The Columbia Math Professor Every NYC Startup & VC Should Know • Hacker News Board

Re: The Columbia Math Professor Every NYC Startup & VC Should Know

#11

Post by zackattack » Sun, Apr 18, 2010, 11:33 PM UTC

Rod wrote: post #10

weeksie wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How idealistic. The problem is that when you start working in a very high paying job, as finance jobs tend to be, there is a catch. All of that money. By the time you have a mortgage, a care, and a vacation home, it's very hard to get away and you get stuck on the treadmill. The other side of it is that you could live frugally and save up a massive war chest to fund a startup but most people don't go that route. It's…

No one forces you to live lavishly. You can rent a small apartment instead of buying a house and having to pay a mortgage, you can travel on a modest budget instead of buying a Summer house you'll use only 2 weeks per year. You don't need a trophy wife if you have some game. You have no one to blame but yourself for your weaknesses . Yes, because living to impress others is weakness. A couple of friends did what you…

The good news is that willpower is a muscle, easily trained.

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/06/self-discipline/

Re: The Columbia Math Professor Every NYC Startup & VC Should Know

#12

Post by ffhix » Mon, Apr 19, 2010, 12:12 AM UTC

samratjp wrote: post #3

He has a good frame of reference: “I see this as an opportunity for academics in New York to contribute to start-up culture,” says Wiggins, referring to the pivotal role that Stanford’s dean of engineering, Frederick Terman, played in the rise of Silicon Valley. Stanford is what it is today thanks to Terman's meddling and the army ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo ). If Wiggins is NYC's Terman, what's NYC'…

In 1939, when Terman encouraged Hewlett and Packard to start a company, Stanford was a farm. Right now, thanks to an 8-year Madoff economy, NYC is one of the most $-rich cities on the planet. I don't think finding an army equivalent will be a hurdle.

Re: The Columbia Math Professor Every NYC Startup & VC Should Know

#13

Post by evankorth » Mon, Apr 19, 2010, 12:13 AM UTC

samratjp wrote: post #3

He has a good frame of reference: “I see this as an opportunity for academics in New York to contribute to start-up culture,” says Wiggins, referring to the pivotal role that Stanford’s dean of engineering, Frederick Terman, played in the rise of Silicon Valley. Stanford is what it is today thanks to Terman's meddling and the army ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo ). If Wiggins is NYC's Terman, what's NYC'…

Its not clear an "Army equivalent" is needed. For one, its much less expensive to start a company today than it was in Terman's time. Does contemporary NYC have certain assets that were unavailable to Terman in his day? Does NYC really need a single centralized funding source in 2010 or might funds come from a variety of public and private sources?

Re: The Columbia Math Professor Every NYC Startup & VC Should Know

#14

Post by weeksie » Mon, Apr 19, 2010, 1:41 PM UTC

Rod wrote: post #10

weeksie wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How idealistic. The problem is that when you start working in a very high paying job, as finance jobs tend to be, there is a catch. All of that money. By the time you have a mortgage, a care, and a vacation home, it's very hard to get away and you get stuck on the treadmill. The other side of it is that you could live frugally and save up a massive war chest to fund a startup but most people don't go that route. It's…

No one forces you to live lavishly. You can rent a small apartment instead of buying a house and having to pay a mortgage, you can travel on a modest budget instead of buying a Summer house you'll use only 2 weeks per year. You don't need a trophy wife if you have some game. You have no one to blame but yourself for your weaknesses . Yes, because living to impress others is weakness. A couple of friends did what you…

What you don't seem to understand is that most people can't make themselves see far enough into the future to deny satisfaction. That's not a weakness, that's normal. The ability to see beyond that and delay gratification is a _strength_.

It's something that irks me about people who are gifted with a lot of will power is that they (myself included when I was younger) assumed that people who didn't possess their traits were weak; they're not weak, you're just gifted. I've worked for everything that I have (and I'm not doing too shabby) but I won't pretend for a moment that my position in life isn't due to happenstance of genetics. I can delay gratification, many people can't and that makes me lucky.