3 ms·

The essential thing to understand about ramen profitability is that it's a way to hack fund-raising. It's not the goal of the company. It need not even come f

by pg 18y ago

The essential thing to understand about ramen profitability is that it's a way to hack fund-raising. It's not the goal of the company. It need not even come from the source the company's ultimate profits. All it means is getting enough revenue fairly early that you're not at the mercy of investors.

tptacek 18y ago
Sure. A great thing. You read the articles here, right? They propose ramen profitability, along with a dorm-style living space, as a lifestyle choice.
- Eliezer 18y ago
  Although I'm still highly motivated and that doesn't feel like it's changed, at some point in my life I just sort of... ran out of the ability to grind through with a low standard of living. Not at exactly 27, more like 25, but close enough. I have friends who are the same age and can still do this, which is embarrassing and makes me feel like a horrible selfish person. I might be able to do it in a genuine emergency, it's just that living a low lifestyle feels like a much larger imposition and a much huger mental drain than it did at say age 22. I wonder if it's hardwired brain change, or was it something more cognitive - something I thought? YCers beware, your ability to run on ramen may be an age-limited resource, use it while you're young.
  - nlwhittemore 18y ago
    I wouldn't feel bad. I'm only 24 but this is the way I feel about certain types of travel. I've spent the last 6 years going at the drop of a hat to everywhere from Syria to Uganda to where ever to work on projects and am getting close to the edge, for sure. Its very natural
  - tptacek 18y ago
    You feel that way because you're worth more than a couple cups of ramen. Nobody wants to be a sucker.
    - pg 18y ago
      In my experience they're not related. Robert Morris and I both retained the ability to live like grad students till well into our thirties. I think women may be a factor. Also exposure to living well. But above all, perhaps, fatigue.
      - deleted 18y ago
        [deleted]
      - Eliezer 18y ago
        Why yes, I did run out of ability to run on ramen around the same time I got my first girlfriend - but the causation of the correlation was reversed, that is, I ran out of ability to live without a girlfriend, which up until that point I'd been doing effortlessly.
  - cmos 18y ago
    It's not easy. I did it for 7 years out of college, slowly raising my salary from minimum wage to not much above minimum wage. Overall my standard of living wasn't horrible though, I had an old used car, lived in an old mansion with 5 friends ($1500 a month, heat included!), and was in a 'southwest airlines' city so the cost of living was quite cheap. (i.e. A slice of pizza and a soda was $1) Difficult? At times Amazing experience? You betcha
- strlen 18y ago
  This may not be the intention of the "hotel" being discussed in the article, but it seems to be there are people who would like to setup sweatshop style outfits and dub them "incubators" or "entrepreneur hotels" - but in reality, they'd like to push motivated (but young and naive) kids to work long hours, for little pay and (unlike a true start-up) for no equity (which would turn to a lump-sum payment in case of a liquidity event or a dividend being issued). This isn't too dissimilar with what big companies do with "college hires" (which is sometimes reasonable, as all they have to work with are college transcripts and a general idea of intelligence), except (much like MLM schemes) such an outfit would be able to attach a bunch of feel-good self-help messages around it ("you're being an entrepreneur, you're changing the world, you're taking a risk and not working for a Big Dumb Ugly Corporation").

by pg 18y ago

tptacek 18y ago

Sure. A great thing. You read the articles here, right? They propose ramen profitability, along with a dorm-style living space, as a lifestyle choice.

Eliezer 18y ago
Although I'm still highly motivated and that doesn't feel like it's changed, at some point in my life I just sort of... ran out of the ability to grind through with a low standard of living. Not at exactly 27, more like 25, but close enough. I have friends who are the same age and can still do this, which is embarrassing and makes me feel like a horrible selfish person. I might be able to do it in a genuine emergency, it's just that living a low lifestyle feels like a much larger imposition and a much huger mental drain than it did at say age 22. I wonder if it's hardwired brain change, or was it something more cognitive - something I thought? YCers beware, your ability to run on ramen may be an age-limited resource, use it while you're young.
- nlwhittemore 18y ago
  I wouldn't feel bad. I'm only 24 but this is the way I feel about certain types of travel. I've spent the last 6 years going at the drop of a hat to everywhere from Syria to Uganda to where ever to work on projects and am getting close to the edge, for sure. Its very natural
- tptacek 18y ago
  You feel that way because you're worth more than a couple cups of ramen. Nobody wants to be a sucker.
  - pg 18y ago
    In my experience they're not related. Robert Morris and I both retained the ability to live like grad students till well into our thirties. I think women may be a factor. Also exposure to living well. But above all, perhaps, fatigue.
    - deleted 18y ago
      [deleted]
    - Eliezer 18y ago
      Why yes, I did run out of ability to run on ramen around the same time I got my first girlfriend - but the causation of the correlation was reversed, that is, I ran out of ability to live without a girlfriend, which up until that point I'd been doing effortlessly.
- cmos 18y ago
  It's not easy. I did it for 7 years out of college, slowly raising my salary from minimum wage to not much above minimum wage. Overall my standard of living wasn't horrible though, I had an old used car, lived in an old mansion with 5 friends ($1500 a month, heat included!), and was in a 'southwest airlines' city so the cost of living was quite cheap. (i.e. A slice of pizza and a soda was $1) Difficult? At times Amazing experience? You betcha
strlen 18y ago
This may not be the intention of the "hotel" being discussed in the article, but it seems to be there are people who would like to setup sweatshop style outfits and dub them "incubators" or "entrepreneur hotels" - but in reality, they'd like to push motivated (but young and naive) kids to work long hours, for little pay and (unlike a true start-up) for no equity (which would turn to a lump-sum payment in case of a liquidity event or a dividend being issued). This isn't too dissimilar with what big companies do with "college hires" (which is sometimes reasonable, as all they have to work with are college transcripts and a general idea of intelligence), except (much like MLM schemes) such an outfit would be able to attach a bunch of feel-good self-help messages around it ("you're being an entrepreneur, you're changing the world, you're taking a risk and not working for a Big Dumb Ugly Corporation").