5 ms·

How do you treat your kids when your startup is a success?

17 points by Stubbs 18y ago

pclark 18y ago
Peter Jones seems like an all round top guy. Does he do much stuff on the net? startups or such?
- gravitycop 18y ago
  Peter Jones is one of the five angel-investors on the BBC version of Dragons' Den. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_Den http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_Den He's been on the show for all six seasons. There are a lot of Dragons' Den episodes and specials uploaded in high-quality here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DDRepeat http://www.youtube.com/user/DDRepeat Some of his investment/entrepreneurial specialties are mobile telecommunications, television, and media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jones_(entrepreneur) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jones_(entrepreneur)
  - pclark 18y ago
    I stopped watching that when Doug Richard left... (I'm sure the others are great - but uk web investors are the ones I try to obsessivley keep on my radar.)
    - gravitycop 18y ago
      I'm sure the others are great I've watched quite a few DD episodes. Doug was the most tech-hip Dragon the show has ever had. I think he had the best grasp of, and the most interest in, scalable startups and modern technology. I wouldn't expect the other Dragons to do someday be doing something like this: http://www.schoolforstartups.co.uk http://www.schoolforstartups.co.uk Or this: http://trutap.com http://trutap.com
      - pclark 18y ago
        sadly trutap.com made lots of its staff redundant :( Doug is based in Cambridge, UK [where I am, too]. Am tempted by Cambridge Angels, might have to ask around YC and see if anyone has any experiences.
        axod 18y ago
        Didn't know you were also in Cambridge, I'm just a stones throw (45mins) away... There seems to be a reasonable startup scene there, do you go to any meetups? know of any?
        pclark 18y ago
        I go to a fair amount .. there are lots - Are you on twitter? Big community around here. Drop me an email - I love meeting interesting people :) Here's a few handy links: www.refreshcambridge.org # great web community with monthly meetups http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1493387/ http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1493387/
        pclark 18y ago
        "pierrefar" is another great Hacker News user thats in Cambridge FYI.
    - Jimclev 18y ago
      I think most people watch it to see a real car crash. When I've watched it, which isn't that often I've been shocked by how bad some of the pitches have been.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
dimitry 18y ago
To answer the question in the title.. I don't know yet :)
- pclark 18y ago
  yeah, thats one of those "good" problems to worry about in the future! :)
TomHod 18y ago
This is good too from the same site - top Dragons Den spoofs: http://launchlab.co.uk/article/Business-Blog/Top-five-Dragons%E2%80%99-Den-spoofs/427 http://launchlab.co.uk/article/Business-Blog/Top-five-Dragon...
vaksel 18y ago
The 2x payout is a good idea. If the kid grows up a screw up, they still won't starve on minimum wage. If the kid grows up to get a mediocre job making 50K/yr, suddenly they are pretty well off. If they push themselves and earn 100K...they get 200 which is quite good. Good motivator for them to work their ass off
decode 18y ago
Philip Greenspun suggests something similar: http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ He also adds another clever idea: "Can we tweak the $N bonus idea at all? What if a kid becomes a repulsive yuppie despite the lack of financial necessity? Won't his siblings become envious when Chad, Jr. gets a $3 million check from Chad, Sr. to supplement his $1 million/year earnings at J.P. Morgan? Perhaps there should be a sliding scale for the bonus where the first $100,000/year is muliplied by 4, the next $100,000 by 3, the next $100,000 by 2, and the rest of the kid's income is not subject to a parental bonus. Or there could be a lifetime cap of $10-20 million per kid (no Gulfstream for Johnny :-( )."
Jimclev 18y ago
Good to see, so many celebs (wealthy people) have nightmare kids. 10 seconds thought will give you a list of awful/useless children.

17 points by Stubbs 18y ago

pclark 18y ago

Peter Jones seems like an all round top guy. Does he do much stuff on the net? startups or such?

gravitycop 18y ago
Peter Jones is one of the five angel-investors on the BBC version of Dragons' Den. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_Den http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_Den He's been on the show for all six seasons. There are a lot of Dragons' Den episodes and specials uploaded in high-quality here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DDRepeat http://www.youtube.com/user/DDRepeat Some of his investment/entrepreneurial specialties are mobile telecommunications, television, and media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jones_(entrepreneur) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jones_(entrepreneur)
- pclark 18y ago
  I stopped watching that when Doug Richard left... (I'm sure the others are great - but uk web investors are the ones I try to obsessivley keep on my radar.)
  - gravitycop 18y ago
    I'm sure the others are great I've watched quite a few DD episodes. Doug was the most tech-hip Dragon the show has ever had. I think he had the best grasp of, and the most interest in, scalable startups and modern technology. I wouldn't expect the other Dragons to do someday be doing something like this: http://www.schoolforstartups.co.uk http://www.schoolforstartups.co.uk Or this: http://trutap.com http://trutap.com
    - pclark 18y ago
      sadly trutap.com made lots of its staff redundant :( Doug is based in Cambridge, UK [where I am, too]. Am tempted by Cambridge Angels, might have to ask around YC and see if anyone has any experiences.
      - axod 18y ago
        Didn't know you were also in Cambridge, I'm just a stones throw (45mins) away... There seems to be a reasonable startup scene there, do you go to any meetups? know of any?
        pclark 18y ago
        I go to a fair amount .. there are lots - Are you on twitter? Big community around here. Drop me an email - I love meeting interesting people :) Here's a few handy links: www.refreshcambridge.org # great web community with monthly meetups http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1493387/ http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1493387/
        pclark 18y ago
        "pierrefar" is another great Hacker News user thats in Cambridge FYI.
  - Jimclev 18y ago
    I think most people watch it to see a real car crash. When I've watched it, which isn't that often I've been shocked by how bad some of the pitches have been.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

dimitry 18y ago

To answer the question in the title.. I don't know yet :)

pclark 18y ago
yeah, thats one of those "good" problems to worry about in the future! :)

TomHod 18y ago

This is good too from the same site - top Dragons Den spoofs: http://launchlab.co.uk/article/Business-Blog/Top-five-Dragons%E2%80%99-Den-spoofs/427 http://launchlab.co.uk/article/Business-Blog/Top-five-Dragon...

vaksel 18y ago

The 2x payout is a good idea. If the kid grows up a screw up, they still won't starve on minimum wage. If the kid grows up to get a mediocre job making 50K/yr, suddenly they are pretty well off. If they push themselves and earn 100K...they get 200 which is quite good. Good motivator for them to work their ass off

decode 18y ago

Philip Greenspun suggests something similar: http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ He also adds another clever idea: "Can we tweak the $N bonus idea at all? What if a kid becomes a repulsive yuppie despite the lack of financial necessity? Won't his siblings become envious when Chad, Jr. gets a $3 million check from Chad, Sr. to supplement his $1 million/year earnings at J.P. Morgan? Perhaps there should be a sliding scale for the bonus where the first $100,000/year is muliplied by 4, the next $100,000 by 3, the next $100,000 by 2, and the rest of the kid's income is not subject to a parental bonus. Or there could be a lifetime cap of $10-20 million per kid (no Gulfstream for Johnny :-( )."

Jimclev 18y ago

Good to see, so many celebs (wealthy people) have nightmare kids. 10 seconds thought will give you a list of awful/useless children.