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Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

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Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#61

Post by bobby_9x »

"Money won’t make you happy"

I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy.

If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward.

But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me happy. The development challenges and systems that I build to run my company is what I really enjoy. The money is just a nice side-effect.

I agree with the rest of the article. I had an ex-business partner that got his idea of a startup from the stories he sees online. Everything we did had to 'change the world', regardless of the business model or practicality.

I had many hours of discussions about this and had to continually convince him we needed some sort of business model. His response was always: "We will get funding"...with no users, traffic, business model, or a decent MVP.

At some point I finally convinced him and as soon as it got down to the hard work, and he didn't see immediate results, he got discouraged. He thought that somehow if we just built something, we would have thousands of users in a couple of weeks.

I realized that even if whatever we worked on succeeded, he probably wouldn't be a good fit in the next stage of the company and I would be spending more and more of my time fighting these ideas. I had to end the partnership and he ended up getting a job.

Not everyone should own a business.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#62

Post by ChuckMcM »

ideonexus wrote: post #12

> 1. It’s almost never rags to riches This is the point that has really started to become clear to me in recent years, and not just for startups but for artists, authors, athletes, and all the other dream jobs we idolize: so many of these people are either (1) not really making that much money or (2) already had a trust-fund or come from a wealthy background so they can spend all of their time writing, painting, or e…

I am always a bit sad when I see money equated with success. Money is an artifact of success, not a result of success.

There are many "trust fund" kids who have lots of money and zero success, and there are successful people who do not have a lot of money (generally "yet"). Success is defining a vision of how you want things to be and then working to make that happen. For some it will bring in additional money, for everyone it brings satisfaction.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#63

Post by EGreg »

Actually, moving to Thailand and sipping mojitos doesn't cost as much as living on your parents' couch in NYC.

As that joke goes, the businessman sees the native sitting under a banana tree and asks why he doesn't work, so he can make a lot of money, retire and sit under a banana tree.

The natural pleasures in life don't cost that much, with today's technology and productivity. And they will continue to become more affordable.

The goal of a startup is to organize people and resources to change the world for the better!

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#64

Post by godzillabrennus »

Mahn wrote: post #44
SFjulie1 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not alone Made my startup worked hard. Got contracts. Customers forgot to pay. It sucked. And in my country it was normal. It was not Africa. It was France. Big corporations do whatever the fuck want even if it is illegal. Trades dispute are regulated by "peers" tribunal dating from middle age that are crooked. And newspapers, teachers and politics that never had a job were pointing fingers randomly at problems.

This is why I don't like B2B much; a monolith company can randomly decide to pay 5-10 months late and no one bats an eye because that's the normal thing to do for a company of that size, small entrepreneurs that are barely making it be damned.

Small startups can leverage a factoring company to handle A/R and do risk assessment for lines of credit with customers before doing work. Definitely a worthwhile service to leverage if you do B2B.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#65

Post by NiftyFifty »

bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

It's a pretty simple principle between the happy curve and where it intersects with the financial stability curve. However, the opposite can be very true as well. Namely, poverty as it plays out on the social ills that we in the United States have - most notable, are minorities and the lack / motivation of the government to cure this problem. I believe there is some paradigm where happy can be achieved if the work/happy ratio is subsidized through social programs lowering the happy curve (or at least tolerance) because of the work requirements to achieve the financial base to maintain that curve. It's an interesting problem, but overwhelming it causes desperation and by a minor extension drug / alcohol abuse / crime syndication, and violence (domestic abuse and gun deaths in particular). The upward mobility is one thing, but an opposite paradigm is also a very interesting dynamic with respect to if money can or cannot by happiness. However, your example of "owning your own company" is also a self-confidence motivator that is a game changer. :) That's why we need a minority middle class to fix poverty, IMHO.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#66

Post by [deleted] »

bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

[deleted]

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#67

Post by um_ya »

bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

I had a similar experience with a company I'm currently working on. This particular individual liked to "think big thoughts", but when it came to doing the work he would always find an excuse of why he couldn't do it or he had "previous plans". We later decided to work on the project without him. We never looked back.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#69

Post by FLUX-YOU »

SeanDav wrote: post #37
epalmer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how do we know if it is in our blood? That is probably the hardest part.

> "But how do we know if it is in our blood? That is probably the hardest part" I would say if you have to ask that question of yourself, then the answer is self evident.

That's just setting someone up to fool themselves or others.

Really you need competent peers to tell you.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#70

Post by jerguismi »

mtberatwork wrote: post #34
tajen wrote: post #8

I was under HN influence when I started my solo product. I had designed it as bootstrapped: There is an opportunity, I fulfill it, then I don't go after the x1000 scaling. It worked at the end of year 1, and we're 2.5 years later, and I'm happy, not millionaire, but I have my own work schedule. There are several kinds of startups. The article mentions huge ones. Or you can start a consultancy, very classic business,…

> Or you can start a consultancy, very classic business, low risk. Low risk? Consultancy/freelance businesses are very high risk. Easy to start, very difficult to maintain.

What kind of risk do you mean? At least you don't need capital.
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