Mojito island is a mirage

#1

Post by craigbellot » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:05 PM UTC

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#2

Post by jgrahamc » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:44 PM UTC

In short, the bliss of selling and giving up your business is overrated. It’s a long life and it’s often best spent enduring the ups and downs of pursuing something of significance. Don’t be so eager to give it up.

Hmm. Recent posts seem to be 37Signals attempting to rationalize their business model vs. recent sell outs for large amounts of money.

I'll stand up and say I'd happily take a $40m pay out so that I could be completely financially secure and get to do what I want. I have a short list of things that I would be very happy doing other than working for money.

To quote Einstein: "We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."

But I'll take the comfort of knowing that I don't have to work, and get on with the cool stuff.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#3

Post by kaiuhl » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:49 PM UTC

I don’t think that person exists as often as the idea of the artist-beneath-the-suit would romance us to believe.

That's a huge assumption to write off the entire reason people would want to sell their company–to pursue things other than money.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#4

Post by tptacek » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:50 PM UTC

The bliss of knowing that your kids college tuition is fully paid for, no matter where they get accepted, is not overrated. Thinking like DHH indulges in this post is a luxury.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#5

Post by jseifer » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:52 PM UTC

jgrahamc wrote: post #2

In short, the bliss of selling and giving up your business is overrated. It’s a long life and it’s often best spent enduring the ups and downs of pursuing something of significance. Don’t be so eager to give it up. Hmm. Recent posts seem to be 37Signals attempting to rationalize their business model vs. recent sell outs for large amounts of money. I'll stand up and say I'd happily take a $40m pay out so that I could…

I'm not sure I totally agree with you on the 37Signals comment. I think it's actually refreshing to see that they are posting a counter point to the cash-out posts we've been seeing lately on other blogs. I doubt that some of the crew over at 37s would even have to work anymore and this could be their way of saying so. I could be way off base there, though.

With all that said, I'd also be happy to take a huge pay out and put these ideas to the test.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#6

Post by mtrichardson » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:53 PM UTC

My desire to grow a successful company and cash out is not because I want to sit on some island - it's so I have more freedom and can get back in the game again, the next time around with more experience.

I love my current company, I'm extremely passionate about it and what I do, but I also know that it's not the last thing I'm going to do.

And I seriously doubt that I'm alone in this.

Whatever community they're trying to appeal to with this post, I don't think it's this one.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#7

Post by mikeryan » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:55 PM UTC

In this thread

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=829583

Jason from 37signals said they'd have a post that FU money is a myth. I hope this isn't it.

The point of FU money isn't that you'd actually quit everything and walk away. Its about the ABILITY to do so. Once you reach this point everything else is about being able to make your own choices, not being backed into a corner because you have bills to pay.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#8

Post by natrius » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:57 PM UTC

This makes no sense. I don't understand why the 37signals folks seem to willfully ignore that the amount of money that a successful acquisition gives a founder means you can do whatever you want for the rest of your life, including solving interesting problems. You can even solve interesting problems that aren't profitable to solve. Unless the company is almost guaranteed to be valuable enough for the foreseeable future that a sale (or other exit) will make you financially independent (e.g. Facebook), there comes a point where it is clearly better to sell the company.

Since the Mint acquisition seems to have inspired this series of posts, let's take a look at it. Mint is successful because banks have crappy online products. Banks are perfectly positioned to end Mint's customer growth, and there are several other competitors in the industry as well. There is not a particularly high chance that Mint will still be successful in 5-10 years. If it is successful, the marginal utility of the increased worth for the founders declines pretty rapidly. Selling now seems like it was clearly the best idea, and disproving that is going to take more than the false dichotomy this post presents.

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#9

Post by alex_c » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 3:58 PM UTC

This post seems to make two separate arguments:

1) A driven individual won't be content to idle if they get a big exit, they will likely jump right back in. If you think what you want is an eternal vacation, you're probably wrong.

2) Therefore, a driven individual shouldn't pursue a big exit, if they already enjoy what they're doing, because they'll just jump back in.

I agree with 1), but not with 2). I enjoy what I'm doing, but the list of things I want to do is growing at a faster pace than my ability to work on them. I'm just not built for the "one true lifelong obsession" model.

Edit: the more I think about it, the more I realize why this post bothers me.

I'm really starting to think that 37s and HN are preaching to completely different choirs - which is strange, given how well 37s posts do here.

Some people thrive on routine and order. They love to get up in the morning and know what they'll do that day. To have a successful system figured out, and to follow it. And yes, there are always new challenges, and yes, the system is continuously improved - but to some extent, it's routine.

Others thrive on tackling the unknown. That initial rush of carving out an answer, starting with a blank slate. The uncertainty of not knowing what you're doing, the high chance of failure, but also the joy of not being constrained by what came before you.

In programming terms, it's the difference between maintaining code and starting a new project. Some people obviously enjoy one more than the other.

Seems to me like 37signals is preaching code maintenance over starting new projects. Sure, in many cases that makes a lot of sense, but which one's more FUN?

Re: Mojito island is a mirage

#10

Post by jodrellblank » Mon, Sep 21, 2009, 4:00 PM UTC

* It’s a long life and it’s often best spent enduring the ups and downs of pursuing something of significance. Don’t be so eager to give it up.*

I don't want to give it up, I want to give up having to do it.