, a delicious combination of fantasy, role playing, strategy, wits and beautiful art.
I played the game for many years and even now when I seldom run into my collection (now forgotten in a closet) I remember that first feeling and get a sudden urge to go build a deck. Yet the magic faded until it died, it did when I started to see the business behind it, the artificial scarcity, the product cycle, the content adjustments to target new generations of players, the manipulation, the rules aimed to sell more. The business killed the feeling.
I suppose the same thing happened to many Latitude members: they were exposed to a crude reality check (pay to play) which killed the fantasy.
It is a big question for all startups: how to not kill that initial true value once you need to monetize.
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny how polarizing it is. The elitism, faux secrecy and utter pointlessness of this just ticks me off (along with the other criticism mentioned in the article), but some people, including the author, seem to gobble this up like candy.
It's a power fantasy. There's an "in group" and through various mechanisms, it's perceived to be a concentration of power. Some people want to be on the right side of the line, while others actively distrust any organization that advertises the power fantasy behind a hidden agenda, or think it's childish, or both. My view is that there's no harm in indulging this power fantasy if it's just a game, but when you try to…
I am a huge cynic and probably one of the first people to agree with a post like yours, but I really have to disagree. I saw very little power dynamic going on from what I read. There was a level of mysteriousness in that some people knew a lot more than others, but seemingly a large part of this project was experiencing the discovery and exploration of the project. Hence the reason when the author asked a ton of questions, the guy replied "I could tell you, but do you really want to know?".
It was seemingly a large art project. Some people were "in the know" because projects like this require the full time work of several people. You exclude as many people as possible because it ruins the illusion that people enjoy. Your post may as well criticize Disney World for being a power fantasy because they don't allow park visitors behind the scenes.
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for stopping by! What was the most memorable moment of the whole experience for you?
As far as the experience goes, one of the things I'd say over and over is that if you noticed my work, I did a bad job. I was building the automation, electronics, mechanics, and hardware and software systems to make things tick. I was typically working with about two other hacker-types. sometimes hardware and audio folks, sometimes web and software folks. So there was this beach on the top floor of a building downto…
> if you noticed my work, I did a bad job.
Partial counterpoint: I didn't notice the cameras in the sandbox, so I happily covered them up by accident. It just "felt right" to me for whatever reason to decorate the corners. Oops.
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#76It's sounds like a well-produced LARP. Like Escape Room.[1] It wasn't really a society. It was a startup pretending to be one. With today's high real estate costs, it's hard to do anything like this in the physical world. People no longer rent storefronts as clubhouses, or set up social organizations which own their own buildings. Hacker Dojo morphed from a hacker space to a commercial co-working startup for that rea…
Hacker Dojo morphed from a hacker space to a commercial co-working startup for that reason.
This is false. Hacker Dojo is a non-profit, and many members and those on the board are passionate about its future. The Dojo has the best rates in the Bay Area ($100 for non-work hours and $195 for 24/7 vs. $300 avg for SF/SV). There is a maker-space with a laser cutter on the way, and an electronics area that Woz only wishes existed back in his day. There are several events each day, including tech meetups and educational classes.
Dojo rents out some of its space to bootcamps and startups. Why? To meet its fundraising goals. In May, Dojo will move from Mountain View to Santa Clara; however, several members are interested in buying a building in the next couple of years assuming commercial real estate experiences a down market. I assure you, there is nothing "commercial co-working startup" about it. It is and will continue to be a community-focused non-profit. The board members wouldn't allow otherwise.
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#77I'm curious. "I'm asked to surrender my possessions. So in go my iPhone and wallet"... and yet somehow there's photos of everything beyond that point.
Hi! I'm the article author. Praxis events were held in the same building as the slide, receiving room, etc. So I got the photos later, months after my initial Latitude experience.
Ahh, gotcha. Thanks for the clarification!
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#78Admittedly only skimmed the article, but I missed exactly what this group actually did. Philanthropy? Community service? Multi-level marketing? What's the purpose of having some secret group that only exists to be secret and to be a group?
I read the article from top to bottom, and these questions aren't exactly answered. I got the impression it was a group of mostly artistic types getting together for conversation, essentially bringing social networking back to the real world instead of through screens.
How the hell this was supposed to be a "startup" that expected to grow into a profitable business is beyond me. In any case, Jeff Hull inherited many millions of dollars, blew a chunk of it on a personal pet project, and then had a hissy fit when he tried to monetize it and met resistance. Classic child-like behavior of inherited wealth, completely detached from the real world where the rest of us have to work hard to earn a pittance.
Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#79Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup
#80Wow, I'm glad I have so many better hobbies than this.. This seems like a sad state of affairs to me.