I read the Article. Dennis seems like a nice guy- rather a great guy! But I do think that this article does not particularly embody a spirit of entrepreneurship. Dont get me wrong, Dennis does not embody any negaative spirit, everything positive. It is fitting for MLK day. However, just because it makes us feel warm and fuzzy, it shouldn't be characterized to embody any particular quality that we choose to say it does. It embodies great human spirit, but, rationally thinking, is not fitting example of entrepreneur.
The Best Entrepreneur I Know
31–40 of 63 posts
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#32there's an awesome lady at Stanford Hair (http://www.stanfordhair.com/) that simply blew my mind with her kindness. She took customer service to a whole new level. I've since moved from Palo Alto to SF and I've tried really hard to make my schedule work just so I can get a hair cut from her. I think I'm going to make that happen this weekend. I was a fresh PhD dropout living on $600/mo ~ 2 yrs ago, not quite where I want to be but things are much better now, I owe her a download of how things have gone :) OP thanks for the nudge.
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wanted to be a cat burglar as a kid. In all the studying, learning, planning and risk assessment I realized it's easier and less risky to just go to college. That and stealing isn't really something to aspire to in life. Probably why I didn't stay in finance/accounting/banking. At least salesmen have to convince you of their lies, the money wonks just take it out of your account every month.
> the money wonks just take it out of your account every month. With a statement like that it sounds like you lack some important critical thinking skills. Try to provide concrete examples of things rather than echoing standard claptrap.
With a blanket and snarky dismissal like that it sounds like you lack some important read-a-newspaper-in-the-last-seven-years skills. Try to be more aware of your surroundings. This should get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilizatio...
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#34I read the Article. Dennis seems like a nice guy- rather a great guy! But I do think that this article does not particularly embody a spirit of entrepreneurship. Dont get me wrong, Dennis does not embody any negaative spirit, everything positive. It is fitting for MLK day. However, just because it makes us feel warm and fuzzy, it shouldn't be characterized to embody any particular quality that we choose to say it doe…
How very Silicon Valley of you. If he had a "book a haircut" app, would you consider him an enterpreneur then?
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#35There's a lot more to entrepreneurship than the weird little bubble of software startups. Entrepreneurs are just people who take a chance in order to make a real difference. I grew up poor, and one of the hardest things about being poor is that there are so few role models for success. Except for teachers, I didn't know anyone educated. Except for the people my father worked for (and mostly hated), I didn't know anyo…
> Entrepreneurs are just people who take a chance in order to make a real difference.
I'd go so far as to say- entrepreneurs are just people who are trying to solve problems. I get annoyed when I hear people ask things like "How do I become an entrepreneur?" in an aspirational way, as though it's some sort of cool club where all the cool kids are hanging out.
An entrepreneur is just a person who's so bothered by a particular problem, who's so dissatisfied with the status quo that she decided to get her hands dirty and make a dent in it.
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wanted to be a cat burglar as a kid. In all the studying, learning, planning and risk assessment I realized it's easier and less risky to just go to college. That and stealing isn't really something to aspire to in life. Probably why I didn't stay in finance/accounting/banking. At least salesmen have to convince you of their lies, the money wonks just take it out of your account every month.
> the money wonks just take it out of your account every month. With a statement like that it sounds like you lack some important critical thinking skills. Try to provide concrete examples of things rather than echoing standard claptrap.
It's interesting to look at your comment, and look at the nasty comment that it provoked. This is the starting point of a cycle of nastiness.
You could've asked the person to elaborate or be specific, or even contradicted or questioned them- without saying "you lack " and "try to rather than ".
Why so mean? Was the meanness intentional, or...? Genuinely curious.
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#37The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the money wonks just take it out of your account every month. With a statement like that it sounds like you lack some important critical thinking skills. Try to provide concrete examples of things rather than echoing standard claptrap.
It's interesting to look at your comment, and look at the nasty comment that it provoked. This is the starting point of a cycle of nastiness. You could've asked the person to elaborate or be specific, or even contradicted or questioned them- without saying "you lack " and "try to rather than ". Why so mean? Was the meanness intentional, or...? Genuinely curious.
> It's interesting to look at your comment, and look at the nasty comment that it provoked. This is the starting point of a cycle of nastiness.
One helpful technique is to read what you've written out loud and consider whether it's something you'd say to someone's face.
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#39Great article. Also brings up an aspect of the tech startup mentality that bothers me from time to time. From my reading of pg and ycombinator's focus on fast hockey stick like growth curves, it seems that you can easily dismiss/overlook small and steady businesses like Klippers which can perform very important roles in our lives. I'm not criticizing pg and the ycombinator crowd, in fact I have much respect and admir…
It's actually pretty interesting that small/lifestyle businesses get a lot of respect on Hacker News (pinboard, improvely, Appointment reminder and their creators are all very well revered here). In fact, a lot more than the general population (from my point of view) have for those businesses.
Re: The Best Entrepreneur I Know
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for reading! I would love to go into more detail about what we talked about, but it varies so much from session to session. I could write an entire book on our conversations.
A book on your conversations with him could be a fascinating read. Just sayin...
This is really nice idea.