181–190 of 291 posts
'Why haven't you sold a startup by now? ... go do your own thing...' Because, Since I was young, I've been hammering a cinderblock away that can grow 3 new heads at random intervals
English is my first language and I still have no idea what this means?
I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…
Started my first company at 20, after dropping out from university. (mom wasn't exactly happy)
Sorry, your excuse doesn't apply.
Unless you want to claim that going to a state-funded university is a privilege, in which case I guess everyone in all the countries where universities are free are privileged?!?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship Would it though? From what I understand EU has way better social safety nets, yet much smaller entrepreneurship rates compared to USA. Counter-intuitively, limitations drive innovations. When your resources are limited, you are forced to innovate. When you have infinite resources, you tend to waste it. Ever notice that when you have infinite t…
>Counter-intuitively, limitations drive innovations. When your resources are limited, you are forced to innovate. If this was true you'd see people from poor families being more entrepreneurial than those from rich.
I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…
Why are we using Bill Gates as an example here? He is an extreme outlier that is far beyond the goal post of what most entrepreneurs would see success as. It doesn't require the seminal upbringing and kismet growth environment of Bill Gates just to get into entrepreneurship.
It's much easier to risk doing a startup when you know that no matter what, you won't have to go hungry or homeless because there's family who will help you. You're a lot less worried about pouring dollars into your 401k at age 22 if you know that you stand to eventually inherit a few million from your parents, so whatever.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
With the caveat that as long as it doesn't require physical space. With the cost of space in any major city, anything that requires a workshop, working space, or significant storage space is out of the window nowadays for anyone in a major city. When I was a teenager my side hustle was buying, fixing, and selling used cars. My dad's was the same with small fishing boats. The story of these billion dollar companies be…
Exactly, starting out in a garage sounds like starting out from nothing, but in reality it means that your parents have a house with a garage that they lend out to you for free, where you can do whatever you want (so forget condos undergound garages), and that house is probably not very far from a large city so you have access to clients, employees and resources. You don't need your parents to be millionaires to get…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship. I had to also wait till I paid off my student loans. There are a whole lot of shackles if you come from a humble background to starting a company full time. On the other hand it has never been cheaper to start a side hustle.
> Healthcare and Basic Income would do a lot to encourage entrepreneurship Would it though? From what I understand EU has way better social safety nets, yet much smaller entrepreneurship rates compared to USA. Counter-intuitively, limitations drive innovations. When your resources are limited, you are forced to innovate. When you have infinite resources, you tend to waste it. Ever notice that when you have infinite t…
I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…
Why are we using Bill Gates as an example here? He is an extreme outlier that is far beyond the goal post of what most entrepreneurs would see success as. It doesn't require the seminal upbringing and kismet growth environment of Bill Gates just to get into entrepreneurship.
I've known this for decades. When Bill Gates started publishing Smart Basic (or whatever) in magazines, I got a copy and saw what crap it was. I could do better. Why didn't I? That was my very first thought. The reason was, I had to work halftime to pay tuition and buy food. I was mired in working to live. Ol Bill had a family to support him as he bought resources (ads in magazines etc), recruited staff, took meeting…
I am a son of a single mother, who was a teacher at the time. In a country that was just recently liberated from the soviet union. Trust me, I was not rich. Started my first company at 20, after dropping out from university. (mom wasn't exactly happy) Sorry, your excuse doesn't apply. Unless you want to claim that going to a state-funded university is a privilege, in which case I guess everyone in all the countries w…
I've heard a great deal about Bill Gates in my lifetime, but it wasn't until I read Paul Allen's 2011 autobiography that I learned that Bill's mother (a director at a bank) introduced him to IBM chairman John Opel in 1980. They both sat on the board for United Way[0]. It really struck me how these kinds of connections are less of a twist of fate, and more about environment and proximity. Even now it feels remarkable…
Their co-founder was telling a story of how he got into tech and it went something like... my mom made friends at work with another woman with a son about my age and they set up a play date and that's when I met Bill Gates. Co-founder is a great and talented dude but mom's the real MVP there.