Paul Graham says VCs Not Bold Enough. I Say None of Us Are | Hacker News Reader

Paul Graham says VCs Not Bold Enough. I Say None of Us Are

whydoeseverythingsuck.com

34 pointspchristensen13 comments

Yes, people are naturally risk-averse.

But if you're a VC, you have thrust yourself into the spotlight as someone with an appetite for calculated risk and a willingness to live outside your comfort zone. You are saying that you are someone special.

And this is why I think Paul's essay was interesting and eye-opening, while this essay is a statement of the blindingly, no-duh obvious. (no offense - you seem like a smart, nice guy, hank :)

Speak for yourself, Hank.

Some of us may be too damn bold for our own good.

Starting a software business really isn't logical, except maybe for someone young with nothing to lose and nothing better to do.

In my case, if I took all the hours I put into my own products and multiplied that by what I could have billed someone else (or even earned as an employee), well let's just say, "I don't want to know." The opportunity cost is staggering (not to mention time away from family and friends). Many of us could easily have put 7 figure sweat equity into our startups. Money that was never earned and may still never be seen.

Forget about angels and VCs - if what we entrepreneurs are already doing isn't bold, I don't know what is.

until I succeed I'd call me more a fool than bold

Life is about more than just business. And being bold isn't, at least in my context, about working harder. In fact it sounds like, for you, work is a default. I am talking about exploring things in life that you might not otherwise explore. Doing things you might otherwise dismiss. They do not need to be big things. Its not about who can have a heart attack sooner.

"work is a default"

Gee, I never thought about it that way. I hope that's not true.

OTOH, I have to do what I'm doing. I have to.

This is the hardest thing to get other people to understand. One of the reasons I turn down a lot of consulting to work on my startup is because I'm sick and tired of doing things wrong and helping people get things done with crappy software and tools. For years I've said, "That sucks, I can do way better." So now I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

Make no mistake about it. I love what I do. I can't imagine not doing it. If you call that "working harder" or "default", fine. But please don't say none of us is bold. Some of us have the scars to show otherwise.

"But please don't say none of us is bold."

I think you take things a bit too literally. This piece is about humanity in general, not "edw519"

You're right, Hank. I guess I just took a little creative license myself. It felt good.

One thing I've learned from watching people react to various essays, is that if they can read it as being about them, they will. You would be well advised to say "few" instead of "none" if you don't want to raise the ire of the few.

"if they can read it as being about them, they will"

That means you've reached them. Good job.

I work really hard because I'm not bold.

One of his points was that for most people, even if they are bold in one aspect of their lives, they have too much fear and stay in their comfort zones in others.

So for example, would you ever fight in a boxing ring? Act in a theatre production? Try to date two(or more) girls at the same time? Setting aside the question of whether these are things that you might want to do, can you honestly say that you have the courage to do what it takes to actually do these things, and go through the failures that you will need to go through in order to get good at these things?

So true. I've yet to figure out dating even only one woman.

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