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What no one talks about when running and selling a business

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Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#51

Post by feistypharit »

ithought wrote: post #18

All these things he listed (losing touch with friends, ruining business opportunities, treating people poorly, appearing 'higher class') happen to almost everyone at some point in life but without being rich.

Ya, it seems his real issue is he spent his 20s and 30s with the goal of getting money and now that he has it winners what's next. I believe the term is midlife crisis.

I do find it sad that he,like so many other people just write off how hard and important it is to raise kids. "I'm not a stay at home parent". I've heard it from doctors, CEOs, and others. As a society we really need to stop outsourcing the raising of our children.

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#52

Post by ladytron »

scarface74 wrote: post #44

I am in my 40s and I work with a young married guy in his mid 20s who i would consider a level 1 software engineer on a scale of 1 to 5. He is a dreamer thinking he can strike it rich with his great startup idea working on it part time because he hears stories of all the people who sold their startups and thinks that's such a glamorous life. First I told him about survivorship bias and laid out basically the same sta…

Founders don't start companies to live a "pretty good life in the top 10%".

We do it because we are ambitious, want to solve huge technical and business problems, make our mark, and change the world.

We usually have more energy and sleep less than others. We love work. We love our business. Most of us would not want to be corporate "drones". It would be like a living death.

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#53

Post by jondubois »

I have the same problems as the author but I also have to worry about money because none of the risks I took have paid off.

The only thing I look forward to is the next economic crisis; then maybe I'll be able to build something out of the rubble of other people's failures.

Economic stability is painful for me.

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#54

Post by bigtunacan »

The whole article comes across as very defensive... here's all these examples of people seeing me as an asshole, but really I'm a nice guy. I try to relate, but it's not my fault I don't understand all of these people that are beneath me while I'm kicking it in my crib with my stone counter tops and $300 jeans. Oh I really love my wife and kid, but... I'm just so unfulfilled.

Brutal truth to the author after having read the article is that he probably does qualify as being an asshole.

As a slight counterpoint to that though, despite what everyone says it is okay to be an asshole up to a certain point. It is better to just own up to it though than to deny it. This is advice from a self admitted asshole.

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#55

Post by Gustomaximus »

jacquesm wrote: post #34

I don't see the correlation between 'being an asshole' and 'sold my start-up'. There are plenty of successful entrepreneurs that are perfectly capable of relating to others and treating their fellow men, friends and family with dignity and respect. Some people succeed because they're playing nice with others, some succeed in spite of not being able to do so, some even succeed because they are are assholes. There is n…

I read this article in the same way. Some kind of narcissistic personality that doesn't want to account for they are simply an arsehole and needs excuses. Sound like when they were CEO of ~100 employees they could get away with people accepting this behavior and feel accepted but now they lost 'im in control of your career' the reality check is here and they are looking for excuses.

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#56

Post by AznHisoka »

jonmc12 wrote: post #45

Buckminster Fuller, considering ego-suicide: "I see the hydrogen atom doesn't have to earn a living before behaving like a hydrogen atom. In fact, as best I can see, only human beings operate on the basis of 'having to earn a living'. The concept is one introduced into social conventions, only by the temporal power structure's dictum of the ages. If I am doing what God's evolutionary strategy needs to have accomplish…

isnt our evolutionary destiny just to reproduce as much as possible?

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#57

Post by nebabyte »

Sounds like the author has personal problems they're mistakenly ascribing to their work. Many of their assertions are simply not true (It's possible to be confident without "being an asshole"; I know several such people), and it just comes across as written by an unreliable narrator (if I cared about this person's issues, I'd likely be asking the people who shunned him about what happened and see if the stories matched).

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#58

Post by simonebrunozzi »

Animats wrote: post #46
paulsutter wrote: post #16

The brutally honest truth about this guy is that he's an insecure prick who loves boasting > Only 0.4% of all businesses make it to $10M in annual revenue. We made it almost halfway through...When I sold my startup, we had 100 people working with us. > Unfortunately, I no longer have very many friends... > ...Tesla...$300 pairs of jeans, $450 pairs of boots, concrete countertops...trips to New Zealand no longer bothe…

If he only has seven figures, he needs to stop spending like that. Most people who make money all at once blow it within seven years. You can only spend about 4% a year of your net worth. Even that's pushing it with today's returns.

For the ones that don't know: 4% [0] is supposed to be the amount your wealth grows, on average, every year. If you spend at most 4% of it, you end up never eroding it.

[0] www.investopedia.com/terms/f/four-percent-rule.asp

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#59

Post by ImTalking »

pcunite wrote: post #6

Material things do not make people happy, at all. This! This is the found God moment everyone needs to come to. We will all die. You had better get your eternity in order. Answer that call within, and go find the true "why" that is eating at you on the inside. Read Acts 2:38.

Yes, the 'why' that is eating at me is why anyone would try to proselytise religion to anonymous people on HN.

Re: What no one talks about when running and selling a business

#60

Post by nebabyte »

bigtunacan wrote: post #54

The whole article comes across as very defensive... here's all these examples of people seeing me as an asshole, but really I'm a nice guy. I try to relate, but it's not my fault I don't understand all of these people that are beneath me while I'm kicking it in my crib with my stone counter tops and $300 jeans. Oh I really love my wife and kid, but... I'm just so unfulfilled. Brutal truth to the author after having r…

> Brutal truth to the author after having read the article is that he

Should probably figure out his own issues before giving advice to other people about how their experiences "will go".

(I'm sure some people can relate to the piece, but relating and getting good advice are two different things - if you're looking for the latter, ask someone who at minimum has a good grasp of where their problems truly stemmed from [likely because they're now seeing them after having solved them])

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