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> demand a larger share of the billions in wealth we’ve generated for the VCs and CEOs Yeah, well, thoughts like that only come from a context in which there i

> demand a larger share of the billions in wealth we’ve generated for the VCs and CEOs Yeah, well, thoughts like that only come from a context in which there is zero understanding of the realities of business and what it takes to profitably run one. I always find this interesting. Not sure if people just say this kind of thing to just be one of the bro's or because they really believe it. I hope it isn't the latter. A while back one of my kids had a college-level business class in high school. Their final project was to put together a full presentation, financials and a pitch to get a loan for a mid size bakery ($5MM/year gross revenue). He was absolutely astounded to learn just how difficult it was to make money in that business. When his team started on the project they pretty much assumed that with $5MM/yr the owner was just raking it in. It was nothing less than hilarious when he came into my office one day to tell me he could not believe what it took to be in business and make money. He had a revelation few people have. He had it at 15 years of age. Most adults don't have a clue about this their entire lives. VC's? They risk millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions. And, guess what? Most of their bets might lose money or barely make any. People only see success, they never stop to consider and internalize what it took to get there. CEO's? Try running a non-trivial company and see how it goes. Heck, even a medium company can put you in the hospital! My prior startup did that to me twice in ten years. Our country would derive great benefit from delivering real financial education before we launch young adults into the world. Ignorance has consequences. Generational consequences.

grensley 3y ago
I've always suspected that the primary education system purposefully avoids financial education because of fears that too many people attempting to join the ownership class would cause civil unrest.
- robomartin 3y ago
  I don't know what the motivation might be. What I do know, with absolute certainty, is that having a population that is ignorant about money, business and entrepreneurship isn't good for the nation. If I had to extrapolate a motivating factor, it would go something like this: For some unimaginable reason, US educators are in love with Marxism and Socialism. Unimaginable because anyone who has ever lived in those realities could not run from that shit fast enough to get elsewhere. A population knowledgeable about money, business and entrepreneurship would quickly reject these failed and broken ideologies (a historical fact). As a strategy, it isn't a good idea to teach something that could lead people rejecting indoctrination efforts in a different direction. On the right there's the effort to teach creationism and downplay evolution by natural selection. Same concept. Except, in that case, as far as I know, they are not being allowed to do that at our schools. This is the right way to handle such things. Want to teach Creationism or Marxism. No problem, knowledge is good. Do not turn it into indoctrination. Students must be well versed in everything they need to know in order to understand these historical ideas that hold absolutely no water today. Teaching history is important. Pretending failed ideas are real viable ideas today is indoctrination. Imagine if 90% of our schools jumped on the flat earth ideology and pushed it hard from K-12 and college and avoided teaching what we know to be true because it would reveal their ideology for what it is. Well, that's the situation I believe we have with respect to graduating financially savvy adults who understand business and entrepreneurship right out of the gate and can help elevate society to great new levels because of it. Instead, we are graduating business haters who will never build anything and will certainly not elevate any segment of society. The only way Marxists can have an audience is if they keep everyone poor, miserable and ignorant. A successful, accomplished and educated society isn't a good target market for shit ideas.
somsak2 3y ago
VCs aren't risking their own money. But yes, on the whole active investors must make less than passive ones if fees are included. CEOs are hardly the only ones with health issues from their jobs. Hell Amazon specifically is so insanely bad about this that Bernie has basically been taking just about them in regards to an exploitive employer that leaves people disabled. Maybe we shouldn't be normalizing unsustainable work that creates health problems for people, whether at the CEO or the regular worker level.
- robomartin 3y ago
  > VCs aren't risking their own money. First, that isn't universally true. Also, the term "VC" is often used to mean "investors". I think I can say that the history of most businesses does not start with VC's that manage hundreds of millions of dollars not belonging to them. Business is hard, very hard. There are very few dorm-to-unicorn stories like Facebook. Even then, the Facebook story isn't about pink unicorns and lollypops for everyone from day one. That's the major fallacy in these ideologies that vilify business. They don't come from a framework that really understands what is entailed in running and funding a non-trivial organization and making it successful in a globally competitive market. > Maybe we shouldn't be normalizing unsustainable work that creates health problems for people, whether at the CEO or the regular worker level. Suggestion: Go work at a farm for a summer. I don't know of any competitive job of any kind that does not bring with it stress. Let's be careful not to manufacture fantasies. It's the "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" idea. I know someone who is theoretically worth nearly $800MM who has problems the average office worker would not want to ever have to face on a daily basis. The grass isn't always greener. It seldom is. To add to that from a personal anecdote. I started a business back in 2000. It was a hardware/software business. I was locked in my garage 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for 18 months before I could ship our first product. Six month after shipping, and with some sales in the bank, I decided to get a new car. My old car had 200K miles and I could not even consider upgrading it before. I was talking to a neighbor a couple of weeks after that. He said something like "Wow! You must have hit the jackpot. Did you get a new job?". You see, from the outside, nobody sees the 18 hour days, 7 days a week, 18 month effort, struggle, pain, suffering, sleepless nights, crying, self-doubt, family problems, financial risk, etc. All they see is Martin driving a new car he did not have for the last five years. That's all they process. They have no clue, at all, none, of what it took to get there --and to stay there.

grensley 3y ago

I've always suspected that the primary education system purposefully avoids financial education because of fears that too many people attempting to join the ownership class would cause civil unrest.

robomartin 3y ago
I don't know what the motivation might be. What I do know, with absolute certainty, is that having a population that is ignorant about money, business and entrepreneurship isn't good for the nation. If I had to extrapolate a motivating factor, it would go something like this: For some unimaginable reason, US educators are in love with Marxism and Socialism. Unimaginable because anyone who has ever lived in those realities could not run from that shit fast enough to get elsewhere. A population knowledgeable about money, business and entrepreneurship would quickly reject these failed and broken ideologies (a historical fact). As a strategy, it isn't a good idea to teach something that could lead people rejecting indoctrination efforts in a different direction. On the right there's the effort to teach creationism and downplay evolution by natural selection. Same concept. Except, in that case, as far as I know, they are not being allowed to do that at our schools. This is the right way to handle such things. Want to teach Creationism or Marxism. No problem, knowledge is good. Do not turn it into indoctrination. Students must be well versed in everything they need to know in order to understand these historical ideas that hold absolutely no water today. Teaching history is important. Pretending failed ideas are real viable ideas today is indoctrination. Imagine if 90% of our schools jumped on the flat earth ideology and pushed it hard from K-12 and college and avoided teaching what we know to be true because it would reveal their ideology for what it is. Well, that's the situation I believe we have with respect to graduating financially savvy adults who understand business and entrepreneurship right out of the gate and can help elevate society to great new levels because of it. Instead, we are graduating business haters who will never build anything and will certainly not elevate any segment of society. The only way Marxists can have an audience is if they keep everyone poor, miserable and ignorant. A successful, accomplished and educated society isn't a good target market for shit ideas.

somsak2 3y ago

VCs aren't risking their own money. But yes, on the whole active investors must make less than passive ones if fees are included. CEOs are hardly the only ones with health issues from their jobs. Hell Amazon specifically is so insanely bad about this that Bernie has basically been taking just about them in regards to an exploitive employer that leaves people disabled. Maybe we shouldn't be normalizing unsustainable work that creates health problems for people, whether at the CEO or the regular worker level.

robomartin 3y ago
> VCs aren't risking their own money. First, that isn't universally true. Also, the term "VC" is often used to mean "investors". I think I can say that the history of most businesses does not start with VC's that manage hundreds of millions of dollars not belonging to them. Business is hard, very hard. There are very few dorm-to-unicorn stories like Facebook. Even then, the Facebook story isn't about pink unicorns and lollypops for everyone from day one. That's the major fallacy in these ideologies that vilify business. They don't come from a framework that really understands what is entailed in running and funding a non-trivial organization and making it successful in a globally competitive market. > Maybe we shouldn't be normalizing unsustainable work that creates health problems for people, whether at the CEO or the regular worker level. Suggestion: Go work at a farm for a summer. I don't know of any competitive job of any kind that does not bring with it stress. Let's be careful not to manufacture fantasies. It's the "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" idea. I know someone who is theoretically worth nearly $800MM who has problems the average office worker would not want to ever have to face on a daily basis. The grass isn't always greener. It seldom is. To add to that from a personal anecdote. I started a business back in 2000. It was a hardware/software business. I was locked in my garage 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for 18 months before I could ship our first product. Six month after shipping, and with some sales in the bank, I decided to get a new car. My old car had 200K miles and I could not even consider upgrading it before. I was talking to a neighbor a couple of weeks after that. He said something like "Wow! You must have hit the jackpot. Did you get a new job?". You see, from the outside, nobody sees the 18 hour days, 7 days a week, 18 month effort, struggle, pain, suffering, sleepless nights, crying, self-doubt, family problems, financial risk, etc. All they see is Martin driving a new car he did not have for the last five years. That's all they process. They have no clue, at all, none, of what it took to get there --and to stay there.