Weston what's your hashtag or email address?
weston [at] crowdtest.io
Why I abandoned my startup
31–40 of 75 posts
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#32I'm pretty sure that having a lot of money would give you a head start in solving the world's water problems (or whatever problems you happen to care about).
Elon Musk didn't start off founding SpaceX, his first big hit was PayPal right? So I'm sure that "online transactions" was about as boring to an aspiring space entrepreneur as "online shopping" is to you, Weston.
Anyway, decisions other people make often look weird to people observing from the peanut gallery - most of all when you make a decision that feels so right it's almost impossible to "unmake" you usually know that, for whatever reason and with whatever reasoning, you've made the right decision for you, now.
On the topic of solving the world's water problems, I'm reminded of a documentary I saw years ago by a Ghanaian national in Nigeria, the name of which escapes me and which I can't find anywhere. It was around the time of the "make poverty history" campaign. This guy went to Nigeria and tried to do a few basic things like get a house, find a job, etc. and found that at every turn he was faced by rampant corruption. He even setup an NGO and started accepting foreign aid with very little trouble.
The final line in the film is "If you want to solve poverty, you first have to solve corruption" which has always stuck with me.
I'm mentioning this because it may be the case that "solving the water problem" for the majority of people won't be a matter of the (relatively) simple application of technology, but a matter of the much more complex application of political will, diplomacy and grass roots activism. You might already have considered this, but since I remembered the doco I thought I'd mention it, too: sometimes there are problems you have to solve before you solve the problem you really want to solve.
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#33It is both funny and sad to read. So you decided to shed away your chances of success and the financial capacity to back up the projects you believe in +5 years, +10 years, +15 years from now (etc.) for the time preference of working right now on a project - because there is a water problem in this world. Tell me, what are you going to do about hunger? If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have do…
My jaw dropped when I read this, and then I felt sick. It's so dismaying to check in on HN threads and encounter this degree of nastiness and self-parody. Good for you, Weston. I look forward to hearing about your dragon-slaying adventures.
One of the things I try to do is learn from my experience, even when its a crappy experience I try to take something away that gives me a bit of meaning to that time I'll never get back. But that is not the way with everyone.
Some people believe very strongly that collecting the most revenue in the time you have available on the earth is the best possible pursuit a person can have. They do not understand anyone who doesn't share their passion to achieve the highest number of dollars or yuan or yen or rupees.
The real test of belief comes at the end of your life, but during the middle part you believe what you believe.
Consequently any story of following one's passion rather than money will be discounted by folks who don't share that belief, and any story of finding ways to get richer and richer will be discounted by folks who don't share that belief. When you are friends with folks who have one view or the other, and your friendship spans decades, you get a chance to see if you or your friends change views over time.
For a long time I internally beat myself up for not taking Bill Gates up on a job offer in 1978 (chances are if I had stuck with the company I'd be very wealthy now), but as I got older and perhaps more importantly had people I had known well die, I came to appreciate the choices I've made on passions vs money. Not everyone does of course.
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
My jaw dropped when I read this, and then I felt sick. It's so dismaying to check in on HN threads and encounter this degree of nastiness and self-parody. Good for you, Weston. I look forward to hearing about your dragon-slaying adventures.
One of the things I try to do is learn from my experience, even when its a crappy experience I try to take something away that gives me a bit of meaning to that time I'll never get back. But that is not the way with everyone. Some people believe very strongly that collecting the most revenue in the time you have available on the earth is the best possible pursuit a person can have. They do not understand anyone who d…
Money can come or go. But you only live once.
Congrats.
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part of your (steady) income for that? This. There are tons of great organizations (non-profits, etc.) that are already doing wonderful things in a variety of areas. Even the ones with considerable human resources, knowledge, relationships, infrastructure and donor bases usually typically have a need for more support. What these organizations ne…
I strongly disagree. People ought not to let themselves be talked out of unreasonable dreams of greatness. Your comment reads to me like depression distilled into words.
This isn't about being talked out of trying to do good. It's about finding the best way to actually do good.
Most organizations rely on outsiders who contribute their time, money, expertise and ideas, and they gladly welcome such contributions. By getting involved with an established organization, individuals can often take advantage of its existing resources, increasing the likelihood that whatever is contributed will produce an ROI.
Obviously there's no absolute guarantee of this, and I wouldn't suggest that there's no room for new organizations, but new non-profits are a lot like new businesses: most do not "succeed", and a lot of the ones that don't fail outright plod along and never achieve what was hoped for. It doesn't take more than a quick read of a few random Form 990 filings to see this.
So to put it simply: you do not need to start your own thing to help solve big problems. People who have the itch to save the world would be wise to consider that they are far more likely to make a bigger impact by channeling their time, money, passion and ideas to organizations that have been saving the world for years.
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#36I'm pretty sure that having a lot of money would give you a head start in solving the world's water problems (or whatever problems you happen to care about). Elon Musk didn't start off founding SpaceX, his first big hit was PayPal right? So I'm sure that "online transactions" was about as boring to an aspiring space entrepreneur as "online shopping" is to you, Weston. Anyway, decisions other people make often look we…
Gates has said something like "automation multiplies effeciencies in an efficient system and multiplies inefficiencies in an inefficient one." The same can apply to money. I have read that 70% of lottery winners are bankrupt within five years.
Money can grease the wheels but cannot buy a solution that does not exist. That is bought with things like blood, sweat and tears, so to speak.
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#37Good luck!
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#38'Doing work for money, especially when you have passions and interests in something bigger, is the most soul-sucking and demoralizing thing you can do.' You have lived a very sheltered life.
This comment gets better if you rewrite it to avoid the "you", such that it doesn't read like a personal attack. For example: "Many people would be thrilled for their biggest problem in life to be working, for money." That implicitly suggests the benefits of a broader perspective without suggesting any fault on behalf of the author.
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I strongly disagree. People ought not to let themselves be talked out of unreasonable dreams of greatness. Your comment reads to me like depression distilled into words.
This isn't about being talked out of trying to do good. It's about finding the best way to actually do good. Most organizations rely on outsiders who contribute their time, money, expertise and ideas, and they gladly welcome such contributions. By getting involved with an established organization, individuals can often take advantage of its existing resources, increasing the likelihood that whatever is contributed wi…
Yep. I think individuals can choose to work directly or indirectly on a problem and both are worthy. But Buffet didn't start his own foundation, he gave a bunch of money to Gates because duplicating all that infrastructure would be wasteful. I really respected that...
Re: Why I abandoned my startup
#40Oh Weston, I'm in your shoes. I'm dreaming for a day when I can start a business that installs high powered vacuum suction motors and large hoses into 20 foot utility box trucks so I can help clean the billions of tons of trash that plague our cities. When I had time I created a hobby of cleaning up small forests and unclaimed land from trash. I'd show up in a green construction vest so people thought I was official…
When I was visiting St. Petersburg, I saw that along Nevsky Prospekt (essentially the Fifth Ave of St. Petersburg) sanitation workers were using these large mounted vacuums to clean the streets. They weren't like tracks but rather like carts with a large, vertical component (I assume the vacuum parts) out of which came a hose. They did a pretty good job cleaning up the trash and detritus I saw along the Prospekt.
Your idea definitely has some credence.