81–90 of 110 posts
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More money on average?
Does that mean they're more successful? Honest question. Millions of people adore Brad Pitt, very few people know who the CEO of Apple is. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of downsides to being a famous Hollywood actor. But I wouldn't assume success is absolutely all about money.
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Does that mean they're more successful? Honest question. Millions of people adore Brad Pitt, very few people know who the CEO of Apple is. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of downsides to being a famous Hollywood actor. But I wouldn't assume success is absolutely all about money.
For the person who thinks "money" is a shallow, why would "celebrity" be any "more fulfilling"? This is like comparig the health of two kinds of junk food.
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I respect Sam a lot. I had the good fortune of meeting with him a few times and he invested in my company. I found him to be very smart, honest, and real. If I had to capture one of his strengths, I'd say he understands how systems operate (technology, people, and cultural systems). I'd have to disagree with you on lack of concrete achievements. He has a lot of concrete achievements that you can point to. Starting an…
I'm sure he's a remarkable person, but not so sure about the examples you give as concrete achievements. First, I would not consider Loopt a success. Second, can you give examples of startups he helped succeed? There is a saying to the effect of "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?" Similarly, how can a person be a great startup advisor without significant successes under his belt? If he is tha…
The more heartening way of looking at your conclusion is that if you do everything right - don't screw anyone over, take calculated prudent risks, seek out information, make sane decisions, and work hard - and if you make that visible to people, you can usually soft-land even if your startup fails. That was my experience with my own failed startup - once I folded it up and wrote a postmortem, I had a large number of job offers, and took one at Google. People judge you based on what you do, not for things out of your control.
Given all this over-the-top fawning from Graham, Thiel, etc, one thing comes to mind: "Where's the beef?" AFAIK, he only has one failed startup to his name, and yet he is hailed as a shrewd thinker and top startup strategist. For those who know and respect Sam, how would you reconcile his amazing status/respect-from-top-people with his lack of concrete achievements?
I respect Sam a lot. I had the good fortune of meeting with him a few times and he invested in my company. I found him to be very smart, honest, and real. If I had to capture one of his strengths, I'd say he understands how systems operate (technology, people, and cultural systems). I'd have to disagree with you on lack of concrete achievements. He has a lot of concrete achievements that you can point to. Starting an…
Do they? What's the YC business failure rate? As far as I see it they're in the business of making educated bets on what people will turn out to be, and they're often wrong. They are not choosing the "best of the best".
Not really of any importance to the article, but: > It’s not crazy for Sam Altman’s phone bill to rack up 6,000 talking minutes in a month. He talks a lot, to a lot of people. Maybe 6000 is above average, but is it even close to 'crazy' for anyone? That's only 3.3 hours a day, I probably hit that on week days for work alone (sure plenty of people will have jobs where less phone calls are needed), and with family and…
So I suppose it's all relative. I'm not anti-social, I just don't use the phone very often.
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For the person who thinks "money" is a shallow, why would "celebrity" be any "more fulfilling"? This is like comparig the health of two kinds of junk food.
I'm just questioning why one junk food (as you put it) is more valuable than the other. I am unconvinced that it is.
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Fascinating in what way? The guy is smart, successful, and he deserves what he's achieved. That he's found the opportunities he's capitalized on isn't his fault.
Because you said "No disrespect to Sam in any way" trying to head off (I speculate) people's immediate negative reaction in interpreting to quickly what you said as in some way being disrespectful. As if someone that is held in high respect by the group (or PG) can't ever be questioned as deserving of something by someone else. As far as this "I've always held onto a bit of hope that maybe one day I'll be as great or…
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+1. 50 Cent is my #1 role model since he has achieved success despite adversity (Both of his parents were dead by the time he was 8 & he grew up in a rough neighborhood).
And got shot. Like, 12 times. So, try not to get too inspired by him ;)
No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…
If it helps any, there are loads of very successful people that you'll never hear about who grew up very poor or modest and have very much "made it". Not being a public figure is not the same as not being successful. The very first multi- multi -millionaire I ever met grew up desperately poor. Quit high school in 9th or 10th grade. Tried to become a boxer to escape crushing poverty but didn't have the right build for…
1. Steve Jobs
2. Jeff Bezos (you could argue that he had a relatively healthy upbringing, went to Princeton, etc).
3. Roman Abramovich (probably not most upstanding example).
Other (financially) successful people that grew up poor:
4. Howard Schultz (Starbucks): "Growing up I always felt like I was living on the other side of the tracks. I knew the people on the other side had more resources, more money, happier families. And for some reason, I don’t know why or how, I wanted to climb over that fence and achieve something beyond what people were saying was possible. I may have a suit and tie on now but I know where I’m from and I know what it’s like."
5. Oprah Winfrey (grew up relatively poor, had a harsh upbringing, I think she was assaulted when she was younger?)
6. Luxury goods mogul Francois Pinault quit high school in 1974 after being bullied for being poor.
Here are some more stories from rags to riches:
http://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-who-came-from-no...
There are also a ton of people that are excellent in their fields (academics / science / NGO founders) who are successful by a different metric (not wealth).
I think the key determinant is to keep trying, keep learning and persevere through stuff life throws at you. It can be difficult in the moment but you need to objectively keep asking yourself what you can do everyday / regularly to achieve what you want 1 year from now, 5 years from now, or generally in the long term.
Also, in the worst case scenario if you are relatively healthy you should be able to get yourself to live a modestly comfortable life and be a successful husband/wife, mother/father, member of community, contributing member of society, etc.
No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…