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How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

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Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#91

Post by ZephyrBlu »

renewiltord wrote: post #32

This is what people think is a ponzi scheme for tech people. In fact it's actually a Ponzi scheme for all the same suspects as last time. i.e. the same guy who gets into Amway or the pyramid marketing schemes falls into this. Tech people don't fall into these Ponzi schemes. They fall into a different variety where a serial entrepreneur who has repeatedly received funding is assumed to be more capable than a guy new t…

I disagree, many tech people lap this kind of thing up because it makes them believe that starting a highly profitable side-project is easy.

The VC dream is for an entirely different segment of tech people than those wanting to be indie hackers.

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#92

Post by coryrc »

coldtea wrote: post #52
cbozeman wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk had about $140 million when he ~started~ bought (sorry) Tesla. That's a pretty far cry from a billion. On top of that, there was no guarantee that electric cars would ever be embraced, especially by Americans, who traditionally, love ICE muscle cars.

> On top of that, there was no guarantee that electric cars would ever be embraced, especially by Americans, who traditionally, love ICE muscle cars. Generous subsidies for electrics in the US and other countries helped with that. Like generous government money funnelled through NASA contracts helped Space X repeat what NASA did in the late 60s/early 70s, slightly improved, 40 years later...

Yes, I remember when NASA was launching reusable rockets as regular supply missions and weren't using 5% GDP, and did such a great job they didn't end up giving $400MM/year to Russia to hitch rides on the Soyuz for the last decade.

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#93

Post by woahAcademia »

strken wrote: post #85
woahAcademia wrote: post #18

I think one of the biggest issues is that tech people are "know it alls". They make lots of money, they must be smart right? So when a friend disagrees the person doesn't consider it. And unlike their Engineering counterparts they won't search for proof. If you need to see real world examples, look at who buys brand name. It's telling.

Tech people are pretty smart, on average. It's a somewhat demanding professional career. There's a hell of a lot of difference between "smart" and "infallible".

My limited understanding of the brain is that programmers are able to put the pieces together by combining their memories and short term memory.

But that's drastically different than Engineering where calculations are done methodically.

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#94

Post by seibelj »

just-juan-post wrote: post #46
coliveira wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla was built by a billionaire. There was little to no risk involved.

Tesla was built by someone else and was purchased by a young man who grew up rich and insisted that as part of the transaction that his title be founder.

This whole comment thread is hilarious. “Oh tesla, no big deal, anyone could have made it including me if I just had the same capital.” You guys are living in outer space!

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#95

Post by [deleted] »

dvt wrote: post #6

This article is fantastic. I think "get rich quick" schemes are so much worse when it comes to my generation and beyond (millennials/gen-z). People have been endlessly screwed over: graduated college during the 2008 economic bust, lived with parents until their 30s, fired/laid off during the 2020 pandemic -- so I fundamentally understand the mirage of Instagram fame and endless sacks of money for doing basically noth…

[deleted]

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#96

Post by fractionalhare »

MacsHeadroom wrote: post #53
cbozeman wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/wallstreetbets exists for a different reason, but it got exacerbated by everything you mentioned above. WSB members have come to realize that so-called "financial professionals" by and large have no scrying crystal into the market. WSB got there because of the democratization of knowledge that the Internet has caused. And before you cite some unicorn like Renaissance, that's generating 40% YOY for 20+ years, keep…

Front running is literally scrying and also the reason Robinhood options trading is "free." (Because traders aren't the customer. Front running quant firms are.) WSB has been duped.

What you're talking about is not frontrunning, it's purchasing order flow for market making. Frontrunning is an illegal activity with a specific definition. Purchasing order flow is not illegal.

While we're at it, quant firms occupy a family of trading strategies which are a superset of HFT; not all quants are market making, trading intraday or pursuing low latency strategies.

With all due respect, please stop perpetuating popular finance misconceptions of the Flash Boys variety. If this is something you'd like to learn more about, I suggest you read the following:

- https://blog.headlandstech.com/2017/08/03/quantitative-tradi...

- Flash Boys: Not So Fast

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#97

Post by totemandtoken »

coldtea wrote: post #33
dvt wrote: post #6

This article is fantastic. I think "get rich quick" schemes are so much worse when it comes to my generation and beyond (millennials/gen-z). People have been endlessly screwed over: graduated college during the 2008 economic bust, lived with parents until their 30s, fired/laid off during the 2020 pandemic -- so I fundamentally understand the mirage of Instagram fame and endless sacks of money for doing basically noth…

> How does one break out when everyone's taking glamorous selfies in Thailand but I'm working in a dingy apartment trying to build the next big app? Isn't the idea of building the "next big app" itself based on the same kind of get-rich-quick mindset those schemes are exploiting? Only except for the "nomad lifestyle" or "selling courses", etc, it's supposed to happen by coding in a dingy apartment. But it's equally u…

Reminds me a lot of this talk from the Pinboard guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vt8zqhHe_c

Or this talk from the Bandcamp guy about financial sustainability: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaUkS-lr-ZM

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#98

Post by refurb »

nish1500 wrote: post #23
an_opabinia wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For a classic example, just look at /r/wallstreetbets -- young people are frustrated because there's no end to this tunnel That's a bad example. By many measures retail investors have outperformed institutional investors since March. The simple reason is that options have a built in exit strategy, the thing that's missing when most people lose in scams - including Ponzi schemes! On the flip side, why then do they o…

Trading on the stock market (by and large) doesn't create value. If someone makes a killing, it's because someone lost it. You hear about those who make money - because it's the story you 'want' to hear. People don't understand how money comes from value created, in the long run. People think they can game the system. Everyone feels they are not a part of the average.

Trading creates liquidity, which supports a healthy capital market which companies can access for capital.

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#99

Post by refurb »

cbozeman wrote: post #42
jariel wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"People have been endlessly screwed over" Heyzeus you have it easier than any generation literally in the history of civilisation. Those just a little bit older than you were fighting in Vietnam, getting beaten up because they were gay, told to live in ghettos and denied jobs by banks and government because they were Black, forbidden from drinking from 'White' fountains. Nothing anyone has faced 'since 2008' is exist…

Good way to minimize someone's pain and life experiences because others have had it bad. If we're going to go full retard..., let's go: "Black people shouldn't complain about slavery because they weren't systematically killed off by the millions like Jews." What a fun game! Look, I can play it too!

It's not minimizing someone pain, it's correcting the impression that now is somehow uniquely worse than in the past. I see it all the time "oh, people in the 50's had it so great", "oh, people in the the 70's had it so great".

Go and ask people who grew up then. It wasn't that great.

Re: How to Run a Ponzi Scheme for Tech People

#100

Post by DVassallo »

koluna wrote: post #80
04148565 wrote: post #49

Legit question: is [1] an instance of this kind of scheme? The guy came out of nowhere boasting how he left his $500K job at amazon and whatnot (first red flag for me) and I've seen his content popup pretty often. 1: https://gumroad.com/l/aws-good-parts

100% is - see a comment I made in this thread further down. From what I can tell, this is the guy that doesn’t seem to have any substance short of talking platitudes on Twitter about life philosophy, how he quit his cushy job, and how we all need to pursue our dreams. Oh, and buy his book and Twitter audience growth course.

That guy is me. What would convince you that I'm not running a ponzi scheme or anything dishonest?
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