Earlier quoted context omitted.
hn eats up get rich quick clickbait
(yes i realize i clicked the article too). but really this is on the front page? ps: the cure for hangover is breakfast
Or pho
A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
61–70 of 120 posts
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#62Why are we singing his praises here? He sells a hangover drink, and in order to not have to get FDA approval he calls it a dietary supplement. Chances are this does not work at all, and he's selling something with false promises and no regulation. Are we praising snake oil salesmen for their businesses acumen now? The Tesla connection seems like nothing more than click bait since it's not related, except maybe gave h…
A great many things the FDA has approved have been recalled. A great many more things do not have FDA approval at all but have the approval of regulatory agencies in the EU, Canada, and the rest of the world.
My point being we should not rely on government agencies as our source of truth.
Additionally, the misuse (or overuse) of "snake oil" is becoming cliche. This hangover cure may work or it may not. But it certainly isn't snake oil because it has a limited scope of operation. And, until proven otherwise, was created as an honest attempt to alleviate hangover symptoms. Rather than being a callous money grab at the expense of people's health.
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#63Kudos to Tesla for not only being OK with this guy having a sidegig but also not trying to be a jerk in demanding a cut. I know that seems like status quo for companies not to demand control over what employees create outside of work, but seems like that line can be blurred when there's enough money involved. (edit: not just having a sidegig, but being able to launch and run his startup for ~1 year while employed at…
i think (IANAL) that CA moonlighting law protects the [small] guys in both cases.
Yep, as long as you're doing it on your own time, own equipment, with none of your employer's trade secrets.
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#64One factor that seems to have played in his favor is the unlikely pre-launch competitive threat. The fact that no beverage company has emerged in the US as a hangover cure till now gave him time to move deliberately, snake oil or not.
Many other startups (I'm looking at this week's LiDAR fundings) live in a headlong footrace as they try to get to market sooner with a better solution. No time to measure twice.
However, now that the cat's out of the bag....
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that's an overly negative view of the article. People are more interested in how he got where he is, not the product itself. Just because it's not FDA approved yet, doesn't mean its garbage. Not to mention the countless harmful and down right useless products that are pushed and approved by the FDA every year. Tesla connection is important because people have been on an anti-Tesla tear lately, and this paints…
FDA approval is actually relatively lax as it is. To pass the FDA, you pretty much have to do better than a placebo. There's no comparative studies, there's no cross-drug studies, there's no major side-effect studies. FDA testing is almost purely Drug vs Placebo. So if things aren't FDA approved or otherwise are avoiding FDA studies, you need to be cautious with those products. The reason why so many "harmful" produc…
> FDA approval is actually relatively lax as it is. To pass the FDA, you pretty much have to do better than a placebo.
That's the D part of the FDA. The article specifies that he was advised not to call it either of a "cure" or a "drink".
Drinks fall under the FDA's core F responsibility. But he's ordering this drink from a factory that already produces enormous quantities of the same drink for consumption by Koreans. I'm not really worried that drinking it is unsafe, so the dietary supplement branding seems fair.
As to drug testing, doing better than placebo in a trial the FDA will accept is incredibly expensive regardless of how effective your drug is.
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#66This kind of side-hustle is much more exciting to me than the "quit the day job roll the dice" entrepreneur stories. It reminds me of the Shopify features where team members proved the product by creating dropshipping side-hustles.
https://www.shopify.com/blog/75644165-how-i-imported-gaming-...
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
hn eats up get rich quick clickbait
(yes i realize i clicked the article too). but really this is on the front page? ps: the cure for hangover is breakfast
Anecdotally, I always make myself drink a full glass of water before bed if I've been drinking, and give the same to anyone I've been drinking with, and it seems to prevent hangover every time. Correlation is not causation, of course, but it can't hurt.
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#68Kudos to Tesla for not only being OK with this guy having a sidegig but also not trying to be a jerk in demanding a cut. I know that seems like status quo for companies not to demand control over what employees create outside of work, but seems like that line can be blurred when there's enough money involved. (edit: not just having a sidegig, but being able to launch and run his startup for ~1 year while employed at…
Man, don't be giving a corporation kudos for NOT doing shit they OUGHT NOT do in the first place.
If powerful people are butt-raping people left and right you betcha I’m giving kudos to any person I see who decides it’s a no-go
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#69Why are we singing his praises here? He sells a hangover drink, and in order to not have to get FDA approval he calls it a dietary supplement. Chances are this does not work at all, and he's selling something with false promises and no regulation. Are we praising snake oil salesmen for their businesses acumen now? The Tesla connection seems like nothing more than click bait since it's not related, except maybe gave h…
Because it's capitalism and that's how capitalism works.
I don't like capitalism but I like games, and this guy played the game very well. If we don't like the constraints/rules why are we blaming the people who followed those constraints when establishing their algorithms, especially when culture tells them to do so?
Basically, don't hate the player, hate the game.
(Also let's go ahead and get post scarcity asap please starting to get tired of capitalism)
Re: A Former Tesla Staffer Became an Internet Millionaire in His Spare Time
#70Seems like this guy hedged his bets every step of the way: - kept his day job while working on startup - did fake campaign on FB to gauge demand - got friends to try product - croudfunded the first batch This is a really risk averse guy who is making it big. Sort of the opposite of the bombastic risk-it-all founder we often see in SV hero stories.
This is play for play the 4 hour work week strategy. I keep meaning to test out something with it, just got no ideas :(