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People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

ryanwaggoner.com

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Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#31

Post by benmathes »

grellas wrote: post #17

There will always be hustlers a-plenty ready to exploit entrepreneurs. A few examples from my years working in Silicon Valley from the legal side (where, unfortunately, a lot of this crops up): In the days when founders were generally less informed than they are today, I would often see them fall prey to "consultants" who would promise to open doors to funding and the like in exchange for a significant equity stake i…

I've always seen a strong analogue between systems hacking/infiltration and this kind of legal behavior. In both cases people who specialize in the arcane rules of each system (unix or specialized law) use this arcane knowledge to blatantly break the intent of the system rules without breaking the letter.

The only difference is that law hacking is totally legal. As Vito Corleone once said, "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#32

Post by [deleted] »

grellas wrote: post #17

There will always be hustlers a-plenty ready to exploit entrepreneurs. A few examples from my years working in Silicon Valley from the legal side (where, unfortunately, a lot of this crops up): In the days when founders were generally less informed than they are today, I would often see them fall prey to "consultants" who would promise to open doors to funding and the like in exchange for a significant equity stake i…

[deleted]

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#34

Post by maxawaytoolong »

ahoyhere wrote: post #28
maxawaytoolong wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entrepreneurs of all stripes can get taken by scams like this. Often times they are not "scams" per se, just very overpriced services. Like agile programmering groups charging $200/hr and delivering worse code than the in-house teams. I've worked for four boot-strapped-then-venture-funded startups and ALL of the founders at these startups have fallen for something like this at one point. It's pretty easy to fall for…

Are you really saying that all coaching/life coaching is a scam?

No, if you include actual sports coaches. But life coaches, yes.

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#35

Post by ahoyhere »

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #34
ahoyhere wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you really saying that all coaching/life coaching is a scam?

No, if you include actual sports coaches. But life coaches, yes.

How on earth do you figure? That's the exact equivalent of saying "All advice is bullshit, especially advice you pay for." And, "If you've ever read it, then having somebody tell it to you is a waste of time."

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#36

Post by maxawaytoolong »

ahoyhere wrote: post #35
maxawaytoolong wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, if you include actual sports coaches. But life coaches, yes.

How on earth do you figure? That's the exact equivalent of saying "All advice is bullshit, especially advice you pay for." And, "If you've ever read it, then having somebody tell it to you is a waste of time."

It's not like saying either one of those things.

This is a topic that is close to home. A good friend of mine turned evil one day and became a "Life Coach" simply because he wasn't making enough money in his career, and thought it would be an easy way to fleece the types of mid-range executive type people he was exposed to all the time as a "sales engineer." Why bother getting a paltry commission on some software you don't really care about, when you can charge the same person $500/hr for some bullshit unlicensed therapy? Or $5000 a head per seminar? Or $150 for some stupid mp3s? Or $75 for a PDF file? ETC, ETC.

Read the Mystic Masseuse by V.S. Naipaul, it's the same idea, only 50 years in the past. In fact the idea came to him FROM reading this book.

And you know what, he was RIGHT. He makes LOADS of money now. It's a bit disturbing.

There are wonderful therapists and rabbis and priests and friends and grandparents, but life coaching is a scam, pure and simple.

I actually don't know what to think about this, because I think the people who are buying his services believe they are getting something important out of it. So in that situation, it's good, right? But he went into it just to take their money.

This is the last thing I will post about this topic.

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#37

Post by ahoyhere »

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #36
ahoyhere wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How on earth do you figure? That's the exact equivalent of saying "All advice is bullshit, especially advice you pay for." And, "If you've ever read it, then having somebody tell it to you is a waste of time."

It's not like saying either one of those things. This is a topic that is close to home. A good friend of mine turned evil one day and became a "Life Coach" simply because he wasn't making enough money in his career, and thought it would be an easy way to fleece the types of mid-range executive type people he was exposed to all the time as a "sales engineer." Why bother getting a paltry commission on some software you…

The singular of anecdote is not data.

I'm sorry your (ex?) friend is a douchebag, though.

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#38

Post by shadowfox »

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #34
ahoyhere wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you really saying that all coaching/life coaching is a scam?

No, if you include actual sports coaches. But life coaches, yes.

What is your rationale for including life coaches, but excluding sport coaches?

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#39

Post by elai »

shadowfox wrote: post #38
maxawaytoolong wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, if you include actual sports coaches. But life coaches, yes.

What is your rationale for including life coaches, but excluding sport coaches?

Sport coaches are more operational managers, tacticians and physical trainers who have authority over a team than the pure teacher types that life coaches are. You also don't directly pay him money, or are getting paid.

Re: People who destroy entrepreneurial value are the scum of the earth

#40

Post by brc »

ahoyhere wrote: post #28
maxawaytoolong wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entrepreneurs of all stripes can get taken by scams like this. Often times they are not "scams" per se, just very overpriced services. Like agile programmering groups charging $200/hr and delivering worse code than the in-house teams. I've worked for four boot-strapped-then-venture-funded startups and ALL of the founders at these startups have fallen for something like this at one point. It's pretty easy to fall for…

Are you really saying that all coaching/life coaching is a scam?

I agree - that statement is far too general. One persons' scam is another persons good value. I think paying $20 to get into a nightclub is a scam, others see it as good value.

I've never even considered the use of a life coach but they are no more/less scammy than 100's of other personal services, from personal trainers to clairvoyants, hairstylists to Feung Shui consultants. If you gain personal value, to me it's not a scam.

A scam is where someone takes your money and provides nothing or something you weren't expecting in return. In fact I don't think you can really apply 'poor value' as a filter for scam - a Ferrari is poor value for money, but nobody sees it as a scam. Same goes for my nightclub example.

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