The Real Silicon Valley
jfornear.co
The Real Silicon Valley
1–10 of 154 posts
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#2Hey Jesse, great post though I'm sorry to hear about your startup. If you need a place to crash, I have a spare room for friends who are starting companies, folding companies or just passing through the Valley. Feel free to get in touch anytime.
In the meantime, thought you might like this quote from a piece Michael Arrington wrote a while back:
"Some of the richest people I know aren’t really entrepreneurs. They worked at HP and then moved to Netscape when it got hot. They made a fortune and then jumped to Google and made another fortune. And now they’re jumping to Facebook.
They may be very good engineers, or sales people, or marketing, or execs. But they ain’t entrepreneurs. They’re just resume gardening and they’re really no different from everyone else.
I don’t care if you’re a billionaire. If you haven’t started a company, really gambled your resume and your money and maybe even your marriage to just go crazy and try something on your own, you’re no pirate and you aren’t in the club."
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#3Hey Jesse, great post though I'm sorry to hear about your startup. If you need a place to crash, I have a spare room for friends who are starting companies, folding companies or just passing through the Valley. Feel free to get in touch anytime. In the meantime, thought you might like this quote from a piece Michael Arrington wrote a while back: "Some of the richest people I know aren’t really entrepreneurs. They wor…
You hear that, loser marriage-having people?
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#4Why be depressed? If you are young and a programmer making 100K at 25, party with your hipster friends and sock away 40K in savings every year. You'll end up with 200K by 30, not a cool billion dollar but with 6% muni-bonds, you suddenly have tax-free interest income of equivalent of $1.2 million at regular 1% CD rate.
Work on interesting projects that you want to work on. Do some traveling. Go back to grad school for fun. Learn a new language, sport or talk to girls. Go to your favorite startup or software company website and click on the mugshot of the guy who's in 40's in blue dres-shirt, is that who you want to be when you want to be?
If no, don't get on the VC rat-race; it's just as soul-crushing as the investment banker's rat-race except less lucrative.
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#5I get the impression from your post that balls to wall burnout effort isn't the key to success, so why do you do it that way?
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#6Why be depressed? If you are young and a programmer making 100K at 25, party with your hipster friends and sock away 40K in savings every year. You'll end up with 200K by 30, not a cool billion dollar but with 6% muni-bonds, you suddenly have tax-free interest income of equivalent of $1.2 million at regular 1% CD rate. Work on interesting projects that you want to work on. Do some traveling. Go back to grad school fo…
Eh? Having $1.2m beats having 200k any day... If 6% muni-bonds are a good investment (I personally have no idea), then presumably the guy with the $1.2m portfolio could buy them too... why is the 1% CD his only investment option?
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#7Why be depressed? If you are young and a programmer making 100K at 25, party with your hipster friends and sock away 40K in savings every year. You'll end up with 200K by 30, not a cool billion dollar but with 6% muni-bonds, you suddenly have tax-free interest income of equivalent of $1.2 million at regular 1% CD rate. Work on interesting projects that you want to work on. Do some traveling. Go back to grad school fo…
I fail to understand this as well. You've been blessed with skills that are in demand. You live in one of the best cities in the world, and you're young. You need to go live as a native in a 3rd world country to give you some appreciation. Get over it and get some work done, that's why your competition is kicking your ass.
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#8Why be depressed? If you are young and a programmer making 100K at 25, party with your hipster friends and sock away 40K in savings every year. You'll end up with 200K by 30, not a cool billion dollar but with 6% muni-bonds, you suddenly have tax-free interest income of equivalent of $1.2 million at regular 1% CD rate. Work on interesting projects that you want to work on. Do some traveling. Go back to grad school fo…
Everyone knows startups are not the optimal economically rational way to make money. But to an entrepreneur, living off 6% muni bond interest is profoundly uninteresting, and dare I say soul crushing.
Repeat after me: If you think it's only about the money, you're missing the point.
And even if it is all about the money, most 25 year olds would jump at a 1% chance to make $10 million over a $100% chance to make $200K. Not mathematically rational, but if everyone was rational there would be no outliers.
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#9Why be depressed? If you are young and a programmer making 100K at 25, party with your hipster friends and sock away 40K in savings every year. You'll end up with 200K by 30, not a cool billion dollar but with 6% muni-bonds, you suddenly have tax-free interest income of equivalent of $1.2 million at regular 1% CD rate. Work on interesting projects that you want to work on. Do some traveling. Go back to grad school fo…
Eh? Having $1.2m beats having 200k any day... If 6% muni-bonds are a good investment (I personally have no idea), then presumably the guy with the $1.2m portfolio could buy them too... why is the 1% CD his only investment option?
Point is having FU money, for most people it's $3mil at today's current interest rate to generate $30K which is annual young person's cost of living in a big metro.
If you can cut your cost of living down $12K, then only $200K is needed.
Re: The Real Silicon Valley
#10Why be depressed? If you are young and a programmer making 100K at 25, party with your hipster friends and sock away 40K in savings every year. You'll end up with 200K by 30, not a cool billion dollar but with 6% muni-bonds, you suddenly have tax-free interest income of equivalent of $1.2 million at regular 1% CD rate. Work on interesting projects that you want to work on. Do some traveling. Go back to grad school fo…
Everyone knows startups are not the optimal economically rational way to make money. But to an entrepreneur, living off 6% muni bond interest is profoundly uninteresting, and dare I say soul crushing. Repeat after me: If you think it's only about the money, you're missing the point. And even if it is all about the money, most 25 year olds would jump at a 1% chance to make $10 million over a $100% chance to make $200K…
nitpick: It's a loooooooooot less than 1%