4 ms·

I'm totally with you about loving Jon Stewart and I'm all for removing barriers for those inclined towards entrepreneurship. But the concept of creating safety

I'm totally with you about loving Jon Stewart and I'm all for removing barriers for those inclined towards entrepreneurship. But the concept of creating safety nets to encourage more entrepreneurship strikes me as paradoxical. To an extent, the inherent risks that come with starting a new business is a good thing -- it forces would-be-entrepreneurs to assess critically what they would gain or lose before taking the plunge. The inextricable dependency on company health insurance, however, should not have to play a role in that risk assessment. Maybe I'm just being picky over semantics, but instead of creating a "wide safety net for failure," which to me sounds like something that encourages poor business judgment, I would be in favor of reducing the extrinsic risks of starting a new business (e.g. insurance) so entrepreneurs could focus on the risks relevant to the business itself. But like I said, I might be nitpicking over choice of words, so forgive me. Knowing there's a risk of failure isn't so bad -- it makes me try really hard at, well, not failing.

EricDeb 14y ago
I agree, but I feel the more likely scenario is the 40 year old with domain expertise who is rationally confident he could strike out on his own but is hindered for fear of losing health insurance/income not only for himself, but for his family. The current conditions seem to discourage these individuals from starting companies in favor of the far more common mid-20s silicon valley web junkie who has far less to lose and a minute chance of success.
- viviantan 14y ago
  Thank you for pointing that out. Since this is Hacker News I can sometimes be a bit myopic about the different kinds of entrepreneurs. Now that I think about it, the guy from Breaking Bad could be the perfect poster-boy (poster-man?) for what happens when middle-aged dudes don't have safety nets for starting legal businesses!
wmblaettler 14y ago
Well put. My thoughts were similar that if the safety net were to allow for excessively risky behavior (as in unsustainable, non-profitable, or predatory business schemes) with repeated failure and limited negative side effects, it could be a net drain on the overall economy.

EricDeb 14y ago

I agree, but I feel the more likely scenario is the 40 year old with domain expertise who is rationally confident he could strike out on his own but is hindered for fear of losing health insurance/income not only for himself, but for his family. The current conditions seem to discourage these individuals from starting companies in favor of the far more common mid-20s silicon valley web junkie who has far less to lose and a minute chance of success.

viviantan 14y ago
Thank you for pointing that out. Since this is Hacker News I can sometimes be a bit myopic about the different kinds of entrepreneurs. Now that I think about it, the guy from Breaking Bad could be the perfect poster-boy (poster-man?) for what happens when middle-aged dudes don't have safety nets for starting legal businesses!

wmblaettler 14y ago

Well put. My thoughts were similar that if the safety net were to allow for excessively risky behavior (as in unsustainable, non-profitable, or predatory business schemes) with repeated failure and limited negative side effects, it could be a net drain on the overall economy.