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My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

miguelcarranza.es

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Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#81

Post by stoneforger »

afavour wrote: post #45
riazrizvi wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things happen, it’s true. And in the world there are many enterprises that spring up to present solutions as long as you fork over all your cash, and here in the USA, based on the market, that means lots and lots of cash. That’s just a perspective on hardship, it’s not the only way. People deal with hardships with many many tools. My favorite tools are dignity, grace, courage, personal strength, and ingenuity. Money…

With respect, those words feel very empty. Face the prospect of, say, chemotherapy you can’t afford or death. See how you feel about dignity and grace then.

So people who can't afford a broken system cannot afford dignity or grace? We should be ashamed we allow this kind of collective paranoia.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#82

Post by jimbo808 »

throw03172019 wrote: post #54

I’d take the money, spend time with family (he mentioned toddler) and then figure out what to do next. Retiring isn’t everyone’s dream but at least having generational wealth is a big relief.

Honestly, I respect the commitment. It's almost certainly a bad decision, but a founder that can turn down a 9 figure exit at the tail end of a tech bubble he's right in the middle of, has a good chance at having the right mindset to build a great company and survive the collapse. There's a good chance he regrets this for the rest of his life, but you can't argue that he wasn't a true believer or is a sellout.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#83

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

airstrike wrote: post #73
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many times have the board refused a sell for the right amount of money.

That is not "insisting on a sale". Selling for the right amount of money is literally the right decision to make!

The entire submission is about someone who doesn’t want to be acquired even at “the right price”. You don’t have that option when you take outside investors.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#84

Post by charlie0 »

mjr00 wrote: post #40
weslleyskah wrote: post #30

Why this industry has such a claustrophobic atmosphere? If he was a doctor and had a calling for the profession, I would understand. I was doing an unrelated degree (Econ), but now I am doing a tech degree and I never saw such a depressive mentality towards life among peers. It is like these people are hell bound to the work culture, diehard workaholics. They don't know anything else outside of a computer screen. Hon…

> It is like these people are hell bound to the work culture, diehard workaholics. They don't know anything else outside of a computer screen. This is a founder/CTO. You don't get to be a founder or C-level without making work a lot more of your life than just a 9-5. As much as people complain about the C-suite not doing anything and spending all their time golfing, they're basically on work mode 24/7. I've never wor…

I agree with this 100%. The thing you have to watch out for is when they try to pin similar levels of responsibility on you for very little upside.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#85

Post by cebert »

I’m a big fan of the idea of an Office of the CTO group reporting directly to the CTO that helps with prototyping greenfield projects and exploring innovative ideas. I believe a group like this would be beneficial for larger organizations, like the one I work in. There are numerous opportunities for market disruption, but it becomes increasingly challenging to make bold bets as the company expands. If I had the power to do so, I’d set this up at my company asap.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#86

Post by riazrizvi »

paradox460 wrote: post #70
jondwillis wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bro, what? $2k? I just double checked and everything available for less than $2k is awful if you care about, IDK, having a family, a pet, a kitchen, outdoor space, green space , not having to share everything, including peace and quiet, with a revolving cast of characters. Not that these things are required to “live,” but I certainly am not interested in making these tradeoffs.

Nah see you live in a SRO in Chinatown and get all your meals at the Catholic mission.

Yes I exactly did that! Moved into an SRO on the edge of Chinatown. It's a nice tiny apartment, I'm on the edge of a mecca of affordable grocery stores, and I'm two blocks from my part-time job that gives me free-time to self-fund my software hustle. But there are other options. What's wrong with living with good people in a room share?

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#87

Post by jazzyjackson »

riazrizvi wrote: post #86
paradox460 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah see you live in a SRO in Chinatown and get all your meals at the Catholic mission.

Yes I exactly did that! Moved into an SRO on the edge of Chinatown. It's a nice tiny apartment, I'm on the edge of a mecca of affordable grocery stores, and I'm two blocks from my part-time job that gives me free-time to self-fund my software hustle. But there are other options. What's wrong with living with good people in a room share?

Finding good people to live with is a miracle and not a permanent one. All it took is one good roommate to decide he didn't need to take his antipsychotics anymore for me to never want a roommate again.

So enjoy your situation while the good times roll, no shade, but people have their own reasons to never consider living in an SRO besides mere materialism.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#88

Post by riazrizvi »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #87
riazrizvi wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I exactly did that! Moved into an SRO on the edge of Chinatown. It's a nice tiny apartment, I'm on the edge of a mecca of affordable grocery stores, and I'm two blocks from my part-time job that gives me free-time to self-fund my software hustle. But there are other options. What's wrong with living with good people in a room share?

Finding good people to live with is a miracle and not a permanent one. All it took is one good roommate to decide he didn't need to take his antipsychotics anymore for me to never want a roommate again. So enjoy your situation while the good times roll, no shade, but people have their own reasons to never consider living in an SRO besides mere materialism.

Fair point.

BTW I was originally searching for an SRO but I landed a 'micro-apartment' (I just double-checked terms), it has its own kitchen/bathroom. Had I stopped looking I wouldn't have found this great situation. Great enough that when I won a housing lottery the following month, for a nicer apartment at the same rate, I was content to give it up and let someone else receive it.

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#89

Post by what »

riazrizvi wrote: post #33
louthy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is it? So you can what? Buy exotic vehicles? Buy extra houses? Buy surgeries? Buy expensive experiences? Regain your own time. As a former CTO who has recently exited, recovering my own time again is more valuable to me than the money (although the money means I can retain my own time going forward). > His life has meaning, he’s of value to his employees and customers and partners. Your work is not you and if you t…

You can live in the heart of San Francisco on $2k/mo, including rent. You don’t need to work 10hours a week as a software developer, to support that lifestyle. I could fit a solar system in the gap between your two options of a) full time CTO or b) 9 figures to ‘win back your time’. Personally I believe you’ve been operating on autopilot, and not designing your life to suit your own needs.

How are you living in SF on 2k/month? How many people sleep in the same room as you?

Re: My role as a founder-CTO: year 8

#90

Post by j7ake »

bcantrill wrote: post #27
afavour wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So that you have security for the rest of your life and your children have security for the rest of theirs. And likely their children as well. Not everthing bought with money is superficial. Certainly a lot is less superficial than dedicating your life to “in app payments made easy”. Turning down generational wealth so you can continue to pursue your dream of being a tech CEO seems like a wildly selfish decision to m…

I know from the outside this seems very simple, but it's more complicated than that. Certainly, if the objective is (merely) security for one's children, that can be secured with much (much) less money (and likely was secured in the secondary that the author makes reference to); having nine figures of wealth is not an unvarnished good, and in particular makes raising grounded, self-reliant kids pretty complicated. To…

You forgot to account for the 100+ employees. The liquidity event would have helped their families as well.
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