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I had to check the date to see if this wasn't published April 1st. Someone should protect these people against themselves. Why did no one at the bank said "thi

by lexo 9y ago

I had to check the date to see if this wasn't published April 1st. Someone should protect these people against themselves. Why did no one at the bank said "this might not be the best idea" when the family told they wanted to sell their house to finance the new social media revolution?

tpatke 9y ago
I think this is the trouble with being an entrepreneur. You are crazy right up until the moment you are proved right. At which point, the idea is ‘obvious to everyone’. Of course, most ideas fail. Most entrepreneurs are just proved crazy. It is a lonely existence where even other entrepreneurs are unsupportive. These guys have a nice PR piece on the BBC. That will give them a big temporary boost in traffic. Maybe not so crazy?
- user5994461 9y ago
  There are some business which are known to fail miserably. Like, when you want to lend money to open a restaurant in some places, a reputable bank should be able to tell you that xx% of restaurants go bankrupt within the next 2 years.
  - collyw 9y ago
    Like the already saturated social media market. What can a new social network do that can't be done already on Facebook?
    - bshimmin 9y ago
      ...or, if it isn't already being done by Facebook, can't be developed and rolled out incredibly quickly to a billion users if they decide that they like what you're doing and want to do it too.
sabalaba 9y ago
I agree that it's not a good idea to bet the farm. However, I don't think any government entity stepping in to "protect these people against themselves" is going to solve the problem. Sometimes friendly advice is all one can offer and the rest is up to the man in the arena.
celticninja 9y ago
Not sure why it is the banks responsibility. If they sold their home, paid off any outstanding mortgage they are free to do what they want with the remaining money. However it still doesn't mean it was a good idea. What they have failed to see is that other social media companies usually burn other peoples money, and those other people generally are not going to become homeless if their gamble doesn't pay off. I am hoping that the "we sold our house and cars and everything else" is just some BS to get themselves some publicity because I dont see how their costs are so high that they need to spend so much money on it. With their low numbers they are hardly going to be paying massive sums for hosting their site.
- camtarn 9y ago
  Perhaps they just needed the money to pay for living costs while working full time on the project?
  - celticninja 9y ago
    Still doesn't make any sense, most peoples biggest expense is rent/mortgage. And in most cases (all things being equal) mortgage payments are cheaper than rent.
    - cmdrfred 9y ago
      Also mortgage payments can be made smaller (refinance) while rent continues to grow. I'm personally not going to attempt starting a company until I get my mortgage under a certain level.

by lexo 9y ago

tpatke 9y ago

I think this is the trouble with being an entrepreneur. You are crazy right up until the moment you are proved right. At which point, the idea is ‘obvious to everyone’. Of course, most ideas fail. Most entrepreneurs are just proved crazy. It is a lonely existence where even other entrepreneurs are unsupportive. These guys have a nice PR piece on the BBC. That will give them a big temporary boost in traffic. Maybe not so crazy?

user5994461 9y ago
There are some business which are known to fail miserably. Like, when you want to lend money to open a restaurant in some places, a reputable bank should be able to tell you that xx% of restaurants go bankrupt within the next 2 years.
- collyw 9y ago
  Like the already saturated social media market. What can a new social network do that can't be done already on Facebook?
  - bshimmin 9y ago
    ...or, if it isn't already being done by Facebook, can't be developed and rolled out incredibly quickly to a billion users if they decide that they like what you're doing and want to do it too.

sabalaba 9y ago

I agree that it's not a good idea to bet the farm. However, I don't think any government entity stepping in to "protect these people against themselves" is going to solve the problem. Sometimes friendly advice is all one can offer and the rest is up to the man in the arena.

celticninja 9y ago

Not sure why it is the banks responsibility. If they sold their home, paid off any outstanding mortgage they are free to do what they want with the remaining money. However it still doesn't mean it was a good idea. What they have failed to see is that other social media companies usually burn other peoples money, and those other people generally are not going to become homeless if their gamble doesn't pay off. I am hoping that the "we sold our house and cars and everything else" is just some BS to get themselves some publicity because I dont see how their costs are so high that they need to spend so much money on it. With their low numbers they are hardly going to be paying massive sums for hosting their site.

camtarn 9y ago
Perhaps they just needed the money to pay for living costs while working full time on the project?
- celticninja 9y ago
  Still doesn't make any sense, most peoples biggest expense is rent/mortgage. And in most cases (all things being equal) mortgage payments are cheaper than rent.
  - cmdrfred 9y ago
    Also mortgage payments can be made smaller (refinance) while rent continues to grow. I'm personally not going to attempt starting a company until I get my mortgage under a certain level.