Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

adgrok.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 147 posts

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#121

Post by Psyonic »

ams6110 wrote: post #109
eru wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off-topic: Is it common to get paid every fortnight in America?

Twice monthly (1st and 15th) is also fairly common. Once monthly is not unheard of but a lot of people can't manage their cash flow that long so they prefer more frequent intervals.

There are reasons to prefer getting paid in shorter intervals other than not being able to manage money. Why should they get to hold it, earning interest, rather than you?

That said, your explanation is probably more often the case.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#122

Post by Psyonic »

ashishb4u wrote: post #64
VolatileVoid wrote: post #27

So. This is funny. I actually work at Goldman, work in the system he talks about, and have been doing so for 5 years. You can get numbed by the experience of working here, but you don't have to be. I've become friendly with some of the best hackers I know, and for us, finance always takes a backseat to writing amazing code. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail, but we try to never say, "Meh. Good enough." Wall Str…

totally agree, its just a job. even if you work with the most hacker-friendly company, you'll eventually rant out the same way someday. Maybe the post should be "Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than a day job" (oh thats a cliche!)

That's the message I get from this site, day after day. Some days I almost feel ashamed to say I have a day job here.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#123

Post by Psyonic »

gojomo wrote: post #37
jakevoytko wrote: post #5

Quick tip: hover over the numbered footnotes for some great asides.

Indeed; I love the footnoting style -- look and content -- and will surely copy it for something I write someday.

Read anything by David Foster Wallace than. Not only was he brilliant, but he made copious (perhaps obscene) use of this technique in his writing.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#124

Post by Psyonic »

nearestneighbor wrote: post #114

In fact, we were basically the trader’s little bitches, and any quant who’s honest with himself realizes that. I wonder what it is that traders do that they can't be replaced by software? How do they manage to generate more value than quants?

Software doesn't have a frat buddy working at the bank across the street.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#125

Post by Psyonic »

runjake wrote: post #90
jrockway wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry about it. People feel the need to justify every decision they make to the world. The author of this post didn't want to work at GS, he wanted his own company. But he gave up a couple hundred thousand a year to do that, and people made fun of him, so he felt he needed to justify it. Obviously, there are plenty of people happy collecting their large paycheck every two weeks, or there would be a lot of start…

| Obviously, there are plenty of people happy collecting their large paycheck every two weeks, or there would be a lot of startups and not a lot of Goldman Sachs. Or their fears and lack of confidence/desire for security overrule their happiness.

Not everyone wants to be a leader. Seriously. It may be hard for you to believe this, as it goes against how you feel, but its true.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#126

Post by hugh3 »

samtp wrote: post #14
daychilde wrote: post #2

> with the attention span of an ADHD kid hopped up on meth and Jolly Ranchers Well, I'm very disappointed to find this. 1. One of the more common (and certainly well-known) medications for ADHD is Ritalin, which is methylphenidate. It's mildly related to meth. The long story short is that giving meth to someone with ADHD would not cause them to be able to focus less ; rather, to be able to focus more . 2. Studies hav…

It was just a passing comparison. He didn't mean to offend or disparage anyone, chill out. Its the same thing as saying, "the 800 pound guerrilla." Sure, most guerrillas are nowhere near 800 pounds and may take offence to us calling them heavy. But thats not the point at all.

I've never heard (or rather, read) anyone using the term "800 pound guerilla".

But now you've inspired me to look it up, and apparently the average male gorilla is in the 300-400 lb range, but obese gorillas in captivity have got up to the 600 lb range. The heaviest gorilla on record was N'Gagi from San Diego Zoo, who died in 1944 and weighed in at 638 lb. So an 800 lb gorilla is certainly the weight range of any observed gorilla, though I assume a really overfed gorilla could easily reach 800lb since even humans can do so (http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/dimtext/kjn/people/heavies...)

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#127

Post by hugh3 »

rchi wrote: post #23

What's interesting is that stories like this have been around for decades but never deterred young ivy league grads from joining Goldman when the industry is popular. Now so many people is quick to criticize the finance industry. Although it's true that the bailout was a great crime, I don't see how lobbyists, pharmaceutical executives and advertisers are much better. These guys get paid millions too...at least Goldm…

What's interesting is that stories like this have been around for decades but never deterred young ivy league grads from joining Goldman when the industry is popular.

If you look, I'm sure you can find stories about how any possible profession or industry sucks to work in. And most of those other professions and industries don't pay $500K+.

With a PhD in physics I could have just as easily gone into quant-land as academia. And while academia is great, it has its own set of sucky problems. Is it really worth the 400+ thousand dollars a year I'm effectively "paying" in order to work there instead of GS? It's a helluva luxury good.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#128

Post by hugh3 »

Psyonic wrote: post #119
VolatileVoid wrote: post #27

So. This is funny. I actually work at Goldman, work in the system he talks about, and have been doing so for 5 years. You can get numbed by the experience of working here, but you don't have to be. I've become friendly with some of the best hackers I know, and for us, finance always takes a backseat to writing amazing code. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail, but we try to never say, "Meh. Good enough." Wall Str…

You don't have to worry about them over-glorifying Google either. The general attitude on this site is that you're either working on your own startup (by far the best option), working for an early-stage startup (ok, but still second best, since its not your own thing), or you're basically wasting your time (working for "the man"). I find it offensive, actually, but so it goes.

Again, everybody likes to justify their own decisions.

And the more they secretly suspect the other possibility might actually be better, the more they feel the need to poop on it. I don't feel the need to loudly proclaim how much it must suck to be a garbageman, but I do feel the need to loudly proclaim that I sure am glad I'm not earning six hundred thousand dollars a year at a big hedge fund.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#129

Post by hugh3 »

known wrote: post #48

An average salary of $633,000 turns you into a paranoid because of job security fear.

Only if you're dumb enough to live like you're earning $633,000 a year. If you lived like you're earning $100K and put the rest into a savings account, you could quickly overcome all your financial worries.

I doubt anyone is that clever, though, especially if you're surrounded by other folks earning $633K and feel the need to keep up. Entire industries exist for the benefit of those who make $633K and can't think of any sensible way to spend it.

Re: Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs

#130

Post by greg_holsclaw »

Psyonic wrote: post #122
ashishb4u wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

totally agree, its just a job. even if you work with the most hacker-friendly company, you'll eventually rant out the same way someday. Maybe the post should be "Founding a startup with zero revenue is better than a day job" (oh thats a cliche!)

That's the message I get from this site, day after day. Some days I almost feel ashamed to say I have a day job here.

Yep, we should all be crafting personal projects that double as severely frugal boot strapped startups of one. :)
Post reply on HN