After some terrible early experiences with gold diggers, I am now very happy to be with a woman that despises any and all status symbols, and instead of buying them invested some money in gold and silver bullion early on, as part of a diversified portfolio.
She routinely spends the money that status-affected women waste on social symbols on travel, sports, fitness and healthy leisure.
My advise to all startup entrepreneurs is simple - plan your mating like your startup - lean and goal-driven. Identify your goals, budget, deadline and overall strategy.
If you cannot meet the woman that meets your demands where you are, travel and diversify.
Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
131–140 of 239 posts
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
She even told you her true requirement, which is to look good for her girlfriends. (Watch what happens when ladies announce an engagement or look for the ring shot on Facebook, then tell me I'm off base.) You did not sell her a product which would make her the envy of her girlfriends. "Cheaper than their rings" is the opposite of a victory condition. Don't sell cheap. Sell authentic, sell natural, sell one-of-a-kind,…
P.S. If you understand the thing she is trying to buy, you don't have to sell her a ring at all. There turns out to be an arbitrage opportunity in social status for, say, middle or upper-middle class Japanese women. Anybody can buy rocks, but nobody can buy a man vacation, so a man who demonstrates ability to take long vacations must be able to buy virtually unlimited amounts of rocks. Regardless of whether I can aff…
What's a long vacation? 6 months in Male, Maldives?
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#133Wow, absolutely brilliant. I can't believe this article popped up on HN's front page tonight. I just got back from looking at engagement rings with my girlfriend. I've known about this monopoly for a while, and so has she. Heck, one of the first movies we watched together when we first started dating 7 years ago was Blood Diamond. Here's the conversation we had while in the jewellery store tonight. Me: "Sweety, I rea…
>Honestly, as a community of people in the startup ecosystem, we could stand to learn a thing or two here. Yup. Bang on. Apple does a line in 'oh, but you didn't get an Apple' better than anyone else (they aren't a startup but once were) >I swear, De Beers has probably pulled off the greatest marketing stunt in the history of humanity The Australian Meat & Livestock board came up with a marketing idea. On Australia D…
Guinness has successfully started "Arthur's Day" in Ireland, the 29th of September when you're supposed to have a drink of Guinness to celebrate Arthur Guinness' birthday. (It's not like they need it, Diageo (the company that make guinness) have 50% of the Irish alcholic beverage market, but shrug)
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#134Wow, absolutely brilliant. I can't believe this article popped up on HN's front page tonight. I just got back from looking at engagement rings with my girlfriend. I've known about this monopoly for a while, and so has she. Heck, one of the first movies we watched together when we first started dating 7 years ago was Blood Diamond. Here's the conversation we had while in the jewellery store tonight. Me: "Sweety, I rea…
If you end up going with a diamond, you might consider a company like Brilliant Earth [1], which offers "conflict free" diamonds (and other gems), and recycled precious metals. Their gems come from mines that employ adults at reasonable wages. I'm not associated with the company, but they made my fiance's engagement ring and we're very happy with it. [1] http://www.brilliantearth.com/conflict-free-diamonds/
Sounds like a good way to show off. "Oh look you have a diamond ring too? Did it come from one of those sweatshop mines where children have to work? No? Oh that's a shame. Mine came from an ethical mine".
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#135It's a fascinating piece, for a number of reasons. The first, and perhaps most interesting, is that the story behind the De Beers cartel is well known . Perhaps not in this depth, but still, it's no secret. Pretty much everyone knows they exercise a monopoly on diamond production and distribution, artificially keeping prices high. And yet, nobody takes the red pill and opts out of the illusion. Call it the power of t…
Free markets always tend towards monopoly/oligopoly/cartel structures in the long term - because the firms that do so retain their pricing advantage (profits) and the firms that don't - die. I have to think that the idea of free/natural markets has to be one of the greatest tricks ever pulled by anyone at any time (next to communism). Markets are artificial and restrictive for a reason - they're created by government…
> Free markets always tend towards monopoly/oligopoly/cartel structures in the long term - because the firms that do so retain their pricing advantage (profits) and the firms that don't - die.
This might be true, but short term profits are still attractive to people who want to disrupt the industry. If I discovered a significant diamond mine in my backyard, I'd undercut the inflated prices of the current cartel before attracting attention from the big boys. [1] The only way to disrupt the diamond market is to invent a replacement product that is accepted by all females/males that want diamonds.
[1]every single startup on HN that is "disruptive" and pining to be acquired
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#136It's a fascinating piece, for a number of reasons. The first, and perhaps most interesting, is that the story behind the De Beers cartel is well known . Perhaps not in this depth, but still, it's no secret. Pretty much everyone knows they exercise a monopoly on diamond production and distribution, artificially keeping prices high. And yet, nobody takes the red pill and opts out of the illusion. Call it the power of t…
Sadly, it is almost unheard of here in Japan and I am 99.999% sure it is the same in most of Asia (the real market for diamonds and luxury brands nowadays). Just a couple weeks ago I was at lunch with my Japanese coworkers and the conversation topic went to one of them thinking on whether to buy a diamond ring to his wife as an anniversary gift. I told him to better stay away from diamonds, and mentioned the diamond…
well... it does take awhile for foreign countries to adopt white man's guilt or more broadly music in general. I hear most Europeans/South Americans have not heard of Gangnam Style, I bet there will be a second wave in a month from our Euro/Latin friends.
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#137on another note (also on todays HN homepage!)
"Russia reveals secret diamond field containing 'trillions of carats'" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4534468
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#138Great read. Amazing what wealthy interests can do to a market. I had to smile at the ending: "By the mid-1980s, the avalanche of Australian diamonds will be pouring onto the market. Unless the resourceful managers of De Beers can find a way to gain control of the various sources of diamonds that will soon crowd the market, these sources may bring about the final collapse of world diamond prices. If they do, the diamo…
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Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#139Well, it is a perceived value, but we all perceive it.
Like someone pointed out, it is not an investment. It is a demonstration for your future marriage. She wants to see how much she's worth to you.
Buy the ring. If you indeed have moral issues, buy the conflict free one.
Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)
#140It's a fascinating piece, for a number of reasons. The first, and perhaps most interesting, is that the story behind the De Beers cartel is well known . Perhaps not in this depth, but still, it's no secret. Pretty much everyone knows they exercise a monopoly on diamond production and distribution, artificially keeping prices high. And yet, nobody takes the red pill and opts out of the illusion. Call it the power of t…
Free markets always tend towards monopoly/oligopoly/cartel structures in the long term - because the firms that do so retain their pricing advantage (profits) and the firms that don't - die. I have to think that the idea of free/natural markets has to be one of the greatest tricks ever pulled by anyone at any time (next to communism). Markets are artificial and restrictive for a reason - they're created by government…
> Free markets always tend towards monopoly/oligopoly/cartel structures in the long term - because the firms that do so retain their pricing advantage (profits) and the firms that don't - die.
Can you give any example?
> Free/natural markets are probably one of the greatest lies ever sold.
What do you mean? Free markets are not a lie. There are tons of free markets. If I buy bread at the supermarket, I can choose among multiple brands.