61–70 of 129 posts
Comes close to an important point, and then misses it completely. The problem is not that Saudi money would get them influence at new U.S. tech companies. The problem is that Saudi money is getting pushed into "tech" companies that have unsustainable business models, and this is sucking all the oxygen (e.g. available developers) from other projects that could accomplish more. Imagine two startup ideas. One, could be…
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"willingly" is a bit of a stretch considering the difficulty of doing so, and gives off a different connontation.
Of course it’s difficult, but we all have the means to build social movements, companies or sue if we feel that there’s something terrible going on. But we all like our flights, our cars, our cheaper and cheaper phones, stable policy in the West and perceived security. It’s hard but you can go against it. Just always saying ‘it’s the elite’ and then sitting it out seems really easy to me. Everyone has a conception of…
A lot of the competing companies have a large vertical integration in their field, and can refuse your supply for any of it
One thing to point out: Oil is still _huge_ when it comes to investment and sheer amount of financing available. Anything involving large-scale finance will have oil money involved in it in some way. Frankly, even at the height of the tech boom, the tech industry has never had significant capital available compared to the oil industry. I've worked in both... Folks in tech think 100 million in capital is a lot. In oil…
I should go be an oil boy.
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I didn't know they were that cheap. A new refinery starts at about $5B.
What kind of things go into a refinery that form that price?
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Of course it’s difficult, but we all have the means to build social movements, companies or sue if we feel that there’s something terrible going on. But we all like our flights, our cars, our cheaper and cheaper phones, stable policy in the West and perceived security. It’s hard but you can go against it. Just always saying ‘it’s the elite’ and then sitting it out seems really easy to me. Everyone has a conception of…
There is a tremendous amount of intertia that needs to be overcome when starting a competing company or a movement to replace any of those. A lot of the competing companies have a large vertical integration in their field, and can refuse your supply for any of it
One thing to point out: Oil is still _huge_ when it comes to investment and sheer amount of financing available. Anything involving large-scale finance will have oil money involved in it in some way. Frankly, even at the height of the tech boom, the tech industry has never had significant capital available compared to the oil industry. I've worked in both... Folks in tech think 100 million in capital is a lot. In oil…
I was at an iron works a while back where I learned that an industrial grade blast furnace was, ballpark, $100 billion. This was built 100 years ago. That day I decided I just didn’t and wouldn’t ever understand capital markets.
Comes close to an important point, and then misses it completely. The problem is not that Saudi money would get them influence at new U.S. tech companies. The problem is that Saudi money is getting pushed into "tech" companies that have unsustainable business models, and this is sucking all the oxygen (e.g. available developers) from other projects that could accomplish more. Imagine two startup ideas. One, could be…
Well that just means that a rational investor would make a killing amid this chaos, wouldn't he? So, we have to assume that for the last decade, not a single VC in the industry have been rational enough to pick up easy money everybody else is overlooking?
The sustainable project isnt providing liquidity for 20 years if it even gets enough capital to execute at all, whereas the Softbank FOMO project will in 5 years after they are involved.
You are betting on founders and their network, not their idea.
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There is a tremendous amount of intertia that needs to be overcome when starting a competing company or a movement to replace any of those. A lot of the competing companies have a large vertical integration in their field, and can refuse your supply for any of it
Of course, that’s the whole point. But you can build inertia. Take a look at Europe where there’s tremendous protesting going on regarding Climate Change, and we slowly see some change in for one, public opinion and two in policy making. It’s slow and painful and frustrating but you gotta work and not always blame the ‘global elite’. I know it’s hard to build inertia, I failed in court, I failed at building companies…
It can also in many ways to be literally impossible to compete for example due to some direct-or-not regulation.
I think it's not fair to roll the fault on the commenter either, even if it's easier to not think about it that way
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The average cost for an offshore oil drilling rig is now about $650MM. The ones that can go really deep are even more expensive.
I didn't know they were that cheap. A new refinery starts at about $5B.