8 ms·

All I'm thinking is, you Americans are really fucking lucky. Yeah OK, VCs are greedy and difficult to work with, but at least they give you a chance and literal

All I'm thinking is, you Americans are really fucking lucky. Yeah OK, VCs are greedy and difficult to work with, but at least they give you a chance and literally give you startup capital in the millions to build your own thing. That is mind blowing to me and definitely what sets America apart from everywhere else.

atleastoptimal 3y ago
[flagged]
- hattmall 3y ago
  The people getting the millions aren't generally from the same pool as those who have no healthcare and experience gun violence. Two entirely different worlds.
  - atleastoptimal 3y ago
    I was being facetious, a commentary on people who ardently defend the US on the merit of its economic strength over everything else, including many basic amenities much poorer countries take for granted.
swyx 3y ago
i mean, it exists in europe and asia too (i'm not familiar with latam/africa so less willing to make this kind of statement there). and if you pass some kind of socioeconomic bar you can be based anywhere but "effectively part of the US startup scene" if you hustle into the right circles. step 1 is incorporate thru stripe atlas imo.
jamesaurichs 3y ago
The built-in culture of risk taking in US can't be underestimated. Yes, we joke about Florida man and lament about the excess funding for startups. But with great risk comes great reward, and chances for inexperienced founders to prove themselves. Nowhere else on the planet are you able to do that with such magnitude, not in Japan, not in Europe, not in China (now that they're broke and in a Great Depression, and Xi is killing off entrepreneurs).
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  And in what sense are we better off for this? Is the claim that innovation only happens in the USA? That the only good companies are US companies? What are the specific benefits, other than merely indulging the startup fantasies of a relatively small number of founders, that come from this "high risk, high reward" environment?
  - jamesaurichs 3y ago
    We get more rockets (literally), faster. We get Tesla, SpaceX, Google, Facebook, AirBnB, Stripe, etc...
    - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
      Said another way, America is the sandbox for the rich to experiment on the poor, with technology that may or may not be good for the poor but ultimately doesn’t matter because the ultimate winner is always the one funding them. It’s the test and staging servers for global capitalism
      - jamesaurichs 3y ago
        Tesla creates American jobs for the poor to work in manufacturing SpaceX creates aspiration for the poor Google allows the poor to advertise their product to anyone in the world cheaply Facebook allows the poor to market their product to anyone in the world cheaply AirBnB allows the poor to live in an expensive city, cheaply Stripe allows the poor to sell their product to anyone in the world cheaply
        croes 3y ago
        And still people can't afford to buy house like their parents did. Maybe the problem isn't jobs but wealth distribution.
        3y ago
dgudkov 3y ago
VCs are secondary. You need customers more than VCs.
firecall 3y ago
You’ve struck a nerve on HN for sure! In Australia, we have similar issues. We also face geographic and population restrictions. I’m often advising clients to stop listening to advice from Unicorn CMOs from SV. America had 100s of millions of people. Australia had ~25m. You arnt going to sell a million widgets by engaging an Instagram influencer. You arnt the Kardashians. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to and reading about SV culture and the companies. It’s a fascinating world, to me anyway :-)
Apofis 3y ago
The guy is complaining about making millions being his own boss and working on his own idea funded by someone else's money and is blaming the people who gave him the money to do so. Much less, now that he lost it all, he is not in debt for the rest of his life or in prison. True first world problems.

atleastoptimal 3y ago

[flagged]

hattmall 3y ago
The people getting the millions aren't generally from the same pool as those who have no healthcare and experience gun violence. Two entirely different worlds.
- atleastoptimal 3y ago
  I was being facetious, a commentary on people who ardently defend the US on the merit of its economic strength over everything else, including many basic amenities much poorer countries take for granted.

swyx 3y ago

i mean, it exists in europe and asia too (i'm not familiar with latam/africa so less willing to make this kind of statement there). and if you pass some kind of socioeconomic bar you can be based anywhere but "effectively part of the US startup scene" if you hustle into the right circles. step 1 is incorporate thru stripe atlas imo.

jamesaurichs 3y ago

The built-in culture of risk taking in US can't be underestimated. Yes, we joke about Florida man and lament about the excess funding for startups. But with great risk comes great reward, and chances for inexperienced founders to prove themselves. Nowhere else on the planet are you able to do that with such magnitude, not in Japan, not in Europe, not in China (now that they're broke and in a Great Depression, and Xi is killing off entrepreneurs).

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
And in what sense are we better off for this? Is the claim that innovation only happens in the USA? That the only good companies are US companies? What are the specific benefits, other than merely indulging the startup fantasies of a relatively small number of founders, that come from this "high risk, high reward" environment?
- jamesaurichs 3y ago
  We get more rockets (literally), faster. We get Tesla, SpaceX, Google, Facebook, AirBnB, Stripe, etc...
  - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
    Said another way, America is the sandbox for the rich to experiment on the poor, with technology that may or may not be good for the poor but ultimately doesn’t matter because the ultimate winner is always the one funding them. It’s the test and staging servers for global capitalism
    - jamesaurichs 3y ago
      Tesla creates American jobs for the poor to work in manufacturing SpaceX creates aspiration for the poor Google allows the poor to advertise their product to anyone in the world cheaply Facebook allows the poor to market their product to anyone in the world cheaply AirBnB allows the poor to live in an expensive city, cheaply Stripe allows the poor to sell their product to anyone in the world cheaply
      - croes 3y ago
        And still people can't afford to buy house like their parents did. Maybe the problem isn't jobs but wealth distribution.
        3y ago

dgudkov 3y ago

VCs are secondary. You need customers more than VCs.

firecall 3y ago

You’ve struck a nerve on HN for sure! In Australia, we have similar issues. We also face geographic and population restrictions. I’m often advising clients to stop listening to advice from Unicorn CMOs from SV. America had 100s of millions of people. Australia had ~25m. You arnt going to sell a million widgets by engaging an Instagram influencer. You arnt the Kardashians. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to and reading about SV culture and the companies. It’s a fascinating world, to me anyway :-)

Apofis 3y ago

The guy is complaining about making millions being his own boss and working on his own idea funded by someone else's money and is blaming the people who gave him the money to do so. Much less, now that he lost it all, he is not in debt for the rest of his life or in prison. True first world problems.