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Why would you risk everything to start a company only to be forced to give up most of it to other people? Why would others invest (i.e. buy stock) in your comp

by rmah 4y ago

Why would you risk everything to start a company only to be forced to give up most of it to other people? Why would others invest (i.e. buy stock) in your company only to give up control to non-owners?

polygamous_bat 4y ago
The founders and the employees are still being paid for their hard work building it up; it's not like a hostile government takeover where Mark Zuckerberg is woken up in his bed one night and asked by some men in uniform to hand over the keys to Facebook.
- rmah 4y ago
  Actually, that's exactly what it's like.
jrochkind1 4y ago
That's a different question than talking about "less accountable hands" but yes that would have to be figured out in any hypothetical utopian system. The employees work for a paycheck of course, but I suppose there needs to be sufficient incentive to start a company. It probably doesn't need to be multi-billion-dollar payout possible to incentivize though. And talking about an already existing company like facebook, I think founders and early investors have already received quite enough reward to incentivize, being able to make as much money as they've made off meta up to this point is plenty of incentive to start a company. (There are also other incentives than money to start a company). Anyway, I was mostly responding to the suggestion that the government is "less accountable hands" than Meta -- I really don't think so, if we're talking about accountability to society at large. I think it's actually a problem that an entity with so much power over society isn't accountable to it; the first step is admitting we have a problem.
wpietri 4y ago
Wait, so you're saying most entrepreneurs aren't creating new things just to change the world, to make a difference, to put a dent in the universe, to fulfill a deep vision, and/or because their team or their userbase is like a family? I find it hard to believe that VCs, would-be billionaires, and their extensive PR teams have been lying to us all these years.
- pb7 4y ago
  Your snark lands flat because knowing that you will lose control of your company at an arbitrary point affects every single of one of those points listed. How will I fulfill my vision if the government will take over when it finally gains traction? Government isn't known for their execution. Well, only one type.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    You do realize that most VC-funded entrepreneurs "lose control" of their companies already, right?
Dylan16807 4y ago
My hypothetical company can always not go for a billion dollars of revenue, which makes those issues irrelevant even if we assume the worst possible handling.

by rmah 4y ago

polygamous_bat 4y ago

The founders and the employees are still being paid for their hard work building it up; it's not like a hostile government takeover where Mark Zuckerberg is woken up in his bed one night and asked by some men in uniform to hand over the keys to Facebook.

rmah 4y ago
Actually, that's exactly what it's like.

jrochkind1 4y ago

That's a different question than talking about "less accountable hands" but yes that would have to be figured out in any hypothetical utopian system. The employees work for a paycheck of course, but I suppose there needs to be sufficient incentive to start a company. It probably doesn't need to be multi-billion-dollar payout possible to incentivize though. And talking about an already existing company like facebook, I think founders and early investors have already received quite enough reward to incentivize, being able to make as much money as they've made off meta up to this point is plenty of incentive to start a company. (There are also other incentives than money to start a company). Anyway, I was mostly responding to the suggestion that the government is "less accountable hands" than Meta -- I really don't think so, if we're talking about accountability to society at large. I think it's actually a problem that an entity with so much power over society isn't accountable to it; the first step is admitting we have a problem.

wpietri 4y ago

Wait, so you're saying most entrepreneurs aren't creating new things just to change the world, to make a difference, to put a dent in the universe, to fulfill a deep vision, and/or because their team or their userbase is like a family? I find it hard to believe that VCs, would-be billionaires, and their extensive PR teams have been lying to us all these years.

pb7 4y ago
Your snark lands flat because knowing that you will lose control of your company at an arbitrary point affects every single of one of those points listed. How will I fulfill my vision if the government will take over when it finally gains traction? Government isn't known for their execution. Well, only one type.
- wpietri 4y ago
  You do realize that most VC-funded entrepreneurs "lose control" of their companies already, right?

Dylan16807 4y ago

My hypothetical company can always not go for a billion dollars of revenue, which makes those issues irrelevant even if we assume the worst possible handling.