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The "change the world" rhetoric is posturing. It's a way of saying, "I'm so secure that I don't need to think about money". It's an aristocratic conceit. As an

The "change the world" rhetoric is posturing. It's a way of saying, "I'm so secure that I don't need to think about money". It's an aristocratic conceit. As an added benefit, it makes it easier to attract young, clueless talent and make it work 85-hour weeks. I know far too many people working for terrible startups on minimal wages because they "believe in the company". That's fine if you have real equity, but taking a $50,000 haircut for typical employee equity is insane. I hope people read this and absorb the message. If you're trying to hustle or build something the odds are already against, you can't afford to ignore "the making money part". To channel Mark Suster, ring the fucking cash register.

wikiburner 13y ago
You forgot to work in VC-istan™.
jacques_chester 13y ago
I think I am becoming trained to recognise you without seeing your name. It took me until "young, clueless talent" to flick my eyes up to see that yes, it was michealochurch. From the votes, I am apparently the only one.
lectrick 13y ago
The reason why wanting to change the world appears to be an "aristocratic conceit" is that the current reward system overly rewards predictable riskless delivery over unpredictable risky innovation, meaning that it is much harder to obtain the breathing room (read: cash) on both a personal and business level to go in those "world-changing" directions. Given that venture capital investment is one of the best (if riskiest) ways to make money, I really think it is time to throw out the accredited-investor law and open it up to everyone. This will flood the world with startup capital, allowing more breathing room for real innovation (read: world-changing) to occur. I agree that if no bottom line is made at all, you're in trouble. I can't find the post now, but there's a great blog post out there about realizing that you have to make yourself valuable to SOMEone, SOMEhow in a way that will make them pay you, whether you like it or not...
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  > This will flood the world with startup capital, allowing more breathing room for real innovation (read: world-changing) to occur. I wonder if this isn't over optimistic. I find it too easy to imagine that even more money would upend the productive world while frantically scrambling for the next hypersocialgamified instacandygrambook.

wikiburner 13y ago

You forgot to work in VC-istan™.

jacques_chester 13y ago

I think I am becoming trained to recognise you without seeing your name. It took me until "young, clueless talent" to flick my eyes up to see that yes, it was michealochurch. From the votes, I am apparently the only one.

lectrick 13y ago

The reason why wanting to change the world appears to be an "aristocratic conceit" is that the current reward system overly rewards predictable riskless delivery over unpredictable risky innovation, meaning that it is much harder to obtain the breathing room (read: cash) on both a personal and business level to go in those "world-changing" directions. Given that venture capital investment is one of the best (if riskiest) ways to make money, I really think it is time to throw out the accredited-investor law and open it up to everyone. This will flood the world with startup capital, allowing more breathing room for real innovation (read: world-changing) to occur. I agree that if no bottom line is made at all, you're in trouble. I can't find the post now, but there's a great blog post out there about realizing that you have to make yourself valuable to SOMEone, SOMEhow in a way that will make them pay you, whether you like it or not...

jacques_chester 13y ago
> This will flood the world with startup capital, allowing more breathing room for real innovation (read: world-changing) to occur. I wonder if this isn't over optimistic. I find it too easy to imagine that even more money would upend the productive world while frantically scrambling for the next hypersocialgamified instacandygrambook.