If he's miserable he can always give it away.
Oh no? Won't do that. Then shut up you incredibly entitled whiny jerk.
RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
141–150 of 185 posts
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#142I did not expect to read the whole thing through but I guess I just did. It's fascinating the inner struggle of someone so successful yet who still feels the need to find something bigger to accomplish, a higher mountain to climb. I feel for him, since life is not easy for most of us and he purposefully tries to make it harder for him. But I also think, that the meaning he so desperately wants can come from other thi…
That is what makes ambitious people successful. They always want more and never stop wanting more. Those who are content with settling don't have the drive to make it.
> That is what makes ambitious people successful.
No, that's the myth sold to you.
If hard work made you successful some guy who busted his ass for 50 years would be president instead of a dude who was born obscenely wealthy.
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
He went from nothing to $600M in 5 years. It isn't "technically" overnight but 5 years is not that long. And the 7-10 grind was probably only true of year 0-1. RxBar got a lot of traction well before they were sold, and so to believe he was grinding for the entire 5 years in the same way he was in the basement when they first started is a bit naive. Worse than "overnight millionaire" porn is "hustle" porn. The truth…
>> RxBar got a lot of traction well before they were sold And I'm not entirely sure why. The product is barely edible, and I'm pretty sure it's terrible for one's health, contrary to being marketed as a health food. This much sugar can't be good for you no matter what else you add. Seems like blind luck to me.
Obviously "barely edible" is subjective; I like many, although not all, of the flavors I've tried. Beyond that, RxBars are high in fiber -- something a lot of American diets are pretty low in -- and high in protein. Its fat is mostly unsaturated. And while it's certainly not low sugar, it has no added sugar -- the sugar in them comes from fruit, mostly dates.
So, no, they're probably not "health food," but they're no worse than much of their ostensible competition and arguably better than many, some of which are way closer to Snickers bars than RxBars.
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#144In tech it's pretty rare to become a millionare overnight. You can go overnight between each of these phases: Phase 1: You are making very little money. You are excited when there is free pizza at an event, because you got a free dinner. Phase 2: You are making a decent salary, enough to survive quite comfortably, even in a pretty expensive location. In tech, often this salary is enough to make you a millionaire if y…
Very well put.
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
In most of the stories I've read where the founder is required to stay on, they typically have very little duties or responsibilities. Often it seems like the "show up at 11 and leave by 2" type situations.
Agreed, but even with the minimal responsibilities, it’s a burden to founders because they can’t do anything else (non-competes).
Boo hoo. The people who got them to the point of selling still have to show up and actually do real work.
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#146If this article was trying to depict this man as thuroughl vain and void of humanity it could not have done a better job. He moved to Miami Beach to avoid paying taxes? This hundreds of millionaire couldn't just move to a place he liked because he was worried about his marginal tax rate? He bought a house that's empty and has accoutrements for a lifestyle he doesn't have or plan to have. This is a person buying somet…
I see people are downvoting this, but I confess that "he chose Miami Beach in part because Florida has no personal income tax" in the introduction instantly rubbed me the wrong way as well -- and, yes, "buying something that looks like what other rich people buy because it's what he's supposed to do" seems fundamentally correct.
And, sure, #NotAllEntrepreneurs. But if this fellow dropped $20M in investments that returned merely 3% a year, he could pay himself a "salary" of half a million a year just from the interest. I'd really like to read an article some time about someone who walked away with a one-time payout of a few hundred million from a deal like this and said, "Hey, you know what, I'm going to put 90% of my new wealth toward benefiting others, and still have enough money that I'll never have to work again if I don't want to."
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Business idea: rX bar that doesnt taste like shit.
Most of those involve adding copious amounts of sugar to make the bars taste bearable. This, of course, has other health negatives. I've seen protein bars with 50+ grams of sugar in them!
I mean, RxBars are full of dates, which are basically pure sugar.
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#148I don't like articles like this for two reasons: (1) they trivialize actually building a company, growing it, and selling it, and (2), they provide comfort for those that don't have the drive/luck/privilege of getting there by arguing that "hey, money doesn't make you happy!" First of all, as others mention in the thread, this is hardly an example of an "overnight success" -- there are no such examples, barring a few…
Spot on. People also don't realize that spending money effectively is a skill. $1000 bottles of champagne are for those that lack creativity with how to deploy their capital. Those of us who practice conscious spending can derive significant joy from money.
Out of curiosity, can you give some examples of spending money effectively?
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think HK Rowling is a solid counter to that argument. Success is far more about leverage than drive. Drive is still extremely useful, just not the root cause for success.
Writing novels while you're dirt poor and riding a train to your low paying job does not count as "drive"? I would love to hear your definition of "drive" then.
By her own words she took five years to write the first book, but mostly wrote it while unemployed at coffee shops. Ignoring her later success, most unemployed people sitting around coffee shops writing are considered to have low drive.
I mean if you think she qualifies that’s fine, but kind of lowers the bar to irrelevance.
Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire
#150I did not expect to read the whole thing through but I guess I just did. It's fascinating the inner struggle of someone so successful yet who still feels the need to find something bigger to accomplish, a higher mountain to climb. I feel for him, since life is not easy for most of us and he purposefully tries to make it harder for him. But I also think, that the meaning he so desperately wants can come from other thi…
Peter is clearly not the type who can travel for fun or really enjoy it the way most people do. He has no "off" switch. I would guess if you spent any real time with him he'd probably come across as fairly abnormal.