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A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers, but you find that a bad thing? What's your problem wi

A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers, but you find that a bad thing? What's your problem with someone spending his own money to chase something you think is impossible? Seriously, the amount of hate on HN for people that are actually trying to do hard things is astonishing.

nickpsecurity 10y ago
"A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers" Oh no. That's one possible inspiration. Another would be Braintree IPOing or continuing as a company providing an alternative to Paypal's BS I constantly read about while guy continues to make tons of money or get rich. Then he invests in hard problems we're likely to solve where we have the necessary foundation to begin to achieve the stated goals. Instead, he got rich selling off his good company and now has money to blow on stuff like this. Good for him. Still inspirational with Braintree's early work still something I'm going to cite. Just still worth critiquing for where it went or is going wrong so next bootstrapper considers better alternatives. Also, realize the irony that you don't like us criticizing what he did with Braintree or where the money is going while Braintree itself owed its success to correct criticism of how successful payment companies were doing things & where their investments were going. He pointed out the problems, showed a better way via his offering, and now we're talking about him instead of them. ;)
- CaveTech 10y ago
  The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing. You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity and that's simply not the case.
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    "The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing." That's compatible with my comment. It proposes alternative to the path he took that other bootstrappers with utilitarian bent might find interesting. It doesn't require him personally to do anything. I even said his success was "good for him" in terms of efforts in and result achieved. "You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity" You made that up. I explicitly said he didn't. His goal was to get rich. It would take more selfless individuals to do lasting things for humanity. It will take majority of humanity working together to save humanity.
    - tonyhb 10y ago
      So giving away $100M of his own money isn't in the slightest selfless? He's a selfish individual? Helping terrible diseases isn't doing something lasting for humanity?
      - nickpsecurity 10y ago
        People have to be totally selfish or selfless says a false dichotomy. People seem to like those. I see people's actions to be along a spectrum between where the motivations vary depending on what they want to do. Some people seem to lean almost entirely toward one or the other but I'm not prescriptive about that. We don't have to guess about his motivations, though. It's in the article: "For Johnson, the quest is innately personal. His step-father has early signs of Alzheimer’s." He and his step-father are suffering through the effects of Alzheimer's. He definitely has personal gain from a treatment that would work. There's a clear selfless angle on helping the step-father. He probably, after personally experiencing it, also would like to prevent others from going through the same thing. That's my guess. Respectable motivations for sure.
- the_watcher 10y ago
  You're correct. There are more inspirations. But the fact that he didn't cash out in the way that you wanted doesn't make him a failure.
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    Im presenting alternatives for others to aspire to. Ive given him props for his success and still use his company as a positive example in several ways. I would never call him a failure.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

"A guy bootstrapped a company and got rich doing it: the best possible inspiration to future bootstrappers" Oh no. That's one possible inspiration. Another would be Braintree IPOing or continuing as a company providing an alternative to Paypal's BS I constantly read about while guy continues to make tons of money or get rich. Then he invests in hard problems we're likely to solve where we have the necessary foundation to begin to achieve the stated goals. Instead, he got rich selling off his good company and now has money to blow on stuff like this. Good for him. Still inspirational with Braintree's early work still something I'm going to cite. Just still worth critiquing for where it went or is going wrong so next bootstrapper considers better alternatives. Also, realize the irony that you don't like us criticizing what he did with Braintree or where the money is going while Braintree itself owed its success to correct criticism of how successful payment companies were doing things & where their investments were going. He pointed out the problems, showed a better way via his offering, and now we're talking about him instead of them. ;)

CaveTech 10y ago
The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing. You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity and that's simply not the case.
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  "The man doesn't owe you a goddamn thing, and doesn't have some moral obligation to save you from shitty payment processing." That's compatible with my comment. It proposes alternative to the path he took that other bootstrappers with utilitarian bent might find interesting. It doesn't require him personally to do anything. I even said his success was "good for him" in terms of efforts in and result achieved. "You act like you rose him out of the ashes to save humanity" You made that up. I explicitly said he didn't. His goal was to get rich. It would take more selfless individuals to do lasting things for humanity. It will take majority of humanity working together to save humanity.
  - tonyhb 10y ago
    So giving away $100M of his own money isn't in the slightest selfless? He's a selfish individual? Helping terrible diseases isn't doing something lasting for humanity?
    - nickpsecurity 10y ago
      People have to be totally selfish or selfless says a false dichotomy. People seem to like those. I see people's actions to be along a spectrum between where the motivations vary depending on what they want to do. Some people seem to lean almost entirely toward one or the other but I'm not prescriptive about that. We don't have to guess about his motivations, though. It's in the article: "For Johnson, the quest is innately personal. His step-father has early signs of Alzheimer’s." He and his step-father are suffering through the effects of Alzheimer's. He definitely has personal gain from a treatment that would work. There's a clear selfless angle on helping the step-father. He probably, after personally experiencing it, also would like to prevent others from going through the same thing. That's my guess. Respectable motivations for sure.
the_watcher 10y ago
You're correct. There are more inspirations. But the fact that he didn't cash out in the way that you wanted doesn't make him a failure.
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  Im presenting alternatives for others to aspire to. Ive given him props for his success and still use his company as a positive example in several ways. I would never call him a failure.