4 ms·

It's an interesting post-mortem and a reminder of the pitfalls of the "bootstrap" model if you don't have other income. But I take exception to the "200K EUR"

by biztos 5y ago

It's an interesting post-mortem and a reminder of the pitfalls of the "bootstrap" model if you don't have other income. But I take exception to the "200K EUR" part. Money you didn't make is not the same as money you spent. For starters, the former is infinite! That the author is so concerned with this opportunity cost -- a cost that is radically different for different people, dependent largely on circumstances that have nothing to do with their value to the startup -- is, I guess, part of the self-doubt he describes. I can relate, I did a failed startup when I was younger and many times I thought about whether I should just suck it up and get a job instead. Probably everybody does. But half the point of it was to not be doing the thing that would have given you the 200K.

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lotsofpulp 5y ago
>Money you didn't make is not the same as money you spent. For starters, the former is infinite! Cost is short for opportunity cost. If you have a high probability of earning 200K EUR as your second best option, then what you choose to do does incur that cost. Young people not accounting for their costs properly is an especially big problem in the US when they decide to spend time in their valuable 20s going deep into debt pursuing higher education with low probabilities of ending up with high pay (assuming their goal is high pay and/or some sort of financial security). They should be adding up all the lost pay and compounded returns from their savings, because their eventual pay needs to be sufficiently high to make up for it. And it is not just money. Opportunity cost also includes quality of life, for example, slaving away the best years of your life working for someone else (or one's self) should have an acceptable probability of netting you something commensurate to the sacrifice.
- reitzensteinm 5y ago
  Opportunity cost is absolutely as real as you describe, but the title is double counting it. They didn't spend both 2000 hours and 200k worth of hours.
  - dSebastien 5y ago
    You're right, although the title isn't about the sum, but rather the different ways to look at the situation ;-)

by biztos 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

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lotsofpulp 5y ago

>Money you didn't make is not the same as money you spent. For starters, the former is infinite! Cost is short for opportunity cost. If you have a high probability of earning 200K EUR as your second best option, then what you choose to do does incur that cost. Young people not accounting for their costs properly is an especially big problem in the US when they decide to spend time in their valuable 20s going deep into debt pursuing higher education with low probabilities of ending up with high pay (assuming their goal is high pay and/or some sort of financial security). They should be adding up all the lost pay and compounded returns from their savings, because their eventual pay needs to be sufficiently high to make up for it. And it is not just money. Opportunity cost also includes quality of life, for example, slaving away the best years of your life working for someone else (or one's self) should have an acceptable probability of netting you something commensurate to the sacrifice.

reitzensteinm 5y ago
Opportunity cost is absolutely as real as you describe, but the title is double counting it. They didn't spend both 2000 hours and 200k worth of hours.
- dSebastien 5y ago
  You're right, although the title isn't about the sum, but rather the different ways to look at the situation ;-)