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It was alarming to read that people tell him he is a con artist. He's a good businessman.

by johnnyg 16y ago

InclinedPlane 16y ago
He's a businessman, but whether or not he's good is a question for debate. Most people working the same hours have a higher income. Do the math, if the Porsche trade represents all of his "income" from bartering he made $3.6 an hour, if it represents half of his income then he made minimum wage. It's interesting, and somewhat novel, but hardly astounding or terribly impressive.
- KingOfB 16y ago
  The drive is incredibly impressive. The kids 17! You can use math to water down time spent to gain any result: Kid plays quake through middle school to determine he wants to learn computers so he tinkers 6 hours a day through high school. Then goes to college and spends another 8-10 hours a day working on school for 4 more years, then he works for 3 years to save up enough money to buy a porche in cache. Hah, nice spelling mistake. Back to fixing this bug in my cache.
- Unseelie 16y ago
  He's demonstrated being a pretty poor businessman. He's traded down, knowingly, on multiple occasions, and furthermore declined trades of businesses, which generate income, for cars, which depreciate.
  - zach 16y ago
    On the contrary. This article is great personal marketing -- who can deny the hook of "from phone to Porsche?" He gets a great anecdote and branding angle for the rest of his life. I'd say the lifetime value of appearing in this article is easily worth the trading down. And besides, we can't necessarily exclude the possibility that he negotiated a little cashish on the side while trading down.
- philwelch 16y ago
  He started with a phone and ended up with a Porsche. OK, maybe he's not Richard Branson or something, but he gets results.
- PostOnce 16y ago
  He started with an old phone. By your logic, if he started with a million dollar item, he'd be worth over a quarter billion dollars now, and he'd have been making a lot more than minimum wage. So, rather than say his achievement is unimpressive, say "imagine what he'll do once he comes into some real capital". Possibilities -- it's what HN is about.
Qz 16y ago
Tomato, tomahto. It's the same thing if you really take the time to think about it. The only difference is in the implied value judgment.

It was alarming to read that people tell him he is a con artist. He's a good businessman.

by johnnyg 16y ago

It was alarming to read that people tell him he is a con artist. He's a good businessman.

He's a businessman, but whether or not he's good is a question for debate. Most people working the same hours have a higher income. Do the math, if the Porsche trade represents all of his "income" from bartering he made $3.6 an hour, if it represents half of his income then he made minimum wage. It's interesting, and somewhat novel, but hardly astounding or terribly impressive.

KingOfB 16y ago
The drive is incredibly impressive. The kids 17! You can use math to water down time spent to gain any result: Kid plays quake through middle school to determine he wants to learn computers so he tinkers 6 hours a day through high school. Then goes to college and spends another 8-10 hours a day working on school for 4 more years, then he works for 3 years to save up enough money to buy a porche in cache. Hah, nice spelling mistake. Back to fixing this bug in my cache.
Unseelie 16y ago
He's demonstrated being a pretty poor businessman. He's traded down, knowingly, on multiple occasions, and furthermore declined trades of businesses, which generate income, for cars, which depreciate.
- zach 16y ago
  On the contrary. This article is great personal marketing -- who can deny the hook of "from phone to Porsche?" He gets a great anecdote and branding angle for the rest of his life. I'd say the lifetime value of appearing in this article is easily worth the trading down. And besides, we can't necessarily exclude the possibility that he negotiated a little cashish on the side while trading down.
philwelch 16y ago
He started with a phone and ended up with a Porsche. OK, maybe he's not Richard Branson or something, but he gets results.
PostOnce 16y ago
He started with an old phone. By your logic, if he started with a million dollar item, he'd be worth over a quarter billion dollars now, and he'd have been making a lot more than minimum wage. So, rather than say his achievement is unimpressive, say "imagine what he'll do once he comes into some real capital". Possibilities -- it's what HN is about.

Qz 16y ago

Tomato, tomahto. It's the same thing if you really take the time to think about it. The only difference is in the implied value judgment.