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Hanging up my spurs

lowercasecapital.com

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Re: Hanging up my spurs

#21

Post by nolanbrown23 »

staunch wrote: post #18

He's in the extremely privileged position to fund ten thousand people's potentially world-changing dreams. Instead, he's going to squander it podcasting in his pajamas. We need someone with the ambition Paul Graham had when he launched Y Combinator. Silicon Valley is still not a meritocracy. There are still tens of thousands of ambitious people not receiving funding. There's still no way for the early users of massiv…

No, he's not squandering anything. He's placing a higher value on time with his kids and wife than on time with an "ambitious" founder. No one deserves anything or is required to do anything.

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#23

Post by staunch »

ghaff wrote: post #22

>no better way to create technology than startups How did the Koolaid taste? You certainly must have drunk enough of it.

Yes, I believe in this whole technology "koolaid" thing. I'm sure you don't use anything created by startups in your daily life, like products from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Tesla, Ford, Amazon, etc.

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#24

Post by mbesto »

charred_toast wrote: post #4
hashkb wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because of Shark Tank?

Judging by his website, because of his extraordinary ability to vet tech opportunities. Check out the list on his Posse page - it's staggering.

> vet tech opportunities

Sorry to snark, but the ability to vet opportunities isn't necessarily a skill that allows individuals to gain such a staggering list of investments. It's worth noting he improperly "vetted" Snapchat[0]. On the other hand, getting proprietary deal flow is. It would be easy to rank him at the top on that.

[0] - https://twitter.com/sacca/status/837400028352151552

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#25

Post by mbesto »

mozumder wrote: post #6
charred_toast wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging by his website, because of his extraordinary ability to vet tech opportunities. Check out the list on his Posse page - it's staggering.

I'd like to see a list of his investments that also includes the ones that failed, as well as the amount on each investment. Are there places that track this info among VCs?

Pitchbook, it'll cost you a few grand a year though.

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#26

Post by kohanz »

staunch wrote: post #18

He's in the extremely privileged position to fund ten thousand people's potentially world-changing dreams. Instead, he's going to squander it podcasting in his pajamas. We need someone with the ambition Paul Graham had when he launched Y Combinator. Silicon Valley is still not a meritocracy. There are still tens of thousands of ambitious people not receiving funding. There's still no way for the early users of massiv…

> He's in the extremely privileged position...

When you achieve a position by working very hard and risking nearly everything you have, I wouldn't consider that a "privilege". He earned the right to do whatever he wants.

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#27

Post by staunch »

nolanbrown23 wrote: post #21
staunch wrote: post #18

He's in the extremely privileged position to fund ten thousand people's potentially world-changing dreams. Instead, he's going to squander it podcasting in his pajamas. We need someone with the ambition Paul Graham had when he launched Y Combinator. Silicon Valley is still not a meritocracy. There are still tens of thousands of ambitious people not receiving funding. There's still no way for the early users of massiv…

No, he's not squandering anything. He's placing a higher value on time with his kids and wife than on time with an "ambitious" founder. No one deserves anything or is required to do anything.

Yes, of course it's his right to do whatever he wants. I'm just suggesting there's a moral imperative to do something when you can.

"With great power comes great responsibility."

"To whom much is given, much is required."

That kind of thing.

It's amazing how few people in Silicon Valley make a billion dollars and then go on to do anything useful with it at all.

This criticism applies to the ten thousand people, like Sacca, that made a fortune off Silicon Valley and then "called in rich."

What would you think of Bill Gates had he not put his fortune to good use?

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#28

Post by rconti »

dmitri1981 wrote: post #20

Chris Sacca's background story is little known and he talks about it at length with Jason Calacanis. The part about him losing millions while still at university is as shocking as his recovery from the setback is amazing. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VOQnK7O2To

Gotta vote this one up so that everyone who reads the article knows it's Chris Sacca.. since his name is nowhere on the page and I'd venture most people don't know he's Lowercase Capital.

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#29

Post by canistr »

Has anyone else noticed that a bunch of people leaving the investing scene/liquidizing in the past year are part of the same circle? Specifically Sacca, Tim Ferriss, and Richard Branson?

I'm certain there might be more people.

Re: Hanging up my spurs

#30

Post by staunch »

kohanz wrote: post #26
staunch wrote: post #18

He's in the extremely privileged position to fund ten thousand people's potentially world-changing dreams. Instead, he's going to squander it podcasting in his pajamas. We need someone with the ambition Paul Graham had when he launched Y Combinator. Silicon Valley is still not a meritocracy. There are still tens of thousands of ambitious people not receiving funding. There's still no way for the early users of massiv…

> He's in the extremely privileged position... When you achieve a position by working very hard and risking nearly everything you have, I wouldn't consider that a "privilege". He earned the right to do whatever he wants.

I think privilege is still the correct word, whether you earn it or not. I know it has some bad connotations but that's not what I mean.
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