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Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

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Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#271

Post by acapybara »

sph wrote: post #264
orangepurple wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ted's major major mistake was using violence and intimidation to raise awareness

'James Q. Wilson, in a 1998 New York Times Op-Ed, wrote: "If it is the work of a madman, then the writings of many political philosophers—Jean Jacques Rousseau, Tom Paine, Karl Marx—are scarcely more sane.' Thanks to this thread for introducing me to this manifesto. I have heard of it, but I didn't know it was a critique of our industrial world from a "madman" wishing to return to more primitivistic roots. As someone…

A good idea, associated with evil.

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#272

Post by wootland »

ameister14 wrote: post #258
wootland wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said "power law" not "power of law", meaning winner take all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law

That's not what the power law means, though. It's not a thing you 'use' to stay on top. It describes things, it doesn't influence things. Just because 20% earn 80% doesn't mean that you can use the Pareto distribution to keep in that 20%.

In capitalism it does mean that you use it to stay on top. You attract more capital, build more moats, consolidate more competitors, exploit more labor... It's why we have a winner takes all economy with record high wealth inequality.

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#273

Post by ameister14 »

wootland wrote: post #272
ameister14 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what the power law means, though. It's not a thing you 'use' to stay on top. It describes things, it doesn't influence things. Just because 20% earn 80% doesn't mean that you can use the Pareto distribution to keep in that 20%.

In capitalism it does mean that you use it to stay on top. You attract more capital, build more moats, consolidate more competitors, exploit more labor... It's why we have a winner takes all economy with record high wealth inequality.

No. You use moats, consolidation and capital to stay on top. You don't use the power law.

I think there's a basic misunderstanding here. If I say that you are in the 80th percentile, that doesn't mean anything other than you are, right at this moment, in the 80th percentile. It doesn't say anything about your position in the future, and even if it says that the 80th percentile will still be there in the future you may not be in it. You can't use the fact that I have described your position to maintain your position.

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#274

Post by wootland »

ameister14 wrote: post #273
wootland wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In capitalism it does mean that you use it to stay on top. You attract more capital, build more moats, consolidate more competitors, exploit more labor... It's why we have a winner takes all economy with record high wealth inequality.

No. You use moats, consolidation and capital to stay on top. You don't use the power law. I think there's a basic misunderstanding here. If I say that you are in the 80th percentile, that doesn't mean anything other than you are, right at this moment, in the 80th percentile. It doesn't say anything about your position in the future, and even if it says that the 80th percentile will still be there in the future you ma…

Incorrect. If you're in the 80th percentile, you're permanently locked out of opportunities available to those in the 99th percentile because they can build effective barriers with their capital. I'm hardly the first to say this, it's well trod territory. Here's some basics if you want to read up on it: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.30.1.185

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#275

Post by ameister14 »

wootland wrote: post #274
ameister14 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. You use moats, consolidation and capital to stay on top. You don't use the power law. I think there's a basic misunderstanding here. If I say that you are in the 80th percentile, that doesn't mean anything other than you are, right at this moment, in the 80th percentile. It doesn't say anything about your position in the future, and even if it says that the 80th percentile will still be there in the future you ma…

Incorrect. If you're in the 80th percentile, you're permanently locked out of opportunities available to those in the 99th percentile because they can build effective barriers with their capital. I'm hardly the first to say this, it's well trod territory. Here's some basics if you want to read up on it: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.30.1.185

That's not because of the power law, though. That's because of the circumstances that give rise to the power law. I'm saying that the power law does not cause any of this.

Did you not read what you linked? It deals with the causes of power laws in economics, it does not by any means say that power laws cause stagnancy among the relevant population. It does not say this because that would make no sense.

Power laws when applied to economics are an indicator that there are underlying processes (effective barriers with capital may be one) that cause the distribution to look this way. They are an illustration, not a cause.

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#276

Post by kingboss »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #236
kingboss wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rich people usually control their weight better because they have more money to have better food and perhaps personal cooks/access to better restaurants with better food. They act differently because they are rich. Not because of any sort of bullshit mEnTaLiTy concept.

It's chicken egg thing. Or at they rich because they act differently? Come on, if you had the money it's 10x easier to "let yourself go", right? Yet how often does that happen? Your thoughts drive your decisions and actions. That's not bullshit. That's life. Suck it up cupcake :)

[dead]

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#277

Post by james-revisoai »

idopmstuff wrote: post #140

I started and run an e-commerce company, and my best advice before starting a business is to think very little about what you want your product to be and a whole lot about what you want your lifestyle to be. Want to have relaxing end-of-year holidays? Don't start a B2B SaaS company in which you're going to close a huge % of your yearly revenue in the last few days of the year. Want to be able to travel? You're probab…

> The really nice thing is that I can move things on or off of my own plate as my workload changes. This is the goal!

> Want to have relaxing end-of-year holidays? Don't start a B2B SaaS company in which you're going to close a huge % of your yearly revenue in the last few days of the year.

Can you tell me more about where this point comes from please?

I'm not sure if it's a US-UK cultural difference, but if ever, business tends to close around the financial year ends here (early April), not christmas. If you haven't got something signed in November, it usually doesn't happen till January and UK workers take quite long christmas breaks. Or have I not experienced what you are talking about it?

Re: Entrepreneurs who regret starting businesses

#279

Post by rsrsrs86 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #130
rsrsrs86 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always ask candidates why they want to work at an early stage startup as a developer, and “because it must be fun” is a show stopper. Being a founder is certainly not fun. The good parts are there, like earning money, interacting with your team and seeing them grow, the first round, the first sale. But the job is quite painful itself. Please note that not all startups and founders are / want to be funded with billi…

Maybe fun isn't the right word, but the best startup engineers that I've met found great satisfaction in their work. They enjoyed the engineering, the subject matter, and the process of learning. It is closer to the type of "hard fun" one has training and running a marathon, than the "easy fun" of watching a movie or playing a game.

Yes, it's hard fun :)
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