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$100,000 != a successful deal. Surely an interesting experience for the founder, that was able to put his hands in what startup means, but... after months of wo

by antirez 17y ago

$100,000 != a successful deal. Surely an interesting experience for the founder, that was able to put his hands in what startup means, but... after months of work and customers I think 100k are ok and will not change your life.

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
It may not be a major league win, but it's hard to say 100k != successful deal considering a lot of ventures crash+burn. It was also started on the side with little capital investment. He also had the profits which he made.
brianobush 17y ago
It was a successful deal in regard to getting back the time and effort spent in building up the business. I have worked many times on projects that end in no money and the code was essentially a technology demo - definitely not successful.
jacquesm 17y ago
I sincerely wished that every two bit project that I start would net me $100K. How many > $100K exits have you had? What fields were they in?
- alttab 17y ago
  Took the words out of my mouth. it's easy to get caught up being an armchair entrepreneur and a lot harder to see a 100k opportunity in a tiny market and actually make a legitimate exit. Kudos to this guy. Technology as a means to an end, now there's a concept
  - i386 17y ago
    $100k is more than what most people make in a year. Considering his startup was lean in the first place he could probably invest in his next idea more with that sort of nest egg.
- antirez 17y ago
  Because you asked, I did 3 > $100K exists, but this is not the point. I just think that the essence of startups, when they succeed, is more about working hard on what you build and finally be able to get a good living out of it or do an important deal that gives you a lot more than $100k. Don't get me wrong, what this guy did is great. A side project that got actual customers using smart expedients instead of money and finally sold for a decent amount compared to the work / money invested. But just this should not be the example to follow, it's better to work hard on something for a lot of time having as a goal to do a much bigger deal, or even better IMHO, be able to turn your company into a profitable one and avoid the deal at all. Also I think that another very good reason to create a startup is to build something that people will love and yourself like to build, without compromises, and if this is the point it's perfectly ok to just earn the minimum to live in a decent way, as what you don't get as money you are getting as freedom for you and your users.
tezza 17y ago
He's not in the UK[1], but if he were selling would make a sensible choice. Here in the UK, capital gains of these types of transactions is taxed at 0% for your first £1M[2] and then at 18%. So if he sells it for $100,000, he'd get to keep it all. If you were to take that as wages/earnings tax rate on that (£80 approx) would be over 33% Not bad to sell at $100K... not bad at all. ---------------- [1] US looks ok too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_United... [2] Entrepreneurs relief : http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs275.pdf http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs275.pdf

by antirez 17y ago

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

It may not be a major league win, but it's hard to say 100k != successful deal considering a lot of ventures crash+burn. It was also started on the side with little capital investment. He also had the profits which he made.

brianobush 17y ago

It was a successful deal in regard to getting back the time and effort spent in building up the business. I have worked many times on projects that end in no money and the code was essentially a technology demo - definitely not successful.

jacquesm 17y ago

I sincerely wished that every two bit project that I start would net me $100K. How many > $100K exits have you had? What fields were they in?

alttab 17y ago
Took the words out of my mouth. it's easy to get caught up being an armchair entrepreneur and a lot harder to see a 100k opportunity in a tiny market and actually make a legitimate exit. Kudos to this guy. Technology as a means to an end, now there's a concept
- i386 17y ago
  $100k is more than what most people make in a year. Considering his startup was lean in the first place he could probably invest in his next idea more with that sort of nest egg.
antirez 17y ago
Because you asked, I did 3 > $100K exists, but this is not the point. I just think that the essence of startups, when they succeed, is more about working hard on what you build and finally be able to get a good living out of it or do an important deal that gives you a lot more than $100k. Don't get me wrong, what this guy did is great. A side project that got actual customers using smart expedients instead of money and finally sold for a decent amount compared to the work / money invested. But just this should not be the example to follow, it's better to work hard on something for a lot of time having as a goal to do a much bigger deal, or even better IMHO, be able to turn your company into a profitable one and avoid the deal at all. Also I think that another very good reason to create a startup is to build something that people will love and yourself like to build, without compromises, and if this is the point it's perfectly ok to just earn the minimum to live in a decent way, as what you don't get as money you are getting as freedom for you and your users.

tezza 17y ago

He's not in the UK[1], but if he were selling would make a sensible choice. Here in the UK, capital gains of these types of transactions is taxed at 0% for your first £1M[2] and then at 18%. So if he sells it for $100,000, he'd get to keep it all. If you were to take that as wages/earnings tax rate on that (£80 approx) would be over 33% Not bad to sell at $100K... not bad at all. ---------------- [1] US looks ok too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_United... [2] Entrepreneurs relief : http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs275.pdf http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs275.pdf