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The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

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Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#21

Post by dmor »

sachingulaya wrote: post #19
dmor wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. I'm just telling my stories, I'm not entitled to the #1 spot and I'm not canvasing votes (ok, I asked my husband to vote). If a couple of people read this and got fired up to have some balls and take some risk, that's good enough for me.

Well, at least you're straightforward that this is your storytelling time. I come to HN for the increasingly rare high signal:noise ratio content and discussion. Given that I don't think HN is the proper medium for this kind of expression. I read more of your blog and see that you think these are 'troll posts'. They're not.

I don't think you are trolling, I just can't control what makes it to the front page or not. Clearly this resonated with some people. I am not sure why my story as a startup founder isn't the right kind of stuff for HN, I've been a part of this community for a long time and posted a broad range of stuff from code to news to marketing advice and on and on... I'm not trying to fit the mold, I'm just sharing my experiences and its way to late for me to get apologetic about it

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#22

Post by Knighty »

The author, rightly, makes the point that finance, like most things, is primarily about trust. But that's about the most interesting thing in the article.

Capital introductions are hard, and everyone wants to cosy up to someone looking for a 'home' for their excess millions. It's an environment where a couple of dudes/dudettes with laptops and an idea might have a potentially successful hedge-fund idea but lack the credibility and track record to make the risk worthwhile for a potential investor. The investor could lose a lot of money very quickly if your idea is wrong. The chances are, that if your idea is 'right' they'll listen to you explain it (because you really will need to explain it in depth) and then go and find someone who they do trust to implement it for them.

My point is that, it would be very hard for me to gain sufficient trust from prospective investors to raise $200m because I don't have any contacts or access to the necessary capital.

However, the daughter of a financial advisor for high-net worth individuals is playing a very different game to me. She very well might easily be able to do, what I easily can not. So, for me at least, there's nothing of interest in this article. I'm pleased for Elle to be in such a great position and wish her well.

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#23

Post by dmor »

Knighty wrote: post #22

The author, rightly, makes the point that finance, like most things, is primarily about trust. But that's about the most interesting thing in the article. Capital introductions are hard, and everyone wants to cosy up to someone looking for a 'home' for their excess millions. It's an environment where a couple of dudes/dudettes with laptops and an idea might have a potentially successful hedge-fund idea but lack the c…

Thanks for the kind wishes. I think what I (the OP) failed to convey in my post is that going into finance, given my background, would have been the easy way out for me. Having someone tell me "oh you could totally do X" when I thought X was this crazy out of reach thing, made me re-evaluate whether other things I had put on the crazy shelf were do-able, too. Like founding a startup.

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#24

Post by Knighty »

dmor wrote: post #23
Knighty wrote: post #22

The author, rightly, makes the point that finance, like most things, is primarily about trust. But that's about the most interesting thing in the article. Capital introductions are hard, and everyone wants to cosy up to someone looking for a 'home' for their excess millions. It's an environment where a couple of dudes/dudettes with laptops and an idea might have a potentially successful hedge-fund idea but lack the c…

Thanks for the kind wishes. I think what I (the OP) failed to convey in my post is that going into finance, given my background, would have been the easy way out for me. Having someone tell me "oh you could totally do X" when I thought X was this crazy out of reach thing, made me re-evaluate whether other things I had put on the crazy shelf were do-able, too. Like founding a startup.

Yes, that makes more sense. In which case it feels like the point of the post is more to do with following your own path before accepting the path that is 'mapped' out?

Perhaps you actually say this in the post somewhere, but it I don't recall seeing it. IMHO it would make an interesting article if you emphasised that point more.

In my experience there is something to be said for NOT always following the money but following the 'fun'. More than once the 'fun' turned out to be surprisingly lucrative after all ... :)

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#26

Post by jcc80 »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #5

I hate to be that guy bitching without offering any constructive criticism, but this was painful to read. At least I had the courtesy to stick it through to the end to be sure before I posted this. We deserve better than this drivel at the top of HN.

You must not be aware of the new rules here. At least 1 post from the Svbtle network must make it to the top of HN per week. That said, I enjoyed the post. It highlights something I missed out on growing up and serves as a reminder for me to pass these lessons on.

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#28

Post by peteretep »

dmor wrote: post #7
WiseWeasel wrote: post #5

I hate to be that guy bitching without offering any constructive criticism, but this was painful to read. At least I had the courtesy to stick it through to the end to be sure before I posted this. We deserve better than this drivel at the top of HN.

Okay. I'm just telling my stories, I'm not entitled to the #1 spot and I'm not canvasing votes (ok, I asked my husband to vote). If a couple of people read this and got fired up to have some balls and take some risk, that's good enough for me.

We're not meant to post comments like this on HN, but I also enjoyed the post, so please continue to write and post stuff like this.

One of the strengths of HN's ranking system appears to be that story downvotes are pretty limited, so that stories that appeal to just 10% of readers can be aired too - don't take it to heart.

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#29

Post by veyron » 

    creating a hedge fund, or any kind of fund, was something i should be thinking about in my 40s or 50s when I wanted a more traditional role in finance with a lower risk/reward profile.
Many of the more prolific hedge funds were started by people much earlier in life. David Einhorn, for example, started his fund at 28.

Re: The Best Advice My Dad Ever Gave Me (for Demo Day)

#30

Post by btrautsc »

dmor wrote: post #21
sachingulaya wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, at least you're straightforward that this is your storytelling time. I come to HN for the increasingly rare high signal:noise ratio content and discussion. Given that I don't think HN is the proper medium for this kind of expression. I read more of your blog and see that you think these are 'troll posts'. They're not.

I don't think you are trolling, I just can't control what makes it to the front page or not. Clearly this resonated with some people. I am not sure why my story as a startup founder isn't the right kind of stuff for HN, I've been a part of this community for a long time and posted a broad range of stuff from code to news to marketing advice and on and on... I'm not trying to fit the mold, I'm just sharing my experien…

keep it going. The underlying message of the post was spot on for founders, young people, future risk takers alike. may not hit every demo' but it worked for me. thanks.
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