RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire • Hacker News Board

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#161

Post by noelsusman » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 3:58 AM UTC

dvt wrote: post #51

I 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…

"Money doesn't bring happiness" is upper class shorthand for "incomes above six figures in the US don't provide significant marginal benefits in terms of personal satisfaction and overall happiness".

Money is obviously pretty great to have. The point of the cliche is to caution people about making too many sacrifices to chase millions.

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#162

Post by retreatguru » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 4:15 AM UTC

hef19898 wrote: post #63

tachyonbeam wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I also grew up poor and now live comfortably. Having my own place with no roommates (or mentally ill family members screaming at me) brings me a lot of peace. Being able to just uber somewhere when I have an appointment but feel too tired to take public transit for 45 minutes makes my life easier. There are a lot of problems in life that you can make disappear (or simplify a lot) by throwing a little money at…

The most precious thing money can buy is freedom. Any more money than that and it can become a burden. The tricky part is the sweet spot, you have to find it, be aware of it. Ah, and yes, just where that spot is so depends on everything that it won't be the same for more than one person.

I recall reading that sweet spot is around $150,000 per person.

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#163

Post by dang » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

poseidonist wrote: post #141

If he's miserable he can always give it away. Oh no? Won't do that. Then shut up you incredibly entitled whiny jerk.

We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. Would you please not create accounts to do that with?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#164

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 4:44 AM UTC

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #143

m0zg wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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…

[deleted]

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#165

Post by haltingproblem » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:42 AM UTC

motohagiography wrote: post #38

Just means you are responsible for deploying more liquid capital into productive assets. Have fun finding those. If you are creative and a builder, the people who made you what you are were the ones who told you "no," and now there are a lot fewer of those once they think you have money. Barring a few quality of life things and some freedom, the rest is just symbols and artifacts. That bit about finding a woman who w…

Upvoting because there is a lot to unpack here. As others have noted below, it would be a worthwhile to many and I daresay yourself to develop it.

Perhaps you meant he "accumalates newer more internal experiences to offset it". The problem I see with his outlook and many other entrepreneurs is that we are only as alive as the warmth radiating from our last kill - the hunt we bagged or the corpse of our last startup. The colder the kill the less alive we feel.

In the model of existence of being-doing-having [1] the ones who are the happiest are the most fulfilled are the ones who embrace being –> doing –> having instead of having –> doing –> being.

[1] http://www.davewheitner.com/living-life-forward-the-being-do...

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#166

Post by sudhirj » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 7:02 AM UTC

agota wrote: post #128

sudhirj wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a partial mis-characterization - he did insist that the buyer keep the company as an independent unit and retain all the employees, which is about as much as you can do when you’re selling. And he was likely tired and burning out as well - better to sell than run it to the ground or wait till someone else kills you off. That said, he does seem to have been hustling from a young age, so why not? Could…

>Why the negativity for a food company? Presumably because a food company has direct effect on the health of a person consuming the product.

But all points seem to indicate that the food was good and clean, and he went through great trouble to keep it that way. But why is someone making food more obligated to continue doing so than someone making non-food?

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#167

Post by TrackerFF » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 8:35 AM UTC

vastoi wrote: post #160

TrackerFF wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if happiness was a function of money, then it would very much look like the sigmoid / logistic function. You have a linear region where there's a very dramatic relationship between money and happiness (a $100k salary makes life so much easier than a $30k salary), but there's very small difference at the different ends...a $5k salary will not improve your life much over a $500 salary, even though there's an or…

I agree with your premise on the higher end but a $500 and $5000 salary are dramatically different. You won’t go hungry on 5k if you are frugal while $500 could kill you.

I'd imagine that people in most western countries on either salaries would also receive some kind of welfare benefits to supplement those kinds of low salaries.

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#168

Post by agota » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 8:52 AM UTC

DubiousPusher wrote: post #151

_69x2 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you do have a point about him trying to buy what you are "supposed" to buy once you are wealthy. However, I think that your robot criticism of entrepreneurs is unfair. Street sweepers, cashiers at a grocery store, McDonald's employees are doing work that is way more repetitive than what an average entrepreneur does, yet you wouldn't call them robot-like, would you?

When I say robotic I'm not referring to the reptitiveness of the work. I'm talking about the singularity of focus and mind founders often posses for things that are utterly mundane. Making an energy bar is surely exciting at first. Creating recipes, working out deals to sell them, building a brand. But at a certain point your energy bar is about as good as any other. And it tastes as good as any other. And your brand…

Wouldn't in that case making money be their passion?

I can't relate to that either, but I think that this is common among successful entrepreneurs, often going all the way back to their childhoods (the guy in the article was buying and selling stuff in elementary school).

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#169

Post by motohagiography » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 12:55 PM UTC

haltingproblem wrote: post #165

motohagiography wrote: post #38

Just means you are responsible for deploying more liquid capital into productive assets. Have fun finding those. If you are creative and a builder, the people who made you what you are were the ones who told you "no," and now there are a lot fewer of those once they think you have money. Barring a few quality of life things and some freedom, the rest is just symbols and artifacts. That bit about finding a woman who w…

Upvoting because there is a lot to unpack here. As others have noted below, it would be a worthwhile to many and I daresay yourself to develop it. Perhaps you meant he "accumalates newer more internal experiences to offset it". The problem I see with his outlook and many other entrepreneurs is that we are only as alive as the warmth radiating from our last kill - the hunt we bagged or the corpse of our last startup.…

Appreciated. I've got a book simmering on the back burner and that's where some of these ideas have more form, but the statements were precise.

There are a few cognitive hacks that (like your very good "being, doing, having") that make more sense in the context of conversations like this. If I finish the book, I'll do a Show HN post.

Re: RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal on life after becoming a millionaire

#170

Post by monort » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

_69x2 wrote: post #131

notadoc wrote: post #116

> Before the Kellogg deal was finalized and he was about to suddenly become very rich, Rahal got worried. “Can I seriously find someone who’s going to love me without the money?” This seems like an easy thought exercise to work through. If you're rich enough to worry about being loved for your money, then you're probably rich enough to have a second modest existence to date from (modest apartment, car, etc). So, don'…

I don't know if I'd be impressed if a guy did this. In theory, this sounds like a fairytale, an ordinary guy turns out to be a multi-millionaire. In practice, this means that he lied to my face the entire time, presumably got his family and friends to lie to me as well, because apparently the entire time we were dating he thought that I might be a gold digger? Creating an entire separate identity because of your gold…

Do you ask all your dates for net worth? I never had this question asked, so I can imagine doing this without lying.