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More than themselves Softbank has/is harming the entrepreneurs who now think having modest growth is something one should never aspire for. They see headlines o
by mkagenius 7y ago
More than themselves Softbank has/is harming the entrepreneurs who now think having modest growth is something one should never aspire for. They see headlines of billions of dollars in funding and assume this is the norm and if they don't get so much of funding then they have not succeeded.
But of course, the Softbank doesn't care - they have a different vision.
- sombremesa 7y agoHN is not innocent in the propagation of the idea that modest growth is unacceptable. Just look at the number of people "validating" their ideas with landing pages versus just building something that solves their own problems (or problems within their circles) and growing organically from there.
- wolco 7y agoThe landing page strategy felt like giving up too easily and early.
- blackearl 7y agoYou're blaming people for trying to hit the lottery. Who wouldn't want to build a thing and then flip it for a billion dollars, all in a few years?
- Fomite 7y agoWe generally tell people that trying to hit the actual lottery is a bad idea.
- Apocryphon 7y agoActually it’s less like a regulated lottery at this point and more like loot boxes.
- nradov 7y agoPlaying the lottery isn't necessarily a bad idea if other people are giving you money to buy tickets.
- Spellman 7y agoAs long as they don't come looking for those returns you promised
- smabie 7y agoIt often has a positive expected value. Maybe you could elaborate on the St Petersburg Paradox?
- paulie_a 7y agoYou might as well play the lottery. You have better odds than thinking you will sell for a billion. Hell selling for 100 million or even ten. It's delusions of grandeur.
- WJW 7y agoPlaying the lottery is much less time-absorbing as well.
- papito 7y agoI guess late-stage Capitalism has little to do with actually making, you know, money.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoLarge companies are making lots of money: https://www.macrotrends.net/1324/s-p-500-earnings-history https://www.macrotrends.net/1324/s-p-500-earnings-history
- take_a_breath 7y agoThis is earnings per share (EPS), not earnings. Stock buybacks lower the denominator and allow for growing EPS with stagnant earnings.
- sct202 7y agoYep, and corporate profits have been pretty flat since 2011 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CP
- Ididntdothis 7y agoI never understand why earnings per share is always mentioned. Without knowing the number of shares and some math the number is totally useless. It's like saying comparing the price of a single share of two companies. It's meaningless on its own.
- smabie 7y agoWell, as an investor it’s arguably important. I care about how profitable my chunk of the company is, not how profitable the entire thing is.
- take_a_breath 7y agoThis is 100% true from an investor standpoint. The breakdown is when EPS is used as a measure of economic or corporate health.