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The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

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Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#101

Post by losteric »

Aurornis wrote: post #50
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…

> 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…

> 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.

Another perspective is just that SF's culture has been declining for decades. As someone born in SF, I'd agree.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#102

Post by brandall10 »

Aurornis wrote: post #50
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…

> 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…

And for me 10 years before that - not in the bay area but in my CS program at UCSD. Going into the junior year in '96 there was a clear inflection point, we suddenly had a flood of finance bro types all over the CS lab as the dot com bubble was quickly inflating.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#104

Post by sfRattan »

mordechai9000 wrote: post #67
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…

I think $1M net worth in the US these days is a nice little nest egg, but not anywhere near financial independence. Unless your needs are simple, you can relocate somewhere to live very cheaply, and you don't have any dependents.

> Unless your needs are simple, you can relocate somewhere to live very cheaply, and you don't have any dependents.

As a human, your needs are simple[1]. With a $1M net worth, you can relocate somewhere to live very cheaply. And your dependents can live in that same place, also cheaply.

All you need to do is show the Joneses the door out of your mind and never let them back in, nor look toward their lives in envy.

[1]: Healthcare being a notable potential exception, depending on the individual.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#105

Post by tennisflyi »

lmeyerov wrote: post #89

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…

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

Nah, bro. You’re elite level intelligence if you can /s

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#106

Post by albumen »

eastbound wrote: post #88
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]? (W…

But the S&P500 is ~half AI anyway! At least by market cap.

What’s your idea of investing in AI?

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#107

Post by TrackerFF »

I always found it interesting how different things are in US (well, more so startup hotspots) and Europe. In the US you're simply given more chances if you have the right personality and superficial elements.

In so many European countries, unless you happen to have bootstrapped your way into success, you'll be written off as a bozo if you don't have all the correct credentials.

Someone like Jim (read: No formal relevant education, no industry experience, only hopes and dreams) would in the very, very, VERY best case get a €100k funding - and that is only if they had other more attractive looking co-founders with them.

I mean, it is something everyone knows - but the sheer risk averseness you often see here in Europe is really something.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#108

Post by jjmarr »

bencarmin wrote: post #81
nilkn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" be…

> 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.

We're already there. It seems like every intern I see has built a custom chatbot with a RAG pipeline integrated into an internal application.

And every legacy SaaS is paying millions in consulting to add the same to their app.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#109

Post by EA-3167 »

TrackerFF wrote: post #107

I always found it interesting how different things are in US (well, more so startup hotspots) and Europe. In the US you're simply given more chances if you have the right personality and superficial elements. In so many European countries, unless you happen to have bootstrapped your way into success, you'll be written off as a bozo if you don't have all the correct credentials. Someone like Jim (read: No formal relev…

The reality behind that is that the US is much much richer than any single European entity, and that the US is a country founded by Europeans (note that I'm talking about the country, not claiming Europeans are the first to arrive in North America) who felt they'd run out of opportunities back home. Hundreds of years of European migration to the US suggests that social stratification and lack of opportunities outside of the old boy's network remains a problem.

Re: The Silicon Valley Founder Meat Grinder

#110

Post by ip26 »

fragmede wrote: post #52
jitl wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s infinitely easier to become an alcoholic by buying alcohol at a grocery store. brewing is pretty much the least direct most delayed gratification way to get drunk. i guess it can be pretty cheap if you optimize for that but it sounds like jim made enough money and high flying friends it’s unlikely to be major factor.

Though, after you've home brewed the beer, you've now got potentially gallons of beer in a giant pot that you have to bottle yourself. Or you could be lazy and just drink it yourself. True, you could just go down to the store and grab a 30-rack of mass produced beer if you wanted to be an alcoholic, but having a vat of beer in your kitchen that isn't going to drink itself and is gonna go bad if you don't, is a differ…

If it's just sitting there in your kitchen beckoning you, I think that's called beer pressure?
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