11–20 of 191 posts
"That clearly sounds dismal, but it doesn’t matter – as long as you can cover your costs while you try then your upside is nearly unlimited, whilst your downside is virtually non-existent" Um, yes except for the part about paying for food and shelter ??
As a Ph.D. student, I found this to be an interesting outlook, albeit a bleak look at the current job market. My research is in machine learning, and I'm hoping my job search will be easier :P
When I think back to it; if I had succeeded with my first startup right out of uni, I would have had a seriously distorted view of life.
My idea of 'hard work' has changed a lot since then. Staying up till 3am a few times a semester to finish an assignment is not hard work. Writing a 100 page thesis is not hard work either.
"According to the Start-up Genome Report 92% of high-tech start-ups fail. ... If you can get as far as investment this number falls to around 40%, and your chance of making it big within that sits at around 10% (Pitchbook). This adds up to a 0.48% success rate overall. Interestingly, this is the same proportion of PhD students that reach professorship."
I didn't go as far as PhD, but when I came out of uni, I knew nothing about life or work. I really wouldn't recommend anyone to try to launch their own startup right out of uni (especially not alone). When I think back to it; if I had succeeded with my first startup right out of uni, I would have had a seriously distorted view of life. My idea of 'hard work' has changed a lot since then. Staying up till 3am a few tim…
Except if you stubbornly decide to fully understand LaTeX in the process.
... if you've just gotten your Ph.D., know how to get some specific grants, have no interest in remaining in academia, and consider it against only one alternative: becoming a professor.
Usually a bubble is just about to burst when the last hold out becomes convinced and buys into the hype. The enthusiasm stems from a belief that it will always continue and apply to everyone. Then destruction and chaos.
Interestingly, this can be justified by economic theory, because it's the marginal price of the next transaction that everyone sees, so you always need someone who's willing to buy in for a higher price.
Once everyone has already bought in and there's no fresh money to prop up the bubble, everyone can immediately see that, and things fall apart just like you said.