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Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

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Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#91

Post by jbarnette »

ig1 wrote: post #34

The death of the founder of any well-known startup merits mention here. The startup community is a close knit global one, we don't just meet each other at professional networking events, we share our lives with each other. Perhaps unlike any other profession we have a closeness that binds us, we socialize, we date, we make lifelong friends from within the startup community. Even if we don't know the startup founder d…

We started doing this in Seattle last year with some success (http://startupsanonymous.com). I've kept it dormant during a busy move to New Orleans, but if anybody's interested in working together to get it started again I'm up for it. There's a need.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#92

Post by away »

tptacek wrote: post #78
temphn wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very important comment. The biggest risk in doing a startup is not the financial risk per se. It's the psychological risk of knowing you really, really tried -- and still failed. That is the hard part, because everyone goes in with Dilbert/mass media notions of how easy it is to be a CEO or (just as bad) Social Network illusions of how easy it is to grow meteorically while fighting off lawsuits. The truth is that it'…

It doesn't take a special person, so much as it's simply the case that no matter who you are, your startup is likely to fail. When I was much younger and starting my first (fundably doomed) startup, one of my cofounders liked to say, "yeah, most businesses fail, but those statistics include companies trying to sell soft drinks to Eskimos and combination Chinese food/pizza restaurants". Then we'd all chuckle, knowing…

I believe there is a reason something succeeds and there is a reason something fails.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#94

Post by motters »

DevX101 wrote: post #25

The founders of Diaspora were in a really unenviable position. They started off with a wave of national press as well as solid financial support from grassroot users. As time went on, it became increasingly clear that they would not be able to accomplish the goal they originally set out to do. They had failed. Publicly. This can be very devastating psychologically to someone who has always 'succeeded' in life. I'm no…

Actually I don't believe that Diaspora failed. The fact that I'm using it on a daily basis, and not using Facebook, is pretty much a win as far as I'm concerned. Diaspora still has some way to go, but it's usable.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#95

Post by yeison »

Ilya was an incredible person. His heart was truly driven by bringing about positive change in this world. Diaspora was only the beginning.

He was genuinely one of the kindest people I've ever met. Along with that, one of the most driven and intelligent peers I've ever encountered. Any time I ever had a chance to converse with him, it was always a very pleasant experience. He was someone I felt I had truly connected with. I only wish I could tell him that now.

Take care buddy. Thank you for enlightening me.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#96

Post by dereg »

oomkiller wrote: post #27

There are rumors that his death was self-inflicted, which is quite sad. Every time we see a young smart kid die like this, it should remind us to remember others as we go through our lives. Too often we ignore other peoples feelings, and then something like this happens. Take a moment to talk to the people you love to make sure something like this doesn't happen to them. (If it turns out this is inaccurate, please ex…

Serious question, is "self-inflicted" a euphemism for "suicide"?

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#98

Post by baby »

edw519 wrote: post #89

Horrible. This news is so tragic I really can't focus on anything else now. Which is probably the way it should be. Our community stresses the importance of achievement, success, and technology so much that it's easy to forget what's really most important: each other. Sometimes it takes terrible news like this to jerk us back to that reality. I never knew Ilya, but if any of his friends of family visits this forum, p…

Nothing to do with prayers. RIP Ilya.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#99

Post by danielsiders »

yeison wrote: post #95

Ilya was an incredible person. His heart was truly driven by bringing about positive change in this world. Diaspora was only the beginning. He was genuinely one of the kindest people I've ever met. Along with that, one of the most driven and intelligent peers I've ever encountered. Any time I ever had a chance to converse with him, it was always a very pleasant experience. He was someone I felt I had truly connected…

Really awesome guy, and there were so many other projects on the horizon. Truly sorry he won't be there to be a part of them.

Re: Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21

#100

Post by einhverfr »

tptacek wrote: post #78
temphn wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very important comment. The biggest risk in doing a startup is not the financial risk per se. It's the psychological risk of knowing you really, really tried -- and still failed. That is the hard part, because everyone goes in with Dilbert/mass media notions of how easy it is to be a CEO or (just as bad) Social Network illusions of how easy it is to grow meteorically while fighting off lawsuits. The truth is that it'…

It doesn't take a special person, so much as it's simply the case that no matter who you are, your startup is likely to fail. When I was much younger and starting my first (fundably doomed) startup, one of my cofounders liked to say, "yeah, most businesses fail, but those statistics include companies trying to sell soft drinks to Eskimos and combination Chinese food/pizza restaurants". Then we'd all chuckle, knowing…

Actually I will take that further, as a small business owner.

EVERY business fails. Every single one. Some businesses somehow manage to stay in business when they run out of money and keep going on until they succeed. However, that's what businesses are up against. I think going into that armed and aware is one thing that makes success more likely.

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