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I know we're on a forum associated with a startup accelerator, but something just rubs me wrong on these waxing poetic startup stories. It's like these people l
by bmitc 5y ago
I know we're on a forum associated with a startup accelerator, but something just rubs me wrong on these waxing poetic startup stories. It's like these people live in their own little world, where companies and little "ideas" and massive sums of money are just pawns in some game that ultimately doesn't matter. It's a sort of entrepreneurial aggrandizement, and there's a lot of unnecessary adulation and cult of personality.
There was some reply there that was basically "I lost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars because of a dumb decision too but I have no regrets". Seriously? That's immediate retirement money for me, my immediate family, and then enough left over to pursue pet projects, volunteer work, and non-profit(s). This guy in the posted Tweet made an idiotic decision that killed an opportunity for himself and his employees, and he seems okay with that and even fond of the decision. Kind of weird to me.
- rsstack 5y agoHe has enough money for him and his children to retire comfortably. _Now_ he doesn't need to regret it. In 1998 he probably regretted it a lot when he realized what happened.
- meowface 5y agoSometimes there are people who really are temporarily embarrassed (hundred-)millionaires.
- khazhoux 5y agoHa, I noticed this part in the twitter thread: > Yahoo offered $125 million > As a financially-insecure immigrant, I knew this deal would change my life. I enjoyed how he specifically qualified that this was a lot of money for a "financially-insecure immigrant." Um... no. This is a lot of money for 99.999% of human beings on the planet. A good read though.
- prewett 5y agoAnother interpretation is "[because] I was a financially-insecure immigrant, I knew this deal would change my life [by clearly achieving the financial security I had been constantly worrying about and seeking to get][and therefore I was nervous that the deal might not happen]". It's not that the amount of money was larger for him than other people, but that having $125m/n founders was so clearly financially secure.
- khazhoux 5y agoSure, I suppose it could have meant "Because I had no financial security, I would have agreed to any large amount of money." Instead, I read it as a rather amusing statement of "Because I struggled financially, I would truly appreciate $125 million dollars." Lol, no -- anyone who isn't born filthy rich, would appreciate that kind of money. But overall it was a fun story to read. The above just struck me as an unconscious almost-defense, to justify the huge piles of money founders can get in silicon valley.