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I worked with a founder who tried probably a dozen ideas before the one that made it, and each time, he had his relatively wealthy family to backstop the effort
by ryandrake 2y ago
I worked with a founder who tried probably a dozen ideas before the one that made it, and each time, he had his relatively wealthy family to backstop the effort and provide a sofa to sleep on when it failed. Eventually, one of those businesses made him very well off, and he became an insufferable libertarian. Whenever he had a company pep talk for the employees, he would go on and on about how he started the company all by himself with nothing, and built it into this big thing that employs all of you, blah, blah, blah. No acknowledgment of the incredible fortune needed to weather all the previous failures.
- jorvi 2y agoThere is a beautiful short webcomic about this called "On A Plate"[0]. [0]https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-wireless/373065/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-wireless/373065/the-pencilswo...
- ryandrake 2y agoYep, it's an excellent response to the complex topic of merit.
- giantrobot 2y ago> No acknowledgment of the incredible fortune needed to weather all the previous failures. Or, I'm sure, thanking all of the people in that room that actually do all the work day to day.