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I am done. I give up

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I am done. I give up

#561

Post by moneywoes »

logotype wrote: post #306
jacquesm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sucks. I know quite a few stories like that. I'm more active as an investor these days than as an entrepreneur, the projects I still run are more for fun than for income (or even potential income) and I can't tell you how happy I am that that pressure has abated somewhat. It's annoying that even the successes tend to screw over the employees and more often than not the founders as well. Typical dilution by the t…

That’s exactly what I started: https://gitlab.com/logotype/fixparser It’s a quite boring project, but it is niche - and there is no alternative, at least not in the JS/TS ecosystem. Many startups/crypto/financial institutions (including YC startups) uses and are paying customers of my product. I’ve tried finding an investor (including YC) to grow the project but no-one is interested. It doesn’t matter, I’ll keep goin…

May I ask how you monetize this?

Re: I am done. I give up

#562

Post by mnky9800n »

arghwhat wrote: post #462
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're high trust societies in general, partially because they're small monocultures. As Robert Putnam's research shows, in multicultural societies, especially large ones, trust rapidly declines, surprisingly even within cultural groups. Trust in government falls even more rapidly as each group starts to perceive those in power as being more favorable to one group or another, even if those in power are from their ow…

"High trust" seems entirely contradictory to Danish society. Universal skepticism and a universal dislike for every other human in existence are the core ideologies here. Maybe a tendency to not interfere with tasks assigned to others to avoid having to deal with people is being misinterpreted as trust?

No. My Norwegian colleagues trust that they will receive healthcare. They trust that their representatives in the government are acting more or less in good faith. They trust that money in the government is going towards protections and services and infrastructure. And if you look around in Norway, you can generally get the feeling that the government is taking care of things.

Go to America and it seems like the country is a decayed husk wrapped in gold. Roads are barely functional. Schools do not educate children. Each day there is a new story about a politician who is corrupt either through insider trading, being a pedo, or whatever. The government of America does not appear to do things for Americans.

Thus, it's easy to see why you can trust the government in Norway but not in America to me.

Re: I am done. I give up

#563

Post by karencarits »

kaashif wrote: post #469
throwaway-2212 wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re missing the wealth tax. 1.1% of global wealth, including unrealized gains of startup share positions. https://www.skatteetaten.no/en/rates/wealth-tax/

I know a lot of founders whose companies are allegedly worth a lot on paper, but cash on hand is very limited. I wonder how the wealth tax actually works. Do I want people to invest in my company if that's just going to increase the valuation and my tax bill? Surely there must be some exceptions...

This year, quite many have actually chosen to move from Norway to Switzerland, probably due to taxes

Re: I am done. I give up

#564

Post by bumby »

kolbe wrote: post #547
ip26 wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much privilege does it take to move to Guatemala or Pakistan?

HN commenters are apparently privileged for having to move to Guatemala to get by, whereas Guatemalians are refugees when they move to the US.

This misses the point completely. One side is taking advantage of geo-arbitrage while the other is fleeing violence. It's a false equivalence.

Re: I am done. I give up

#565

Post by deltarholamda »

vidarh wrote: post #413
pclmulqdq wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their total tax burdens are much higher than US citizens' tax burdens unless you're making 7 figures of W-2 income. The top marginal tax rate kicks in an order of magnitude lower in those countries, and hits most of the middle class. In the US, it hits very few people. Also, the military is 20% of the discretionary budget, but 10% or less of the total budget.

When I at one point considered moving to the US, I did the numbers for UK and Norway, because I'm from Norway and live in the UK, and while Norway certainly came out higher in terms of tax than some US states, comparing with places I might be prepared to consider, like California, the difference was small enough it'd be more than eaten up by health insurance before considering the other costs of a reduced welfare sys…

Yes, it is remarkably hard to come up with a US tax rate, because in single-payer healthcare countries your healthcare is covered. Here, how much do you pay? I couldn't even begin to guesstimate.

While you could probably find cheaper places to live in the US than California, and therefore find much more agreeable tax rates, it's not that easy. Culture varies a lot in the US. I love the South, but a some folks would rather drink poison than live there.

And you can't forget property taxes. These vary at the county or city level and can be quite significant. And, just for fun, they generally pay for the public schools, which depending on where you are may be abysmally awful, so now your "tax rate" includes stumping for private school, which could be the equivalent to a year's salary in some Nordic countries.

Re: I am done. I give up

#566

Post by Cpoll »

siraben wrote: post #537
opyate wrote: post #320

Succeeding in the startup world reminds me of the funfair analogy: The rich kid will have a go at throwing the dart at the balloon, and miss. But, because they're a rich kid, they just take out their wallet (or parents' wallet), get more stubs, and try again (and again) until they hit the balloon. The middle class kid will have a go at throwing the dart at the balloon, and also miss. Then they will walk away, saying…

I was curious what books you were making a play on words for (since it wasn't immediately obvious), so asking ChatGPT: What are the real names of the books? For instance, "Zero To Plushy" is play on "Zero To One". List out the names for the other books. "The Dart Thing About Dart Things: Plushy Hunting When There Are No Easy Answers" is a play on "The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are N…

> "Dart Throwers at Work: Stories of Plushy Hunters' Early Days" is a play on "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance"

It missed this one, it's likely Founders at Work.

> "The Lean Plushy Hunter" is a play on "The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses"

Might be The Lean CEO instead.

I had to Google to get the right answers, I wasn't familiar with either book.

Re: I am done. I give up

#568

Post by osrec »

kubb wrote: post #133
jurmous wrote: post #10

A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…

One of the privileges people don't often think about is being able to afford to fail. If you don't risk destitution after your startup fails, you can try and fail many times, learn and try again. It's like continuously rolling two dice, and you only need to get double sixes once, and after that it's private jets until you die. One of the many reasons the rich get richer and the poor, well you know how it goes.

The yard sale model encapsulates a lot of what you said above.

This interactive website does a good job of explaining the model itself: https://pudding.cool/2022/12/yard-sale/

Re: I am done. I give up

#569

Post by pclmulqdq »

alistairSH wrote: post #412
pclmulqdq wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their total tax burdens are much higher than US citizens' tax burdens unless you're making 7 figures of W-2 income. The top marginal tax rate kicks in an order of magnitude lower in those countries, and hits most of the middle class. In the US, it hits very few people. Also, the military is 20% of the discretionary budget, but 10% or less of the total budget.

You haven’t accounted for health insurance, college education, and possibly retirement. Once you add those in, the Nordics still pay a bit more, but not by the margin you might expect.

The US government provides retirement benefits, including healthcare at retirement. You are not required to pay for college, and you can go to a cheap school if you want.

Re: I am done. I give up

#570

Post by hindsightbias »

opyate wrote: post #320

Succeeding in the startup world reminds me of the funfair analogy: The rich kid will have a go at throwing the dart at the balloon, and miss. But, because they're a rich kid, they just take out their wallet (or parents' wallet), get more stubs, and try again (and again) until they hit the balloon. The middle class kid will have a go at throwing the dart at the balloon, and also miss. Then they will walk away, saying…

How about I'm Go - You're Go. Has any startup founder ever written a book about the mental health aspects of a startup?
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