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The myth of the serial entrepreneur

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Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#41

Post by drx »

aortega wrote: post #32
kator wrote: post #15

Really good article, at first I started reading on the defensive because I am a serial entrepreneur. For 28 years of my life I never had a payroll check from anyone but my own companies. It was amazing and painful at the same time. I thought about starting my sixth company and I got a chance to be an SVP at a very large public company. I did that for a while and really enjoyed it and actually moved on to a new compan…

It's amazing how you people really believe all this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate when people think of themselves a beautiful butterfly. Common people, employees, plumbers, etc. also have ideas, also have "bold blindness", they also have a willingness to create from nothing (who think created the thousands of open-source apps that are part of GNU and/or Linux, entrepeneurs?) is not that what separates yo…

It's not as zero-sum as you seem to imply.

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#42

Post by heretohelp »

kator wrote: post #15

Really good article, at first I started reading on the defensive because I am a serial entrepreneur. For 28 years of my life I never had a payroll check from anyone but my own companies. It was amazing and painful at the same time. I thought about starting my sixth company and I got a chance to be an SVP at a very large public company. I did that for a while and really enjoyed it and actually moved on to a new compan…

Create from nothing in the face of extreme adversity?

You're an entrepreneur, not an infantryman. Don't kid yourself, nobody's preventing you from going and making something.

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#43

Post by saraid216 »

aortega wrote: post #32
kator wrote: post #15

Really good article, at first I started reading on the defensive because I am a serial entrepreneur. For 28 years of my life I never had a payroll check from anyone but my own companies. It was amazing and painful at the same time. I thought about starting my sixth company and I got a chance to be an SVP at a very large public company. I did that for a while and really enjoyed it and actually moved on to a new compan…

It's amazing how you people really believe all this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate when people think of themselves a beautiful butterfly. Common people, employees, plumbers, etc. also have ideas, also have "bold blindness", they also have a willingness to create from nothing (who think created the thousands of open-source apps that are part of GNU and/or Linux, entrepeneurs?) is not that what separates yo…

Why the diss on Africa?

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#44

Post by saraid216 »

heretohelp wrote: post #42
kator wrote: post #15

Really good article, at first I started reading on the defensive because I am a serial entrepreneur. For 28 years of my life I never had a payroll check from anyone but my own companies. It was amazing and painful at the same time. I thought about starting my sixth company and I got a chance to be an SVP at a very large public company. I did that for a while and really enjoyed it and actually moved on to a new compan…

Create from nothing in the face of extreme adversity? You're an entrepreneur, not an infantryman. Don't kid yourself, nobody's preventing you from going and making something.

The extreme adversity isn't necessarily from other people.

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#45

Post by j_baker »

aortega wrote: post #32
kator wrote: post #15

Really good article, at first I started reading on the defensive because I am a serial entrepreneur. For 28 years of my life I never had a payroll check from anyone but my own companies. It was amazing and painful at the same time. I thought about starting my sixth company and I got a chance to be an SVP at a very large public company. I did that for a while and really enjoyed it and actually moved on to a new compan…

It's amazing how you people really believe all this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate when people think of themselves a beautiful butterfly. Common people, employees, plumbers, etc. also have ideas, also have "bold blindness", they also have a willingness to create from nothing (who think created the thousands of open-source apps that are part of GNU and/or Linux, entrepeneurs?) is not that what separates yo…

Whether I agree with you depends upon your definition of "you people". HN certainly has its fair share of startup circle jerkery and idealization, but the grandparent didn't come off as being a part of that. Rather, it sounds like they were just trying to share their experiences on the subject of the OP.

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#46

Post by temp1337 »

Could someone convince me that Hacker News is not "serial navel-gazing". No, I didn't read the article. Do you people work? Not everyone can be a billionaire, and you can't eat ego (or butthurt). I'm really open to coming here--maybe not posting, but looking for interesting things to read. There is only so much time in the day--I can always hug my dog. My dog doesn't care about ego (or butthurt).

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#47

Post by temp1337 »

mindcrime wrote: post #28
mik4el wrote: post #24

Another perspective; can you call yourself a true entrepreneur if you haven't had more than one entrepreneurial endevaour (I'm not talking that you need to have IPOd a tech company before but rather had a lemonade stand as a kid and vice versa)?

When I read a question that gets into what or is not a "true entrepreneur" all I can think of is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman which suggests to me that debating over labels like "true entrepreneur" (or not) or "serial entrepreneur" (or not) is a waste of time. The same discussion also smacks of a sort of elitism that I associate with the idiots to run around talking about what metal bands are or are…

Your link to Wikipedia further fuels my occasional trolls there. I know enough about enough things to introduce sophisticated errors beyond the "bill fucks jane" type trolls you'll see in article histories. Self-reflection is obviously a very difficult thing for our species, and perhaps you should reflect that you aren't being very productive making this comment. Hug your cat.

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#48

Post by kator »

aortega wrote: post #32
kator wrote: post #15

Really good article, at first I started reading on the defensive because I am a serial entrepreneur. For 28 years of my life I never had a payroll check from anyone but my own companies. It was amazing and painful at the same time. I thought about starting my sixth company and I got a chance to be an SVP at a very large public company. I did that for a while and really enjoyed it and actually moved on to a new compan…

It's amazing how you people really believe all this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate when people think of themselves a beautiful butterfly. Common people, employees, plumbers, etc. also have ideas, also have "bold blindness", they also have a willingness to create from nothing (who think created the thousands of open-source apps that are part of GNU and/or Linux, entrepeneurs?) is not that what separates yo…

What's is a amazing is I started my first business with $486.00 in the bank. Don't berate people because you don't understand how it's done. Several of my companies were partnerships with other people for funding.

As bedris quoted: "[the] definition of an entrepreneur is someone who makes things happen despite not controlling the resources necessary to achieve them."

It's not always about rich people having fun.. most of the time it's about people following their passion and pushing every limit to make stuff happen.

And most of the time it's about complete and utter failure and learning from that so you do better the next time. :-)

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#49

Post by kator »

krschultz wrote: post #33
aortega wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how you people really believe all this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate when people think of themselves a beautiful butterfly. Common people, employees, plumbers, etc. also have ideas, also have "bold blindness", they also have a willingness to create from nothing (who think created the thousands of open-source apps that are part of GNU and/or Linux, entrepeneurs?) is not that what separates yo…

Success or failure has a large component of luck that people don't like to acknowledge. Especially counter-factual luck. My parents are very lucky to never have had to deal with serious illness, injury, accident, etc. I'm sure if there was a terrible car accident that killed my family, I wouldn't exactly be as focused on my work and therefore less 'succesful' as an entrepreneur. But there is an element of uniqueness…

I agree.. I often say the real talent is being in the right place at the right time. Sadly that's not always an option and sometimes it's hard work that helps even the odds.

Re: The myth of the serial entrepreneur

#50

Post by aortega »

saraid216 wrote: post #43
aortega wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how you people really believe all this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I hate when people think of themselves a beautiful butterfly. Common people, employees, plumbers, etc. also have ideas, also have "bold blindness", they also have a willingness to create from nothing (who think created the thousands of open-source apps that are part of GNU and/or Linux, entrepeneurs?) is not that what separates yo…

Why the diss on Africa?

I wanted to make an example of a poor place. I know it was not potically correct, and a generalization.
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