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Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

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Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#91

Post by EarthLaunch »

0des wrote: post #65
EarthLaunch wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP but is exactly what I needed to read for my own project, thank you. I’ve been searching for this. It’s hard to find discussions about the real downsides of using VC money. For instance, what happens when growth fails? Do you lose ownership of the business? From reading this, the answer seems to be: Kind of, yeah. You have to buy your way back. Another one: What happens if you want to do something extremely ris…

Well funny you should say that, I have some expertise in this area. > For instance, what happens when growth fails? C level purge, or outright shuttering the business. This is more of a question of, when will my benefactors tire of gambling on this concept I am building. > Do you lose ownership of the business? Usually, in most cases, you give up part of the business to attain the funding, sometimes a board seat. Whe…

> The only true safety is being a solo founder, which is why solo founders are encouraged to find a cofounder.

Aha, that's a mystery solved. Luckily no one would be crazy enough to cofound. And I've heard the same thing about games not receiving VC money. There's the metaverse pitch, but that's just a stampede.

Thank you for taking the time to detail your advice here! That was tremendously helpful. Great point about creative decisions, family/friends, and small firms. This may all help people reading it more than you'll know.

I'm 10 years in and could learn a lot from Dwarf Fortress. Including how to use composable components (most Roguelikes seem to).

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#96

Post by markkat »

It really saddens me to hear this. It was an honor to get to know you as batchmates. Your passion and drive for 70MR made a mark upon me.

I know that this is just another beginning for you, full of new opportunities, and that you will continue to help and inspire people. Godspeed!

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#97

Post by creato »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #45
Karunamon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but unless you want a permanent under class of people unable to find real employment, there needs to be an on-ramp. Either someone is too dangerous to have in public (which case they should still be imprisoned), or they have served their sentence and their punishment is over.

To add to this, 45% of people in federal prison are there for a drug charge. https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offen... Only a little over 1/3rd are actually in prison for violent crime.

That table looks like it sums to 100%, which is confusing. Many prisoners have been convicted of both drug and weapons charges. How is that represented?

My understanding is that while the rate of prisoners with drug charges is high, the rate of prisoners with only drug charges is a lot lower.

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#98

Post by [deleted] »

lgessler wrote: post #83
torbTurret wrote: post #81

“These are some of the most sincere, honest, and heroic people I’ve ever met.” Yeah, I think we’re too hard as a nation on ex-cons. But they’re not heroes because they went through self-imposed hardships (and almost always at the expense of someone innocent). And they’re certainly among the lower rungs of honesty by categorization. Nowhere near the top. If this sounds harsh, just act their victims.

There are many, many victimless crimes that people are unreasonably incarcerated for.

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#99

Post by RBBronson123 »

When I announced the launch of 70 Million Jobs on HN back in 2017, it proved to be one of the most widely read and discussed posts ever on the site. I was totally blown away. Once again, I am struck by the incredibly sensitive and supportive tenor of the reactions to my news here.

For some context, besides having a criminal record, I was/am a solo founder who somehow talked his way into Y Comb. Perhaps most surprising is my age: I'm 68. To my friends I grew up with, I'm f'-ing Steve Jobs. To you guys, you'd no doubt see me as the bumbling great uncle at Thanksgiving that isn't allowed to touch the TV remote control.

So it's all been pretty weird. (wanna see it get weirder? google me and check out my past)

As you all know, doing a 2-sided marketplace is always tough. But imagine if neither side of your marketplace was convinced they wanted your product. Chances are you keep your distance from such an undertaking ("Build something people want," my YC t-shirt says). I build something arguably no one wanted, but I knew they needed. Does that make me a schmuck? Probably.

But to those who've never gotten close to someone with as record--particularly someone with a different color than you, who was brought into an unfair world from Day One, someone who wanted the same things as you, but never quite figured out how to get there, I'm here to say that some of these folks are the most honorable, humble, appreciate, hard-working people you could imagine. They just want a peaceful life, to take care of their family and get a good night sleep.

So that's where the mission comes in, and that's when zealots are born. The truth is, I have nothing in my life other than my work. No wife, no kids, no home, nothing. But the satisfaction I got from helping these heroic folks, and the smiles I'd see on their kids' faces when they were reunited, meant/means the world to me. If you don't have something like this in your life, I urge you to find it. Your karma will thank you for it.

I invite you all to ask your questions and continue to opine. If you have something to share that isn't merely an attempt to win an argument, I'd appreciate your taking the time to email me. More importantly, if you're ever in a position to hire someone with a record, take the chance. Life is too short not to take chances. Richard

Re: Tell HN: I'm Afraid We're Shutting Down

#100

Post by hooande »

netsharc wrote: post #48
braingenious wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also like more information about this phenomenon. What’s the scale of this? For example, how many people accepted a job and then quit within a few days? How did it impact these people’s lives? For example, did this result in increased recidivism? If so, at what scale?

The Great Resignation is curious, if I could speculate maybe it was the pandemic bailout and markets bubble (crypto too) making people think "I've got money now!". Now that everything is tumbling down, I wonder if people will start returning to work. Except now most businesses have seemingly stopped hiring yet again (even retail/hospitality?), so I guess whichever way it goes, OP is in trouble.

how large was the "pandemic bailout"? it looked like two checks from the govt and Was this enough to make a large number of people stop working, even now into mid-2022? I really feel like the impact of several thousand dollars would be gone after a year, at most. yet many businesses near me are still under staffed and having trouble hiring.
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