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I regret selling my startup

nothingeasyaboutthis.com

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Re: I regret selling my startup

#121

Post by lokjhfvvv »

adam_arthur wrote: post #108
lokjhfvvv wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this / am doing this. It is indeed nice. However, depending on where you want to live and of course how you want to live, “several million post-tax” after buying 2 homes doesn’t necessarily cut it. I think this is what leads to the “dragon” mindset described. Maths: - 7MM post tax (let’s say) - Less 2MM for 2 houses (rates being what they are you’ll likely not mortgage both properties, or even one; if you do yo…

Can get 8% plus easy in yield on a diversified set of relatively safe REITs and corporate bonds nowadays. Absolutely would not recommend putting funds in large cap indices if you're planning to retire off portfolio cashflow. You get close to 4.5% cashflow (interest plus imputed income) on 20y treasury bonds alone, for example. Why take pricing risk to your income when you can get it directly in dividends/distribution…

You’d never put your whole nut into treasuries unless you wanted to get killed by inflation. You’re looking at a 50 year retirement if you’re in your 30s.

“4%” (Trinity study style I mean) is the pop culture number that accommodates down markets and inflation over 50 years, to a first approximation.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#122

Post by locallost »

bberenberg wrote: post #71
locallost wrote: post #33

I don't know why people are so negative in the comments or overthinking what the author wanted to say, when it's pretty clear. Running the company is what made him tick, made him feel alive, and ultimately made him happy. He's cashed out, but sitting around thumb twiddling and maintaining the pile of cash might be an ok life, might make some people happy, but it's not making him happy. There's nothing wrong with any…

Maybe this needs an update to the post. I am happy. My life is amazing in terms of health, fitness, diet, family life, where I live, travel etc. But I am also without a driving force. It gives me a new appreciation for the athletes or musician who un-retires.

I apologize, I never wanted to imply somebody I don't know is unhappy, guess it kind of came off wrong. Wish you anyway all the best and thanks for a very clear blog post.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#123

Post by lokjhfvvv »

germinalphrase wrote: post #109
lokjhfvvv wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this / am doing this. It is indeed nice. However, depending on where you want to live and of course how you want to live, “several million post-tax” after buying 2 homes doesn’t necessarily cut it. I think this is what leads to the “dragon” mindset described. Maths: - 7MM post tax (let’s say) - Less 2MM for 2 houses (rates being what they are you’ll likely not mortgage both properties, or even one; if you do yo…

Living mortgage free, 170k post-tax is pretty lavish annual spending almost anywhere in the world.

Yeah it’s nice but it’s way less than DINKs in NYC or SF might spend. Like I said it’s more about how and where you want to live. Also I would not want to live on the “edge” of affordable myself.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#124

Post by redcobra762 »

satvikpendem wrote: post #103
redcobra762 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what did you learn then?

I learned that I used it incorrectly in that instance. Why are you so insistent on a simple grammatical mistake? I don't understand why you care whether someone learned or didn't learn.

I don't care about the grammatical mistake (and you didn't "learn" anything then, no knowledge was gained).

What bothers me is the passive-aggressive way the other person pointed it out.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#125

Post by satvikpendem »

redcobra762 wrote: post #124
satvikpendem wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned that I used it incorrectly in that instance. Why are you so insistent on a simple grammatical mistake? I don't understand why you care whether someone learned or didn't learn.

I don't care about the grammatical mistake (and you didn't "learn" anything then, no knowledge was gained). What bothers me is the passive-aggressive way the other person pointed it out.

I didn't take it passively aggressively at all, as the OP of this thread. Only you're doing so.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#126

Post by csdvrx »

yieldcrv wrote: post #106
csdvrx wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe it's one of those things that is easy to explain but hard to understand if you don't have experiential context. Maybe use the word "Ikigai"? It seems to carries the concept very well across cultures. It's doing what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can get paid for! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai A friend told me a life without Ikigai is a life spent waiting for death.…

> because it can just be more opportunities for change/growth/discovery That was basically going to be my comment, I'm fulfilled by beating the game. Resource acquisition is a Massive Multiplayer game. I'm fulfilled by the industries I enter to make revenue or sell a company, I'm never doing something grueling and dead end, I feel good about successfully avoiding being in that kind of situation. I'm fulfilled by enjo…

> I am my own lifestyle company.

I love your reply, as it puts the finger on what I felt was missing from this simple answer that was otherwise very compelling!

Like there's exploration and exploitation, ikegai is the #2, but something like wanderlust is the #1: the "change/growth/discovery", or what someone else has called "the happy feeling of anticipation of unknowns that comes from a schooltrip/school vacation bus ride": meeting for the first time people who'll become new friends, seeing new things, and not knowing what may happen, yet having no fear of bad outcomes.

It's not exactly wanderlust or serendipity, but something close to that (I wonder if there's a word for it?) mixing adventure/curiosity/freedom and happiness/excitement/inspiration.

Having too much ikegai may prevent it, as it may be become a burden - like you explained about the burden of having to always defend a reputation.

You may need both this and ikegai, like you need exploration and exploitation - a ying and a yang.

> I'm fulfilled by beating the game. Resource acquisition is a Massive Multiplayer game.

Success (in creating then selling a company etc) seems to be just a basic resource acquisition - but then, what?

Getting fulfilled by beating the game may be like metagaming in board games: it may reduce the enjoyment of the game by putting too much focus on the exploitation part.

However, being your own lifestyle company makes it a game within the game: like doing speedruns, or trying to beat a game with each of the playable characters to see the alternative endings

That's the exploration: trying out new options to see if they lead to better outcomes in the future. Like research vs development: there needs to be risk taking before refinement.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#127

Post by csdvrx »

mdekkers wrote: post #120
neilk wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like any engineer, I know more than a few instant-millionaires. The ones who were capable of being happy before money continue to be capable of being happy. They had sources of self-worth outside of money, social connections outside the office or hanging with their startup bros, and interests that are intrinsically satisfying even if they are not profitable. You don't need all of the above, but you do need at least o…

Almost all of my problems can be immediately solved with large amounts of money. Those that cannot will certainly be made more bearable by the simple fact that I have a lot less to worry about, and that I will have more mental and emotional resources available to deal with them. Money will _absolutely_ buy happiness. Whoever tells you otherwise is fooling you.

The same thing was said by other famous philosophers, such as A. Grande who publicly declared: "whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve them".

Yet there seem to be many other things playing a role in happiness. Besides the famous ones like love, I can cite Ikegai, Wanderlust, Ubuntu, Hygge, Wabi-Sabi (...), and it may be foolish to concentrate on just one of them.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#128

Post by sebastianz »

ryandrake wrote: post #117
nprateem wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume you can buy happiness. Person A is not objectively better off, they're financially better off. Happiness isn't determined solely by bank balance. If what made him tick was a sense of purpose, of seeing the company he founded continue to grow there aren't many options apart from go back to the company, found a new one, or ??? Maybe option 2 is too much work, and without the carrot of a big payoff he'd lack…

Money buys you the option to opt out of the things that don't bring you happiness and to go do whatever it is that does bring you happiness. For this guy, maybe it's "do another startup." Great! With $10M in the bank, he can just go do that! For me, I could quit my job (which does not bring me happiness) and maybe build a sailboat... or travel... or raise a family... Or whatever makes me happy. That's the option that…

> For this guy, maybe it's "do another startup." Great! With $10M in the bank, he can just go do that!

He touches on this in the article, he was interested in starting new projects but they went nowhere. So I am reading this as "no, he cannot just go do that", he is worried he only was able to do it the one time.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#129

Post by nprateem »

ryandrake wrote: post #117
nprateem wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume you can buy happiness. Person A is not objectively better off, they're financially better off. Happiness isn't determined solely by bank balance. If what made him tick was a sense of purpose, of seeing the company he founded continue to grow there aren't many options apart from go back to the company, found a new one, or ??? Maybe option 2 is too much work, and without the carrot of a big payoff he'd lack…

Money buys you the option to opt out of the things that don't bring you happiness and to go do whatever it is that does bring you happiness. For this guy, maybe it's "do another startup." Great! With $10M in the bank, he can just go do that! For me, I could quit my job (which does not bring me happiness) and maybe build a sailboat... or travel... or raise a family... Or whatever makes me happy. That's the option that…

Or maybe it's none of those things and when you're busy working at least you have the dream that one day it'll be over and you can somehow be happy. If you actually live the dream you might actually find what you thought would make you happy doesn't cut it, and then you don't even have the dream.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#130

Post by amadeuspagel »

eastbound wrote: post #116
amadeuspagel wrote: post #111

Power is a very fundamental motivation, maybe the most fundamental one[1], and I think a lot of people regret selling their companies because they think they want things you're supposed to want, like comfort and leisure, when they really want power. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_to_power

Phrasing it as power makes it sound negative. As the other comment says, it could be a sense of purpose, or having respect (which is power but in its human form), or just keeping busy. If I were a millionaire, I know I’d keep my work just to be busy. I know it because I’m a millionaire. And I certainly don’t want all those negative thoughts.

That power sounds negative is the problem.
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