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>as an engineer you either have the choice I don't feel like I do. I cannot afford to battle patent trolls when something I produce somehow infringes on their

by danjoc 10y ago

>as an engineer you either have the choice I don't feel like I do. I cannot afford to battle patent trolls when something I produce somehow infringes on their "intellectual properties." There has been some progress, given the Alice vs CLS Bank decision, but there's still lots of patents flying around out there like this one (https://www.google.com/patents/EP2973038A1 https://www.google.com/patents/EP2973038A1) where Google attempts to patent "Classifying resources using a deep network." Given that there's a very real threat of bankruptcy for even trying to start my own venture, I plod along at my position which is automating thousands out of their jobs while I make a minuscule fraction of what those people were once paid.

gjkood 10y ago
There is a tremendous amount of risk to go it alone, especially when the alternative is so comfortable and risk free. By all definition you would be crazy to go it alone. The statistics seem to point in that direction. But then again the reward profile if you are in that 10% to 5% that succeed and have the stomach to continue for the long haul is huge. I personally am a victim of the 'Analysis Paralysis' that your are alluding to and understand the hesitancy in taking the first step. There is plenty of risk out there and its good to be wary, but if you never take that first step you will never know what your future could be. Maybe its better to try and fail than never to have tried at all. Time is not on your side and none of us are getting any younger. (Sorry for all the cliches).
- danjoc 10y ago
  >the alternative is so comfortable and risk free I've seen people with a decade of experience on the job "disappeared" and there's little more than an email to the staff telling us they are gone, effective immediately. I don't consider that comfortable or risk free. Especially true if one is in charge of systems, because of stories about loose cannons like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12179637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12179637 >Maybe its better to try and fail than never to have tried at all. I hear this sentiment mostly from upper middle class people who can fall back on family if they fail. I don't meet a lot of people who have experienced true financial ruin, recovered, and are willing to risk going back. A lot of us are as hungry as any entrepreneur. We simply don't have the safety nets. I don't know your case. Maybe you're as "financially independent" as I am, but advice like that sounds condescending in such a context. Of course they'll walk the tightrope. They've got a net. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10979926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10979926
vacri 10y ago
> I plod along at my position which is automating thousands out of their jobs while I make a minuscule fraction of what those people were once paid. If you were paid the salary of all those you automated out of a job, there'd be zero incentive for anyone to buy your product.
roel_v 10y ago
You don't start a company because you might get sued for infringing on something with an idea you don't even have yet? Okay...

by danjoc 10y ago

gjkood 10y ago

There is a tremendous amount of risk to go it alone, especially when the alternative is so comfortable and risk free. By all definition you would be crazy to go it alone. The statistics seem to point in that direction. But then again the reward profile if you are in that 10% to 5% that succeed and have the stomach to continue for the long haul is huge. I personally am a victim of the 'Analysis Paralysis' that your are alluding to and understand the hesitancy in taking the first step. There is plenty of risk out there and its good to be wary, but if you never take that first step you will never know what your future could be. Maybe its better to try and fail than never to have tried at all. Time is not on your side and none of us are getting any younger. (Sorry for all the cliches).

danjoc 10y ago
>the alternative is so comfortable and risk free I've seen people with a decade of experience on the job "disappeared" and there's little more than an email to the staff telling us they are gone, effective immediately. I don't consider that comfortable or risk free. Especially true if one is in charge of systems, because of stories about loose cannons like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12179637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12179637 >Maybe its better to try and fail than never to have tried at all. I hear this sentiment mostly from upper middle class people who can fall back on family if they fail. I don't meet a lot of people who have experienced true financial ruin, recovered, and are willing to risk going back. A lot of us are as hungry as any entrepreneur. We simply don't have the safety nets. I don't know your case. Maybe you're as "financially independent" as I am, but advice like that sounds condescending in such a context. Of course they'll walk the tightrope. They've got a net. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10979926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10979926

vacri 10y ago

> I plod along at my position which is automating thousands out of their jobs while I make a minuscule fraction of what those people were once paid. If you were paid the salary of all those you automated out of a job, there'd be zero incentive for anyone to buy your product.

roel_v 10y ago

You don't start a company because you might get sued for infringing on something with an idea you don't even have yet? Okay...