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All or something (2009)

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Re: All or something (2009)

#61

Post by rahoulb »

alberth wrote: post #7
jdminhbg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DHH seems to have gotten plenty "filthy rich" hitting singles: http://david.heinemeierhansson.com/racing People who swing for the fences generally fly out to shallow center. You can score lots of runs hitting single after single after single.

Having a sports car fits into the "you can live a good life on hitting singles". Having your own private jet, is when you're filthy rich.

Well the sports car in question is a one-off custom-build, purely for him, and rumoured to have cost a few millions of dollars. Not quite a private jet, but I would put that into "filthy rich"

UPDATE: Link - http://www.luxist.com/2010/09/06/one-of-a-kind-pagani-zonda-...

Re: All or something (2009)

#62

Post by brlewis »

stiff wrote: post #60
pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

Einstein had a day job as a patent clerk when working on relativity. Leibniz did manage to invent calculus, including the notation used to this day, even though he picked up mathematics relatively late in life and even though he also had a job and lots of other occupations in philosophy, engineering, politics etc. You can do a lot if you dedicate to a problem 10 quality hours a week for 10 years. It still takes a lot…

Yes, but how long did it take relativity and calculus, respectively, to gain traction?

I've implemented a great idea myself in my spare time, but it won't change the world until it spreads. I'm not sure how successful I can be continuing it as a part-time project.

Re: All or something (2009)

#63

Post by danssig »

pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

Mental work isn't like physical work. Throwing more hours at it doesn't mean you'll get an increase, at least not for long.

Re: All or something (2009)

#64

Post by aespinoza »

hasenj wrote: post #59
aespinoza wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my personal opinion, I think "all consuming" just lacks optimization. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo didn't know any better. At their time, their process was the only one. At this moment, we have learned to work smarter, not harder. You can definitely have kids and do a great work. Hell you can have multiple companies and do a great job. Our time is more focused on having a full life, not only focusing on one thing…

Isaac Newton and Michelangelo didn't know any better. At their time, their process was the only one. Come on! Newton invented calculus before he turned 26, I'd like to see someone invent calculus today before they turn 26. (Most people have trouble understanding it, and this includes me). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danYFxGnFxQ

I agree. I'm not trying to take away their contribution. But I do believe we ha learned a lot more to improve process, from their time to ours.

Re: All or something (2009)

#65

Post by xiaoma »

jtbigwoo wrote: post #25
fuzzylizard wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find it interesting that Babe Ruth was, at the same time, the home run leader and the strike out leader. If you swing for the fences, chances are, you will fail more than you win. Hitting singles, consistently, is actually far more beneficial for both you and the team that you work with.

A sports-geek quibble: Babe Ruth also had the second-best career on-base-percentage in the history of baseball. He hit a ton of singles in addition to his home runs. He was an incredible athlete and defied the current mindset to try for home runs when he thought the time was right. Sometimes he got fooled and ended up striking out, but he wasn't a pure swing-for-the-fences hitter. (You should look to somebody like Ro…

To further your point, the very highest on base % player ever was none other than Barry Bonds, the greatest HR hitter ever. The mere threat of him connecting was enough to convince record numbers of opponents let him walk for free... much like moves by Zuck now or billg back in the day sent everyone else in the tech world scrambling.

Singles are nice. I'd love to have an Ichiro on my team. But I'd take top notch slugger over him any day.

Re: All or something (2009)

#67

Post by phamilton »

billpatrianakos wrote: post #48
phamilton wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business => J-O-B Job seems to be a four letter word in some circles...

I never thought of it that way. At first I didn't know what the hell you we're talking about because of the whole 25 hour a day work schedule people seem to think is necessary for startups but then I realized a lot of people, in some circles like you say, do a startup to avoid real work. I'm not saying a statup isnt real work, just that there is a group of people I've seen who go into some half baked startup idea bec…

I blame books like "The 4 hour work week".

It's all based on the misconception that if you work for yourself, you don't have a boss. In reality, you have a lot of bosses at that point it's just that they are called customers.

Re: All or something (2009)

#68

Post by pg »

stiff wrote: post #60
pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

Einstein had a day job as a patent clerk when working on relativity. Leibniz did manage to invent calculus, including the notation used to this day, even though he picked up mathematics relatively late in life and even though he also had a job and lots of other occupations in philosophy, engineering, politics etc. You can do a lot if you dedicate to a problem 10 quality hours a week for 10 years. It still takes a lot…

stating as some kind of law that unless you work obsessively all the time you can not succeed is rather simplistic for something as vague and at the same time as complex as "success"

Did I do that? It seems to me that what I said was:

"you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work."

Re: All or something (2009)

#69

Post by keeptrying »

mattdeboard wrote: post #53
keeptrying wrote: post #36

Doing a statup now. There is a LOT of work and a LOT of learning. I don't see how I can get to launch without working my tail off. I think this kind of crap us peddled by startups which happened to succeed because they hit profitability quickly and have cash cows that throw off a lot of cash. In a startup your going to be doing a lot of stuff you have no clue about - your going to gave to work your ass off in the beg…

What is the difference? A startup is a business by definition.

Every business is not a startup. A startup is a business which doesnt have guaranteed or well known cashflows. Or rather its trying to figure out its chashflows.

Re: All or something (2009)

#70

Post by randall »

soosh wrote: post #47
pg wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before I had kids, I knew that having kids made it harder to do great work. What I didn't understand was the way it happens. Before I had kids, I thought of kids as a distracting responsibility. Now I realize that the reason kids take up so much of your time is that you enjoy spending time with them. So for me at least the answer is not merely that I can't focus on work to the degree I used to, but that I wouldn't wa…

That much is true. I guess you're lucky with your son. My daughter sleeps so badly I've discovered a new side of my wife called "apocalyptic night mommy".

I _love_ that I'm not the only one! We need a hacker parents support group.
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