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I never thought I'd read a TechCrunch article which puts into question the integrity of the entire capitalist system... This is very different from the typical

I never thought I'd read a TechCrunch article which puts into question the integrity of the entire capitalist system... This is very different from the typical capitalist rhetoric that if you're smart and work hard in ways that benefit society, you'll be personally rewarded. Now it seems that the conditions for success are extremely ambiguous. Bankruptcy is essentially a hack on the system and to now pretend that it's a normal part of an efficient capitalist society is quite outrageous. If it were real capitalism, there would be no bankruptcy, you'd have to work to pay back every penny for the rest of your life. I'd prefer that. Because otherwise you're just encouraging people to take risks using other people's money.

aaavl2821 9y ago
Investing in ambitious companies that could lose everything or make a fortune is the name of the (venture) capitalist game Also, bankruptcy is not a "hack", it is a legal process to protect creditors / vendors / employees as well as companies. while there is a widespread belief, encouraged by politicians post financial crisis, that companies use bankruptcy as a way to protect themselves from risk, that is incorrect. Bankruptcy is a legal process for dividing up a failed companies assets so that it is not a free for all. It protects employees by preventing powerful creditors from forcefully claiming value until other constituents get paid in accordance with the legal statues of the process
- jondubois 9y ago
  VCs are a flaw in the system. It costs almost $0 for an engineer to build software and yet VCs have somehow managed to artificially raise the barrier to entry and got huge paychecks for themselves in the process. If VCs did not exist, I'm certain that we would have all the software, websites and apps that we have today except that it would have cost society much less to get to that point... Also maybe these apps and websites wouldn't be the terrible morally bankrupt profit machines they are today.
  - aaavl2821 9y ago
    "If VCs did not exist, I'm certain that we would have all the software, websites and apps that we have today except that it would have cost society much less to get to that point... Also maybe these apps and websites wouldn't be as terrible for society as they are today." That is quite a bold opinion, presented without any evidence at all. And my opinion is that is the opposite of true. For what you said to be true, not only would server / hosting / infrastructure costs need to be zero, but hundreds of thousands of people would have to decide to work 60 hours a week for free It does not cost an engineer $0 to build software. Tell an engineer you think his / her time is worth zero and see what response you get
    - jondubois 9y ago
      There are plenty of bootstrapped companies which managed to pay the hosting costs just fine. In fact it's better because it forces companies to prove their model while they're still small before they become a huge systemic risk to all of society.
      - aaavl2821 9y ago
        Plenty of bootstrapped companies != all the software and apps we have today
        jondubois 9y ago
        Yeah because VC money drove up the price of online advertising to insane levels which bootstrapped companies could no longer compete with and then they hoarded up all the blogs with constant streams of articles... There was a long period when VCs essentially owned all the popular tech blogs. Bloggers would not dare to cover any product which was not backed by VC money for fear that it would ruin their future prospects. In effect, VCs used their money to gain a monopoly on user attention and this killed off a LOT of bootstrapped companies which would otherwise have strived.
    - imtringued 9y ago
      I think the $0 refers to the initial investment required to start a startup vs a conventional manufacturing business.

aaavl2821 9y ago

Investing in ambitious companies that could lose everything or make a fortune is the name of the (venture) capitalist game Also, bankruptcy is not a "hack", it is a legal process to protect creditors / vendors / employees as well as companies. while there is a widespread belief, encouraged by politicians post financial crisis, that companies use bankruptcy as a way to protect themselves from risk, that is incorrect. Bankruptcy is a legal process for dividing up a failed companies assets so that it is not a free for all. It protects employees by preventing powerful creditors from forcefully claiming value until other constituents get paid in accordance with the legal statues of the process

jondubois 9y ago
VCs are a flaw in the system. It costs almost $0 for an engineer to build software and yet VCs have somehow managed to artificially raise the barrier to entry and got huge paychecks for themselves in the process. If VCs did not exist, I'm certain that we would have all the software, websites and apps that we have today except that it would have cost society much less to get to that point... Also maybe these apps and websites wouldn't be the terrible morally bankrupt profit machines they are today.
- aaavl2821 9y ago
  "If VCs did not exist, I'm certain that we would have all the software, websites and apps that we have today except that it would have cost society much less to get to that point... Also maybe these apps and websites wouldn't be as terrible for society as they are today." That is quite a bold opinion, presented without any evidence at all. And my opinion is that is the opposite of true. For what you said to be true, not only would server / hosting / infrastructure costs need to be zero, but hundreds of thousands of people would have to decide to work 60 hours a week for free It does not cost an engineer $0 to build software. Tell an engineer you think his / her time is worth zero and see what response you get
  - jondubois 9y ago
    There are plenty of bootstrapped companies which managed to pay the hosting costs just fine. In fact it's better because it forces companies to prove their model while they're still small before they become a huge systemic risk to all of society.
    - aaavl2821 9y ago
      Plenty of bootstrapped companies != all the software and apps we have today
      - jondubois 9y ago
        Yeah because VC money drove up the price of online advertising to insane levels which bootstrapped companies could no longer compete with and then they hoarded up all the blogs with constant streams of articles... There was a long period when VCs essentially owned all the popular tech blogs. Bloggers would not dare to cover any product which was not backed by VC money for fear that it would ruin their future prospects. In effect, VCs used their money to gain a monopoly on user attention and this killed off a LOT of bootstrapped companies which would otherwise have strived.
  - imtringued 9y ago
    I think the $0 refers to the initial investment required to start a startup vs a conventional manufacturing business.