The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder • Hacker News Board

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#81

Post by bencarmin » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #56

Aurornis wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Money was always a part of it, but living in the Bay in 2010, there was more of a focus on building things. But once people started getting rich, especially off bitcoin, it brought in a whole host of people whose primary passion seemed to be money. This is funny to read because I remember hearing someone complain about the exact same thing in the Bay Area, but their dates were shifted by about 10 years before yours…

I find people's view is based on how much they're personally "winning" financially. If they're making money, then daily life seems more about building. If they're not making money, then the oppressive cost of living makes money seem all-important in the culture (which, in fact, it is and has been for generations). SF and the Bay Area are constantly shuffling through and recombining ideas. What generated money relativ…

I think it is interesting how now, a lot of the selling to individuals regarding AI is the ability to do what was popular in 2010 (building apps, websites, games) is easy now due to AI. I know so many people who have made workout apps, CRMs, planners, etc. that are baffled by why their work isn't picking up traction (keep in mind, we aren't in SV).

Makes me wonder how long we have before, "create your own ChatGPT" becomes the next big thing and people wonder why their "AI Labs" aren't making as much as the big boys.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#82

Post by asveikau » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

Probably not right to diagnose an allegory, but does it sound to anyone else like Jim might have bipolar disorder?

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#83

Post by Taniwha » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

egonschiele wrote: post #44

Real bummer of a story. > He approached me because he was really into startups and wanted to become a tech entrepreneur, and make the big bucks It's a shame that so much of tech culture has become about money. Money was always a part of it, but living in the Bay in 2010, there was more of a focus on building things. But once people started getting rich, especially off bitcoin, it brought in a whole host of people who…

I think the real watershed wan't bitcoin, it was the internet bubble, before that the rule of thumb was you couldn't go public without 5 consecutive quarters of profit - you really had to build something real - suddenly you could do it on hype alone and the focus turned to that

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#84

Post by nunez » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:20 PM UTC

Carrok wrote: post #5

Bit of an aside but I found it somewhat amusing that one example the author uses of Jim’s financial recklessness was getting into home brewing. Home brewing is one of the cheaper hobbies available (though like all hobbies you can spend as much as you want). The only real requirements are a bucket and a pot.

It's cheap until you think "we should start a brewery!" Then it becomes wildly, absurdly expensive.

The hobby itself can get costly though. So much equipment to buy. And space.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#85

Post by arionhardison » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

make3 wrote: post #57

camillomiller wrote: post #48

Airbnb’s CEO, for example, is a Jim who got lucky

Snapchat's famously also is one

His family is also insanely rich and helped him w/ the IP contracts.

John W. Spiegel: A prominent business litigation and securities lawyer who graduated from Yale University and worked as a partner at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#86

Post by nunez » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

storywatch wrote: post #11

Carrok wrote: post #5

Bit of an aside but I found it somewhat amusing that one example the author uses of Jim’s financial recklessness was getting into home brewing. Home brewing is one of the cheaper hobbies available (though like all hobbies you can spend as much as you want). The only real requirements are a bucket and a pot.

Now general aviation on the other hand..

A boat that flies lol

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#87

Post by nunez » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:22 PM UTC

RivieraKid wrote: post #39

It's really hard for me to understand that people who have the chance to achieve basic financial independence (say $1M net worth) don't take that chance and make sure to stay financially independent forever. If you do that, you're almost guaranteed to stay in the top 2% globally for the rest of your life. You've made it in life, at least financially. The approach of not taking advantage of the lucky and privileged si…

Some people can't get enough of yachts and other really expensive things

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#88

Post by eastbound » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

RivieraKid wrote: post #39

It's really hard for me to understand that people who have the chance to achieve basic financial independence (say $1M net worth) don't take that chance and make sure to stay financially independent forever. If you do that, you're almost guaranteed to stay in the top 2% globally for the rest of your life. You've made it in life, at least financially. The approach of not taking advantage of the lucky and privileged si…

> don't take that chance and make sure to stay financially independent forever.

What means do you see? Buy some S&P500 ETF and live off the interest rate? That seams easy but without investing in AI, you’re at risk of AI making the existing economy irrelevant, it’s the same as having all investments in local craftsmanship in 1700 and the steam machine happens, except much faster.

And move to [insert home country]? (What if I want to keep my friends)

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#89

Post by lmeyerov » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

Fwiw, without naming names, I helped someone at a hackathon make their first app on something he was passionate about, later found out he had been recently homeless living on an abandoned boat, and now years later, afaict he turned that into a $10m/yr business with ~millions of users

Persistence > Intelligence , and being able to code isn't some sort of superiority thing, it's just one skill of many

Edit: being able to take risks, and doing so, does lead to higher variance outcomes, so that is something I have also come to appreciate and look for in people. It may look reckless, and attracts weirder people almost by definition, but that is what startups are ultimately about, betting you can do better than the regular path!

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#90

Post by janpeuker » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

Reminds me of this 2015 article "Beware The Pretty People" http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/28/beware-the-pretty-people/

> The establishment scions pouring into tech take on the trappings of subversion, while remaining fundamentally conformist. Meanwhile, rampant success inevitably causes the former tech counterculture to morph into posturing “Prada revolutionaries,”

Unfortunately the article ends on praising crypto and surveillance, so this has been going on for a while