5 ms·

No, it's more than just not needing the things. For example, I'm involved with a startup right now and the founders needed a decent amount for ongoing expenses

by rajat 17y ago

No, it's more than just not needing the things. For example, I'm involved with a startup right now and the founders needed a decent amount for ongoing expenses until VC and angel funding can be arranged. Well, I can provide that money very quickly (for stock that I hope will be worth a lot more at some point) since I'm very involved and a lot of due diligence is not required. My first startup was self-funded with several other founders; that meant coming up with a pretty sizeable amount of money up front to get the company started (there were hardware components involved), and then go for a long period of time with absolutely no income. Independence to take action means also being able to afford to take that action; not just that you can learn to avoid expenses.

_delirium 17y ago
Yeah, I could see that. I guess the world I live in---my own situation, and those people I know---just doesn't involve lots of money ever being needed to take action. It's nice to have some cushion, so e.g. I can fly to Boston tomorrow if it turns out to be needed for some reason, and can pay my rent for a year or two if I decide to suddenly take off, but I just don't have any situation where I could see needing $500k or something in order to take action. I know plenty of people doing startups, and I could even throw $10k their way if it'd help out (I've offered), but they just don't need it. The web side of things is so capital-free these days that they have no trouble self-funding, and what money they do need is easy to get from a few consulting gigs here or there (web-dev stuff seems to pay insane hourly rates). I can imagine things I would do if I had infinite money, but they're more pie-in-the-sky "establish a fund for [x]" sort of philanthropy things. In my normal life, I just don't run across action I really want to take that is money-constrained.

by rajat 17y ago

_delirium 17y ago

Yeah, I could see that. I guess the world I live in---my own situation, and those people I know---just doesn't involve lots of money ever being needed to take action. It's nice to have some cushion, so e.g. I can fly to Boston tomorrow if it turns out to be needed for some reason, and can pay my rent for a year or two if I decide to suddenly take off, but I just don't have any situation where I could see needing $500k or something in order to take action. I know plenty of people doing startups, and I could even throw $10k their way if it'd help out (I've offered), but they just don't need it. The web side of things is so capital-free these days that they have no trouble self-funding, and what money they do need is easy to get from a few consulting gigs here or there (web-dev stuff seems to pay insane hourly rates). I can imagine things I would do if I had infinite money, but they're more pie-in-the-sky "establish a fund for [x]" sort of philanthropy things. In my normal life, I just don't run across action I really want to take that is money-constrained.