Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not • Hacker News Board

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#81

Post by eaenki » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:50 PM UTC

dteiml wrote: post #78

eaenki wrote: post #9

Imo Education is overvalued, Capital is under appreciated, And, Because Capital is trapped into networks, that Capital is squandered among an infinite array of companies employing the talent and producing products that don’t make you, or the planet, better, healthier, smarter or happier. (Apple’s SJ era, Google until 2014~ and Tesla fit the useful smarter happier paradigma, and not many other) My solution is: take a…

Isn't Peter Thiel doing that with the Thiel Grants? Pretty successful so far (projects Ethereum, Aragorn... founded by grantees).

I once regarded Ethereum as the the only successful project out of it. But is it? Did it create anything meaningfully better? Not really. Anyway, yes. And Peter Thiel’s fellowship is great. It’s just that he doesn’t have $30B a year to spare on that

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#82

Post by eaenki » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

smkellat wrote: post #55

eaenki wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mhh, I simply suspect that a family would rather fund their son’s projects and their friends because of human’s nature, and since one can’t ask a stranger to fund him, and not everyone can be bff with rich dudes, this is probably a problem better solved by the gov

“...and since one can’t ask a stranger to fund him...” That’s been a solved issue since at least the 17th century with joint stock companies. What else is an IPO but asking strangers for money so you can do business?

Name one company that raised its first million with an IPO in the last few decades. Let alone one that did so while producing something like Google

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#83

Post by vinniejames » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

Opportunity is created, not found

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#84

Post by eaenki » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

spurdoman77 wrote: post #72

sidlls wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often, getting a prototype is the costly part. I do like your idea. And I'm not some starry eyed millennial or whatever. I'm a crusty gen-Xer who has seen what our parents and peers have wrought and can't help but think we need to do something drastically different.

I also like the idea of free money from government. There seems to be a lot of like minded people who like free money, maybe we should develop a political party around that?

This isn’t free money for personal use, this is money that you legally have to spend developing that far fetched idea.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#85

Post by mindentropy » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

eaenki wrote: post #9

Imo Education is overvalued, Capital is under appreciated, And, Because Capital is trapped into networks, that Capital is squandered among an infinite array of companies employing the talent and producing products that don’t make you, or the planet, better, healthier, smarter or happier. (Apple’s SJ era, Google until 2014~ and Tesla fit the useful smarter happier paradigma, and not many other) My solution is: take a…

The problem with pitching an idea is that person should have exposure to a particular field if the field is already developed. In my opinion the low hanging fruits are mostly taken. To have exposure it falls in the same trap where the person should be given an opportunity which is simply not there. Personally I have the same problem where it is difficult to get opportunity because people already present are simply blocking it.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#86

Post by eaenki » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

ecorithm wrote: post #56

eaenki wrote: post #9

Imo Education is overvalued, Capital is under appreciated, And, Because Capital is trapped into networks, that Capital is squandered among an infinite array of companies employing the talent and producing products that don’t make you, or the planet, better, healthier, smarter or happier. (Apple’s SJ era, Google until 2014~ and Tesla fit the useful smarter happier paradigma, and not many other) My solution is: take a…

This sounds similar enough to the SBIR/STTR program that many federal agencies already have from the NIH and Department of Agriculture too DARPA. Basically a company pitches an idea to a federal agency which if accepted will give you something like 100k (phase 1) to explore the initial idea and place in you in a pipeline that can lead to much more money if the idea seems valuable and doable (phase 2 and phase 3). Thi…

Yes. Just like that. And Google and Boston Dynamics came out of it. That’s amazing. Now what if the budget could be $30B a year, $1-3MM instead of $100K (which might have been suitable in 1997, certainly not today) and take 2 months instead of a year (or whatever it takes)? :)

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#87

Post by criddell » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

eaenki wrote: post #42

chii wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is far fetched in your opinion?

Anything that’s meant to bring a x10 improvement in how fast or far humans move, how fast humans can learn and communicate, how long humans live, any creature’s freedom, environment cleanliness

That's an impressive list and it's entirely different than what mine would look like.

My list would be entirely focused around quality of life and happiness which would mean significant funding for artistic endeavors. It also might lead to slowing the rate we communicate, living healthier (not necessarily longer) lives, building stable communities which might lead to less long distance movement (which would likely be better for the environment - so on that we agree).

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#88

Post by nfoz » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:55 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #29

eaenki wrote: post #9

Imo Education is overvalued, Capital is under appreciated, And, Because Capital is trapped into networks, that Capital is squandered among an infinite array of companies employing the talent and producing products that don’t make you, or the planet, better, healthier, smarter or happier. (Apple’s SJ era, Google until 2014~ and Tesla fit the useful smarter happier paradigma, and not many other) My solution is: take a…

If I had been given $1 million when I was 22 to build something, the world would have a pretty awesome Honda Civic with a flamethrower on the front, a 40" subwoofer in the hatch, and a dial to change the camber angle of the wheels on the fly.

Where can I buy one?

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#89

Post by inimino » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:56 PM UTC

easytiger wrote: post #68

inimino wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I did, and no you did not. You made a drive-by shoot-down of an innocent idea without suggesting a better one or giving a single valid reason why you feel the idea is bad. If you don't have something to say that will improve the situation then maybe you should not comment.

> Yes I did No. Not that I can find > an innocent idea A random ill thought out idea, that I believe I politely stated doesn't work in reality, or as I pointed out operate in the parameters of reality. > without suggesting a better one Why would I have a suggestion for an invented non problem > giving a single valid reason Again, not my issue you didn't read On the topic of unproductive contestation, I think you have…

> I guess you didn't read the test [sic] of the comments then.

>> Yes I did

>>> No. Not that I can find

Not sure where you'd find that. I read your comments, and found them wanting.

Re: Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not

#90

Post by eaenki » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 1:56 PM UTC

ecorithm wrote: post #66

ericmay wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Primarily not a silver bullet in this case because it takes like 6 months and it’s a pretty involved submission. A VC firm just writes you a check. I have personal experience with this. The issue comes down to speed and decision making. The government can’t ever let a single person be responsible for something like this, so there is a lot of CYA.

Phase 1's are really not that hard to get, and the process is not nearly as stifling as you are alluding too. Most people without prior funding or reputation don't just get instant money from VCs. Convincing them to give you money can take a decent amount of time too. Especially if you are trying to do something actually out of the box not just something like "Its like UBER but for ..." Just speculating, but I would…

Well, I don’t think it’s a given that a mild potential product or a x100 investment product add anything. I feel like only far fetched products do,

which usually resolve in a x100 ROI, but that’s a random byproduct