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“Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

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Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course. We work jobs and do our thing on the side like most traditional American entrepreneurs do until their business gets off the ground. Who the hell is bootstrapping businesses without a job besides rich kids? 1. Get a cheap apartment in a slightly sketchy neighborhood 2. Work 7-8 hours at work and every other waking hour on your business. Take meetings during lunch. 3. Focus to the point of cutting out sports…

There is a parable I can't remember. The gist is as follows. A man/woman has a nice life, a cheap apartment in an okay neighbourhood. Their 9-5 job isn't particularly exciting or well-paid; however, at the weekend, it allows them to enjoy sports, video games and other frivolous activities, such as dating and hanging out with their partner or children. A stranger approaches them and says they make a much better life f…

The parable is about a fisher

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a parable I can't remember. The gist is as follows. A man/woman has a nice life, a cheap apartment in an okay neighbourhood. Their 9-5 job isn't particularly exciting or well-paid; however, at the weekend, it allows them to enjoy sports, video games and other frivolous activities, such as dating and hanging out with their partner or children. A stranger approaches them and says they make a much better life f…

The parable is about a fisher

Do you happen to have an URL to the parable?

I was confusing it with a man sitting below an olive tree, maybe a variant of the fisher one.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but I don’t think you know anything about “genetic background” if you think it correlates with making money.

I'm sorry you believe the propaganda that states otherwise. Its a radical opinion to believe "talent" doesnt exist.

I didn’t say talent doesn’t exist. I’m questioning your asinine, evidence-free assertion that business acumen is a genetically heritable trait.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first sentence is selection bias. Of course, successful people look like they "just have it". Once you have succeeded, convincing investors to fund another opportunity is far easier. The real question is how to succeed in the first place. Having the right connections helps in getting funding. If you went to Stanford, your network would have many connections that are able to invest 5M. If you are raised in the sl…

I've bootstrapped successfully three times, and have seen it from the other side. Some people just don't get it. They have ideas that are so bad someone who "gets it" wouldn't even conceive of it as a possibility - the way that someone with Asperger's does unimaginably dumb things in social situations. Unlike Asperger's, though, people that think this way aren't a tiny minority with a diagnosed disorder but ~70% of t…

You need to be clear on outcomes though - as most people are talking about $10m+ exits for the founders. Bootstrapped to $100k ARR is nice but most people would still consider that a failure unless it takes little to no effort.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making a lot of assumptions.

No they're not. Just the self-admitted fact that they could afford to fail 5-7 times creating a business shows that they had more social and financial safety net than an average American. Most Americans can't just create a business, fail, and repeat it 4-6 more times.

Do we know that these failures weren't after (and paid for by) the first succes?

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parable is about a fisher

Do you happen to have an URL to the parable? I was confusing it with a man sitting below an olive tree, maybe a variant of the fisher one.

https://joneytalks.medium.com/the-parable-of-the-mexican-fis...

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anybody who considers 80,000 pounds to be riches is not very wealthy.

It's 80,000 pounds dropped on a whim, not that they simply had 80k total. That is wealthy.

It's not on a whim, it's how Errol lived his entire life. Chasing "Get Rich Quick" schemes is not typically a sign of wealth.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 80,000 pounds dropped on a whim, not that they simply had 80k total. That is wealthy.

It's not on a whim, it's how Errol lived his entire life. Chasing "Get Rich Quick" schemes is not typically a sign of wealth.

The ability to move non trivial amounts of capital on a whim is the very definition of wealth.

> Chasing "Get Rich Quick" schemes is not typically a sign of wealth.

I've found it to be pretty common. The amount of dumb money seeking 'easy' ways to multiply flowing around silicon valley kind of defines the place.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a necessary but insufficient step.

Not if you have the connections and funding to start on third base where you can afford not to work and start your business on the side and hire enough people where you don’t have to work hard. I worked for a startup before my current job where the founders - two brothers - had connections with the governor of a state in the Midwest to get a grant to start a small health care company. Neither of them were technical.…

Yes some people have it easy. We have all seen this tons of times in life.

So stop comparing yourself to other people. Nobody starts at the same place.

Re: “Here's the number I used to win the lottery“ –Entrepreneurs giving advice

#220

This is stupid. Any of us who have had at least two “successful” businesses will tell you that this quote is ridiculous. What’s your ideal of being successful? If it’s exiting at a billion, then sorry. But you can use a lot of this entrepreneur advice to find some level of success. The problem is that non-entrepreneur or first timers always try to skip the small stuff. 1. have a good team and hire right. you need jus…

Honestly it just looks to me like the lottery you won is not "having a successful business", but "having the luxury and connections to try and fail 5-7 times with one success" Most people cannot afford to recover from failing once.

I failed and survived. Charged up $70k on my HELOC and paid it all back.
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