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I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

mtlynch.io

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Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#321
post #83
post #13

Do you ever calculate your GOOG salary and multiply it by the number of years you've been bootstrapping and have any regrets?

Thanks for reading! > Do you ever calculate your GOOG salary and multiply it by the number of years you've been bootstrapping and have any regrets? I've definitely thought about the number, but no, honestly no regrets at this point. I got an email from a Google recruiter a few weeks ago offering to rehire me back at my old level with no interview or interview for a higher level, and it wasn't tempting at all. I miss…

> I got an email from a Google recruiter a few weeks ago offering to rehire me back at my old level with no interview

that's pretty impressive! as a recent ex googler i cannot imagine them ever offering me that deal

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#322
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine I say my house burned down and I lost everything, and someone (here: neycoda) points out I haven't lost everything because I still own the land underneath the house. Pedantic? Maybe, but still correct. At no point would neycoda state it wasn't a negative outcome, just that "left with nothing" was not true. So in the analogy, it doesn't make sense to ask him if he would like you to put his house on fire... htt…

I am pedantic, when I think it helps clarity and understanding. Here it does not. The goal of a sale is to make money, if there was no deal, than it was no success by that metric.

But what is the purpose of saying the sides walk away with nothing? What kind of information does it convey? Obviously if the deal wasn't closed, then it was no success, but it seems to me to say anyone walked away with nothing tries to really communicate that there was no upside whatsoever - and so it's perfectly valid for neycoda to point out it's not actually true.

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I typically worked 30-40 hours per week.

Many people would not count time required to sleep and attend to basic human needs like eating and hygiene as part of available time. It sounds like it took 75-100% of a full-time position.

[deleted]

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if your employer sponsored plan is not ACA compliant. Health insurance has a 2% profit margin, and premiums are tightly regulated by state insurance commissioners. So a wildly different premium indicates a change in coverage, or a change in the underlying risk pool. For an annual out of pocket maximum of $10k to $18k and age rating factors capping age 64 premiums to 3x age 21, the minimum bronze/silver month…

This is very informative. I am investigating. Thank you!

You're probably not reading this, but I didn't include what I pay out of pocket to 12d DD ... turns out it is MORE than than the most expensive ACA plan, but I have way more coverage at my job. E.g., I can go out of network, where the ACA plans do not allow that; and the deductibles are less than 1/3 of the lowest deductibles on the ACA. Thanks for that nudge.

Where did you get that 2% profit thing? I've been googling for that too and insurance profits and all I can find is that ACA only allows 20% admin costs. Non ACA plans indicate that their profit is ~15-20% of their revenue.

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#325
post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is vesting monthly versus quarterly or annual?

IIRC the vest schedule is 25% at one year and then 75% over the next three years in monthly installments.

I have heard of both monthly and quarterly. Monthly is obviously better, I am curious what companies vest the stock monthly.

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#326
post #68
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch out for survivorship bias though, everybody might think that but a lot more still fail.

The issue is too many startups can be solutions in search of a problem. It's not uncommon to become attached to something. I've done a lot of B2B tooling and the percentage and risk of failure goes down significantly if you are ruthlessly focused on only solving problems that cost time or money for a business, and being flexible to pivot. In the B2B space, there are absolutely 100% instant revenue generating needs an…

What do you mean with building before learning?

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#327
post #326
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is too many startups can be solutions in search of a problem. It's not uncommon to become attached to something. I've done a lot of B2B tooling and the percentage and risk of failure goes down significantly if you are ruthlessly focused on only solving problems that cost time or money for a business, and being flexible to pivot. In the B2B space, there are absolutely 100% instant revenue generating needs an…

What do you mean with building before learning?

I think they are alluding to the sorts of things that Steve Blank teaches in his book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. If you're unfamiliar, it's worth a read IMHO.

Re: I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very informative. I am investigating. Thank you!

You're probably not reading this, but I didn't include what I pay out of pocket to 12d DD ... turns out it is MORE than than the most expensive ACA plan, but I have way more coverage at my job. E.g., I can go out of network, where the ACA plans do not allow that; and the deductibles are less than 1/3 of the lowest deductibles on the ACA. Thanks for that nudge. Where did you get that 2% profit thing? I've been googlin…

Search UNH/Elevance/CVS/Cigna/Humama/Molina/Centene profit margins on macrotrends.

These are all publicly listed health insurers, so all their financials are public. It is not a very profitable business, as pretty much all insurance business.

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