Example 4: Create a blockchain/Crypto.
I welcome the downvotes, come at me. Make it negative.
How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
161–170 of 265 posts
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#162While there are indeed lots of people doing this sort of thing, I notice people being accused of it who are in fact successful and are giving out actionable advice. (They're easy to spot if you look, because they don't ask you to buy their course). Imagine, for example, that you had stumbled across a Magic Formula to create a niche Software as a Service business that brings in $5,000/month while only taking up 10 hou…
Have you written about the magic formula? Care to share?
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#163Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
> On top of that, there was no guarantee that electric cars would ever be embraced, especially by Americans, who traditionally, love ICE muscle cars. Generous subsidies for electrics in the US and other countries helped with that. Like generous government money funnelled through NASA contracts helped Space X repeat what NASA did in the late 60s/early 70s, slightly improved, 40 years later...
Yes, I remember when NASA was launching reusable rockets as regular supply missions and weren't using 5% GDP, and did such a great job they didn't end up giving $400MM/year to Russia to hitch rides on the Soyuz for the last decade.
That would be the "slightly improved" part, "50 years later".
And NASA hasn't used "5% GDP" for 40 years. It has been less than 1% since 1973. Actually scratch that, it has been less than 1% the federal budget, which is much much less than the GDP.
Of course all that 50-years of IP got handed to the "private visionaries" of SpaceX for free, or rather, along with money paid to them...
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#165This article is fantastic. I think "get rich quick" schemes are so much worse when it comes to my generation and beyond (millennials/gen-z). People have been endlessly screwed over: graduated college during the 2008 economic bust, lived with parents until their 30s, fired/laid off during the 2020 pandemic -- so I fundamentally understand the mirage of Instagram fame and endless sacks of money for doing basically noth…
> How does one break out when everyone's taking glamorous selfies in Thailand but I'm working in a dingy apartment trying to build the next big app? Isn't the idea of building the "next big app" itself based on the same kind of get-rich-quick mindset those schemes are exploiting? Only except for the "nomad lifestyle" or "selling courses", etc, it's supposed to happen by coding in a dingy apartment. But it's equally u…
> How about merely building a business?
But that's the thing right? You aim to make the next big app, and fail into the comfortable existence of "merely" building a business, or aquihired. Certainly better than aiming for moviestar and ending up a waitress.
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#166If you want to eyewitness an even tighter Ponzi scheme loop, look at YouTubers in the trading industry. Boats of them sell a course/book and use YouTube for marketing & ad money. Bonus points if they advertise beating the market.
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#167While there are indeed lots of people doing this sort of thing, I notice people being accused of it who are in fact successful and are giving out actionable advice. (They're easy to spot if you look, because they don't ask you to buy their course). Imagine, for example, that you had stumbled across a Magic Formula to create a niche Software as a Service business that brings in $5,000/month while only taking up 10 hou…
Have you written about the magic formula? Care to share?
Yes. A bit. Check out my comment history here for more detail but mostly it’s this:
Work remote contracts to fund yourself while building a saas business targetting real problems that companies will spend money on. Repeat as necessary until you hit a niche that works.
My first success was on try number six or so. The second was half a dozen tries later.
Good luck!
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
>we can no longer work at a stable company, marry a pretty wife, have a couple of kids, retire 40 years later, and live off of a plump 401k. This is what nearly everyone in tech who isn't spending their free time shitposting about their side projects and the nuances of programming languages is doing. Sure you can't work your whole career at one company anymore but that's just a reflection of macroeconomic conditions,…
> the stability is still there for the people who's skills are in demand Saying this after 2008 is just empirically false. You do realize that people lost their entire 401(k)s, right? My dad worked at IBM for over a decade and was laid off. More recently, my buddy (late 20s) was laid off by IBM after working there for the past 7 years; I know people in their 40s and 50s (at big companies and startups alike) that were…
Have you thought about cutting down your expenses, living frugally to build up your investments?
I find it hard to imagine someone making an engineer’s salary can not afford a house, even in LA.
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Musk had about $140 million when he ~started~ bought (sorry) Tesla. That's a pretty far cry from a billion. On top of that, there was no guarantee that electric cars would ever be embraced, especially by Americans, who traditionally, love ICE muscle cars.
Once you get past a few million dollars, the extra money is just bargaining power and losing it doesn’t affect your day to day quality of life
Lol you clearly are mistaken about how human emotions and happiness works
Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
I write software because I have always liked computers and always spent all my free time figuring out coding, linux, networking, and hacking in general. I don't expect to become the next Zuckerberg and I think that's the equivalent of telling kids they can make it in professional sports. I'm just content making a comfortable living building systems for someone else. I think I could have made roughly as good of a livi…
The thing is, some people don't want to do well and merely be part of the upper middle class. Some people want to get rich . And the strategies you must employ to be comfortable are much different than those required to make serious money. Different strokes, different folks.
That's naive and unexperienced view on life values and true achievements.
These days, money isn't impressive. What you actually do in your life is. For some of it, some amount of money is important, and if you have plenty its easier to achieve. But that's about it. I live in place swarming with rich folks, both old rich and new rich, while being neither. Most of them live such boring lives it would be sad if I cared for them. Never once met one of them that I would want to swap my adventurous life with. Had to go through a bit of hardship to get where I am obviously but not that much.
What I want to say - striving to get rich from the start is a stupid strategy of a clueless person. Be good at something you do, and more importantly be good at living a great life, being a good kind person. Being rich becomes just a gimmick, whether it happens or not.