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Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

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Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#151

Post by purpledove »

pg wrote: post #13

In my experience, startup founders who want to get rich want it more in order to have the freedom to work on what they want than to impress people. That could be because we prefer startups whose founders include hackers. On the other hand, we don't just prefer that type because they're more fun to hang around with, but because in our opinion they're more likely to succeed.

She is saying that the start-up mythology of success, which is vital to keeping up the spirits of the best of us, can lead the good-but-not-great astray in their lives.

She is saying that ideas are powerful, and internalizing the wrong ones can cause damage.

I recently saw pg give an interview wherein he discussed how much more Y Combinator focuses on who the founders are rather than what the idea is. This is a great start, and I think there is a lot of fertile ground that can really be developed into a powerful message that will reach many young people.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#152

Post by pvdm »

enjo wrote: post #6

Of course it's not ok. At some level getting rich is a life-or-death issue. How do I get enough money to retire? How can I possibly afford health-care? What if I or my lovely wife get cancer? The reality is, the later years of your life are going to be significantly more secure and happier if you make a lot of money.

Morphine is not that expensive.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#153

Post by nickpinkston »

aswanson wrote: post #144
nickpinkston wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We just had this discussion yesterday at a StartupDrinks. I think the Darwinian notion says: 1.) We are hardwired to want things to attract mates. 2.) Power, Success, Prestige, Freedom, etc. are attractive. 3.) We want things that are derivative of such things, even if we consciously believe we want to benefit humanity, think it's, fun etc. Conclusion: The mind has a way of aligning our conscious interests with our s…

I don't care about my freedom being attractive. I want a certain level of material comfort without answering to anyone or reporting to a cubicle. Some drives derive from mating impulses, yes, but many derive from hating bullshit. Period.

The point is that we all consciously have reasons like what you're saying: independence, hating bullshit etc. However, all are motivated by hardwired goals of species survival.

These base needs make us want to gain advantage in mating, but also in things like independence - which give us a higher likelihood of survival (i.e. controlling how to fulfill our base needs, reproduce, not be killed by others, etc.).

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#154

Post by pvdm »

HockeyPlayer wrote: post #17
enjo wrote: post #6

Of course it's not ok. At some level getting rich is a life-or-death issue. How do I get enough money to retire? How can I possibly afford health-care? What if I or my lovely wife get cancer? The reality is, the later years of your life are going to be significantly more secure and happier if you make a lot of money.

Don't be silly. She wrote that her friend, "could easily bring in a low six-figure income" If you save wisely, you can retire just fine after a career at a tech company making 2-3x the US median salary. And most companies have good health coverage for the cancer. She is talking about the pressure to make $10M or more through a startup, not getting the money to retire comfortably.

Wait. What tech company would hire you if you already have cancer ? Just ask Brian Reid.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/08/google_age_discr...

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#155

Post by bbers »

pg wrote: post #13

In my experience, startup founders who want to get rich want it more in order to have the freedom to work on what they want than to impress people. That could be because we prefer startups whose founders include hackers. On the other hand, we don't just prefer that type because they're more fun to hang around with, but because in our opinion they're more likely to succeed.

Won't successful founders from YC will have the opportunity to work on what they want no matter how much money they have? Or do the founders you know want to work on things that are very expensive?

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#156

Post by jquery »

nickpinkston wrote: post #153
aswanson wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care about my freedom being attractive. I want a certain level of material comfort without answering to anyone or reporting to a cubicle. Some drives derive from mating impulses, yes, but many derive from hating bullshit. Period.

The point is that we all consciously have reasons like what you're saying: independence, hating bullshit etc. However, all are motivated by hardwired goals of species survival. These base needs make us want to gain advantage in mating, but also in things like independence - which give us a higher likelihood of survival (i.e. controlling how to fulfill our base needs, reproduce, not be killed by others, etc.).

Your logic is tautologous. Evolution seeks no such things. Evolution just happens and is random. It's quite likely we have many traits which are not advantageous for survival, especially in our modern world. Appealing to evolutionary psychology is an intellectual and argumentative reductionist shortcut.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#157

Post by tansey »

hyperbovine wrote: post #149
cookiecaper wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really know what to say about this. It makes me totally face_plain. In my opinion, a goal of maximizing your personal free time at the expense of family is completely crazy. You should raise a family because its joys are immense and awesome, more immense and awesome than anything involving a huge chunk of money and/or free time (i.e. boredom, which more often than not does not end well), and I would instantly…

I draw the line at like 6 threads deep, so I will shut up after this, but: At the expense of what family? The hypothetical one which I am purposely not creating? I'm glad that it's worked out well for you (really), but you need to recognize that, contrary to what people want to believe, parenthood and happiness are not synonymous. You look at my life and see empty houses (nevermind that I live with a bunch of fun, li…

For what it's worth, as Daniel Gilbert notes in "Stumbling on Happiness", people's minds tend to rationalize their actions and warp the past based on more recent events.

If you were to marry and have kids, you would likely argue the same points about it being the greatest experience of your life. However, you would only feel that way because your memory of your past bachelor life would be distorted by the joy that your new settled life has brought you.

So I think you're both right. :)

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#158

Post by gametheory »

ttol wrote: post #20

An interesting article that talks about an entire nation's views on marriage, status, and success is: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2010-06/25/content_1001855... It is so ingrained that one of the women described her marital vision: "I'd rather be miserable sitting in a BMW than be happy riding a bicycle." It's no surprise that an extension of this is that the most desirable man, and bachelor, in China is the fou…

All bachelors are men.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#159

Post by Elite »

byw wrote: post #139
jlgosse wrote: post #12

Without trying to sound like an absolute ass, this article shows EXACTLY why most of the founders of the biggest empires and hottest startups are in fact men. I say MOST as I'm sure there are many women as well, but clearly they are overshadowed by men in this case.

I wonder if it has more to do with culture. According to Forbes, about half of all female billionaires are from China. http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/22/billionaire-women-entrepren...

Is Oprah the only self-made Billionaire in the US/Europe?

I know that there are several female billionaires but all the fortunes I can think of now are inherited

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#160

Post by mquander »

natrius wrote: post #112
jongraehl wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the deletion. More people should delete their comments (if they turn out to be inapplicable or unfair).

How is that better than adding to the comment or replying to let people know of your change of heart? Deleting comments that have replies is in no way a good thing.

The comment I wrote was a pithy, uninformative comment that was misleading about the content of the article (I suggested that the author just didn't understand ambition very well, but she's clearly not talking about general ambition; she explicitly distinguishes people who are in it only for riches.) Worse, it had 7 upvotes almost immediately, meaning that people were reading it and getting a wrong and unfair impression. The reply added nothing except to correct me. I don't feel like anything was lost.

You could say that I should leave it in case someone else makes the same misinterpretation. Perhaps I should, but I would not anyway. I don't care to represent myself with incorrect or useless comments documenting my stupidity; I would prefer to remove them from the record and let people who know what they're talking about go ahead.

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