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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

#71

Post by tomwalker »

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.

Are you looking for people for this robot spider startup? Il join

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

#72

Post by iron_ball »

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.

You're still going to be hired for tech jobs at 50? Not from what I hear.

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

#74

Post by tansey »

Imagine you're in a big slot machine tournament with 150 competitors. Each player gets to pull one of two machines. One machine pays $1 every time. The other machine pays an average of $0 but has a variance of $50. Everyone gets 1 pull, the scores are tallied, and the bottom half of the players are out, and a new group is brought in to replace them.

Which machine would you pull? The evidence[1] is pretty clear that if the variance is high, the population will converge to people who go for the second one.

Not to sound sexist here, but women are not faced with having to pull the slot machine. From an evolutionary standpoint, they don't have (get?) to play in the tournament. Their goal is to minimize their own losses, since they only have a very small number of offspring they can create.

Men are forced into the arena, which creates the mentality that has the author baffled. We have to keep trying to hit it big, otherwise our lineage dies off as some other lucky guy comes along and forces us out.

That's what being an entrepreneur is all about. It's the diligent pulling of the slot machine with the lower mean.[2]

[1] Fogel, et. al., "Do Evolutionary Processes Minimize Expected Losses?" http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.8.8... [PDF]

[2] Everything after footnote 1 is pure opinion and based on only my own intuition. :)

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

#77

Post by zackattack »

iamwil wrote: post #38
plainOldText wrote: post #16

If this would be OK then HN would lose most of its users. :)))

Hardly, if HN attracts its intended audience--people that are intellectually curious about everything.

Don't think that's the intended audience, buddy. It was started as a ruse to recruit companies for a venture capital firm to invest in.

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

#78

Post by Revisor »

I’ve watched him lose his health, sanity, credit and girlfriends again and again for this obsession. “This is literally killing you,” I tell him. “It has to stop.”

If she can see he's doing something wrong, she should help him get on track, not discourage him. I would avoid this lady like plague.

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

#79

Post by pedalpete »

hyperbovine wrote: post #46
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?

I'm not familiar with the Mexican fisherman story (search didn't return anything).

Was the Mexican fisherman toiling away on a fishing boat so he could become rich so he could have the freedom to spend his days fishing?

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

#80

Post by seldo »

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.

Call me cynical, but I don't think 18-year-old Bill Gates had the Gates Foundation in mind when he started trampling over the competition in his rise to the top. He wanted to be rich and powerful (because frankly, with the looks and alleged personality of Bill Gates, how else was he going to get a date?).

The Gates Foundation, worthy as it is, was something he only realized he wanted after he had achieved everything he'd thought he wanted, matured, and realized it wasn't really important.

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