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If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

sebastianmarshall.com

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Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#21

Post by kevinalexbrown »

raheemm wrote: post #20
ianterrell wrote: post #2

Stop being a joker! Don't make excuses! Everyone has reasons! Fuck reasons! Also, I can't do it, because I'm otherwise engaged.

If he was sipping margarita on a beach, your words would be right. But he is putting in 17 hr days on another project, so I dont see why he cant ask his partner/employees for greater commitment.

Because his other employees are working other jobs or, as "Sebastian" points out, in classes. That's why. He's not willing to sacrifice his other project, but he's asking them to sacrifice theirs. If you're asking people you're leading to make sacrifices you're not willing to make, you're a bad leader. Period.

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#22

Post by raheemm »

[deleted] wrote: post #17
enigmabomb wrote: post #9

So let me get this straight. This guy is fronting the money on his credit cards, can't do any of the work, and gets people to do things for him by "Being very fucking cool with" them? Yeah. Keep your money. Fuck your business cards. You sound like sales guys scum trying to leverage the real makers in this project.

[deleted]

Haters will hate! :)

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#23

Post by MichaelApproved »

jeffreymcmanus wrote: post #4

You know who's a joker? The guy who "got a top creative designer in there working for a fraction of his normal cost by being very fucking cool with him, and also working out a deal where we refer him business". That's who.

You're missing the point of the email. He's asking his team to stop sweating the small stuff and just get it done. He's pointing out that others are busting their ass (the designer) while the team is trying to figure out something basic like email providers.

Just pick something and go with it.

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#24

Post by nirvana »

I can identify with what sebastian is experiencing here. Its easy to work with friends, or be friendly with your employees. Its easy for things to get casual. Its easy for people to start running everything by you.

Its VERY easy for the sense of urgency to just go away. Its very hard to get people highly motivated about time. It's easy to kill an entire day with BS, and let things just stretch out. Especially when you're an employee, and you're working for options. Options are so intangible. You're theoretically motivated, but on a day to day basis, do stock options get you doing 6 things in an hour instead of 3 or 4? Especially if your boss isn't there? (And if your boss is there then you're likely to be inhibited.) It's really easy to kill time by running everything thru your boss too... it lets you cover your butt, and you can read HN while you wait for him to make a decision.

I don't know how you teach initiative... but this is a good attempt.

Find a way or make one. Good advice.

Its a shame most of the comments on this seem to be reddit quality. Almost as if the people making them have never been in this situation. (and this was the situation I found myself in at my very first startup-- when we all felt we had no clue what we were doing, and tended to wait for direction, rather than take initiative.)

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#25

Post by jen_h »

Coffee is for closers or something.

We like to think that having money fixes things and we can just throw cash wildly into the air while making definitive exhortations and all will be well. We will be Gods or something! But unfortunately, it doesn't, not usually. What's pretty broke without cash doesn't typically get fixed when you shove its gullet full of coinage. Every once in awhile, throwing money into a whirlpool works, and when it does, you should totally record that shit. Put it on YouTube. But not what preceded it, no way.

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#26

Post by raheemm »

kevinalexbrown wrote: post #21
raheemm wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he was sipping margarita on a beach, your words would be right. But he is putting in 17 hr days on another project, so I dont see why he cant ask his partner/employees for greater commitment.

Because his other employees are working other jobs or, as "Sebastian" points out, in classes. That's why. He's not willing to sacrifice his other project, but he's asking them to sacrifice theirs. If you're asking people you're leading to make sacrifices you're not willing to make, you're a bad leader. Period.

Ok, that's the context you picked up on. I did not. What I got was that he set a timeline for project A. But that timeline did not work out. Now Sebastian is busy with project B. To empower the team on project A, he gives them a cc and the decision-making authority to get the project going. He also throws in some hannibal and "joker" stuff to rally the troops and make a point about sticking to commitments, forging thru obstacles. This does not make for a bad leader.

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#28

Post by kevinalexbrown »

This guy kind of seems not necessary to the whole project, aside from small amounts of funding. If he's spending 12-17 hours a day on something else entirely, what is he personally doing to advance the project?

Did he just have an "idea" and hire a bunch of engineers "find a way or make one?"

Re: If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker

#29

Post by rkon »

At first I thought this was posted by one of the email's recipients as a form of revenge on its douchebag author. Then, I realized it was posted by the author on his own blog... how embarrassing.

The whole letter/blog simultaneously reeks of desperation, egotism, conceit and condescension. He clearly craves validation and doesn't hesitate to dole it out to himself. "I picked you guys because you're the best! Now quit sucking and start being awesome like me! Money money money!"

Sad.

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