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Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

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Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#41

Post by kscaldef »

HockeyPlayer wrote: post #17
enjo wrote: post #6

Of course it's not ok. At some level getting rich is a life-or-death issue. How do I get enough money to retire? How can I possibly afford health-care? What if I or my lovely wife get cancer? The reality is, the later years of your life are going to be significantly more secure and happier if you make a lot of money.

Don't be silly. She wrote that her friend, "could easily bring in a low six-figure income" If you save wisely, you can retire just fine after a career at a tech company making 2-3x the US median salary. And most companies have good health coverage for the cancer. She is talking about the pressure to make $10M or more through a startup, not getting the money to retire comfortably.

> And most companies have good health coverage for the cancer.

Well... kinda. One of the dirty little secrets of employer-provided group health care is that when you have one person whose health care costs vastly exceed the average, there's enormous pressure to get that person out of the "group". I've know companies where someone got cancer and the premiums for the whole company doubled the next year.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#42

Post by oconnore »

clistctrl wrote: post #31
pg wrote: post #13

In my experience, startup founders who want to get rich want it more in order to have the freedom to work on what they want than to impress people. That could be because we prefer startups whose founders include hackers. On the other hand, we don't just prefer that type because they're more fun to hang around with, but because in our opinion they're more likely to succeed.

I can only speak to myself, but I want to get rich not for a Lamborghini, but so I can start another company to truly make a difference. Personally I think the Gates foundation is going to have a longer lasting impact on the world then Microsoft has. Yes I realize how huge of an impact Microsoft has had.

I think the one way that riches truly improve your quality of life is to make travel easy. The ability to explore your world is a great gift, and something that not many underpriveledged people can afford. A Lamborghini doesn't factor into that equation, because unless you live near the Autobahn, it doesn't get you anywhere a more modest car can't in the same time.

But if I ever become extraordinarily wealthy, my first purchase will be a private jet, and I will explore as much as I possibly can before I die.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#43

Post by orangecat »

leot wrote: post #11

If/when we achieve negligible senescence, and the social order becomes frozen, it might become pretty important to find oneself at the top of the heap.

I don't actually think that would happen. Corporations are "immortal" today, and they can still rise and fall quickly.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#44

Post by martey »

[deleted] wrote: post #7

[deleted]

The point of the article is not that men should not be ambitious, but that their self-image should not rely on how much money they make.

You might consider it "ambitious" if a woman spends a significant amount of time, money, and effort on her appearance in order to look like a celebrity or supermodel, but others would call it "dumb and dangerous."

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#45

Post by run4yourlives »

fizx wrote: post #37
axod wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "In my experience, startup founders who want to get rich want it more in order to have the freedom to work on what they want than to impress people." Isn't the whole point of doing a startup, to be able to work on what you want? Surely creating a profitable startup gives you that freedom to do what you like?

No, because there's billing, payroll, taxes, customer support, management, board meetings and a hundred other things that come with running a startup. We have to do what's best for the company, and that usually doesn't include taking a month off to try to build a robot spider.

Well that depends, and it is the difference between working for a company and "running" a company, IMHO.

The actual act of founding a company can result in you working for it or running it, sometimes one after the other. This transition is as key as the work itself. The traditional method is to sell, taking a lump sum buyout and outsourcing the entire operation to someone else forever. That gives you the base from which you can take a month or more to build robot spiders.

Other methods also exist, most popular being to outsource a lot of operation functions and automate others, but still retain control. This happens a lot in many organizations, not just tech startups.

This provides enough freedom to build robot spiders and work on your company at the same time; retaining the investment for the long term, presumably because it is something you actually enjoy doing. Tim Ferris is the extreme example here, 37Signals a more realistic one.

If you are slaving away "working" for your own company as a long term solution, you are doing it wrong. You may as well go find a corporate job and pile up the pension.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#46

Post by hyperbovine »

pg wrote: post #13

In my experience, startup founders who want to get rich want it more in order to have the freedom to work on what they want than to impress people. That could be because we prefer startups whose founders include hackers. On the other hand, we don't just prefer that type because they're more fun to hang around with, but because in our opinion they're more likely to succeed.

It's the Mexican fisherman story. Sacrifice your freedom and happiness so that you can get rich so that you can have freedom and happiness.

Why not just take the direct route?

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#47

Post by pchristensen »

johnrob wrote: post #36

For both wealth and (perceived) beauty, there is often a relatively easy solution: move! For more beauty, move to a location with a greater ratio of the opposite sex. For more wealth, move to a location with a lower cost of living. I don't know how much longer these arbitrage opportunities will exist, but for now they probably represent the biggest 'lifehacks' one can make.

"I don't know how much longer these arbitrage opportunities will exist"

Forever. Unless there would be a world where every city costs the same and has the exact same gender ratio. And, most people don't move, thus leaving the arbitrage intact.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#48

Post by prototype56 »

nickpinkston wrote: post #29
pg wrote: post #13

In my experience, startup founders who want to get rich want it more in order to have the freedom to work on what they want than to impress people. That could be because we prefer startups whose founders include hackers. On the other hand, we don't just prefer that type because they're more fun to hang around with, but because in our opinion they're more likely to succeed.

We just had this discussion yesterday at a StartupDrinks. I think the Darwinian notion says: 1.) We are hardwired to want things to attract mates. 2.) Power, Success, Prestige, Freedom, etc. are attractive. 3.) We want things that are derivative of such things, even if we consciously believe we want to benefit humanity, think it's, fun etc. Conclusion: The mind has a way of aligning our conscious interests with our s…

Yes immediate and proximate causations for our actions are often wildly different . This has parallels across all species .

A peacock my really feel that it has passion for dance this need to "express itself"( immediate causation )..but to an outside human observer all it is doing is attracting peahens ( ultimate causation)

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#49

Post by natrius »

mquander wrote: post #30
oconnore wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should have read to the 4th paragraph: "My girlfriends and I are certainly driven to be successful; we want to be high achievers in our fields, and we stress over everything we haven’t yet accomplished, but no one’s especially concerned with getting rich. We hardly ever talk about money."

I agree with you so much that I deleted my original comment, because I unjustly ignored a lot of what the author was saying.

Deleting the comment made the thread harder to understand.

Re: Hey, Guys, It's Totally Okay If You Don't Get Rich

#50

Post by scrod »

jlgosse wrote: post #12

Without trying to sound like an absolute ass, this article shows EXACTLY why most of the founders of the biggest empires and hottest startups are in fact men. I say MOST as I'm sure there are many women as well, but clearly they are overshadowed by men in this case.

>Without trying to sound like an absolute ass...

Some things just come naturally to you I suppose.

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