I raised enough to last me for years. You should too. Now. If you can. | Hacker News Reader

I raised enough to last me for years. You should too. Now. If you can.

alleyinsider.com

10 pointsalexwg9 comments

Or you could just be profitable in multiple currencies. Anyone who's building a web startup should realize they have a global business. It's a small amount of effort to provide a Canadian, Australian, and U.K. localized version if you're an English speaker.

Even if you're not concerned about the economy, there's no reason to not take advantage of foreign markets. StudiVZ, a straight-up clone of Facebook in Germany, was acquired for $100 million. How much more would Facebook be worth(really worth) if they had made an effort to go international sooner? Friendster is actually still alive, saved by foreign markets(they're huge in Asia).

If you're interested, I've written more about going global here: http://socialstrategist.com/2007/08/20/go-global-or-lose-one...

Gaining global adoption is NOT about just translating some stuff. That's probably a very distant third in what matters for global adoption.

I'm sure the people who he raised money from are really thrilled by that picture and it's association with their money.

having anything to do with Calacanis and his gang of slave-labor lackeys is enough to make me want to stay the hell away from you.

They aren't public servants or politicians, who cares about image.

Managing investors is important, and that means you have to think about their perception. Though I was probably a little unfair, part of Calacanis's job is to make things look glamorous and exciting.

Truly profound advice.

I'm skeptical about the standard take on financial freedom. I think that a normal programmer can save enough in 5 years to live overseas off the interest with a comfortable standard of living. So, financial freedom isn't some high and lofty goal for the driven and privileged, but something we all can have fairly easily and dependably.

Things like startups should only be done because they are exciting and fun. Not out of some desperate drive for money.

While that may be true, there are two problems with this:

* Most of us don't want to move to most places which have such a low cost of living. Living in a beach hut for the rest of my life is just not very attractive to me. I guess it depends on your definition of "comfortable" but I'd have to say that I wouldn't want to live in any of the developing countries I've visited. Besides, luxury goods will be imports anyway, and still have western prices.

* Will those places that currently have such a low cost of living stay like that for another 60 years? I really doubt it.

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