Comment by DubiousPusher | Hacker News Reader

Comment by DubiousPusher | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

If this article was trying to depict this man as thuroughl vain and void of humanity it could not have done a better job.

He moved to Miami Beach to avoid paying taxes? This hundreds of millionaire couldn't just move to a place he liked because he was worried about his marginal tax rate?

He bought a house that's empty and has accoutrements for a lifestyle he doesn't have or plan to have. This is a person buying something that looks like what other rich people by because it's what he's supposed to do.

He's succeed and now is not just overwhelmed by the opportunities he can tackle but is paralyzed by a lack of struggle.

I see these articles over and over again about entrepreneurs and what they show me is that many are not successful because they are imaginative people full of passion and ideas. Rather they are like robots who can see and optimize some little piece of the economy. And by and large they never tire of working at their own little corner. They are different from normal people not in their vision but because they do not tire of bulldoging one very tiny little thing.

I know that's not all entrepreneurs but there are so many profiles like this and they do not make me empathize with these people. They send a shiver down my spine.

I see people are downvoting this, but I confess that "he chose Miami Beach in part because Florida has no personal income tax" in the introduction instantly rubbed me the wrong way as well -- and, yes, "buying something that looks like what other rich people buy because it's what he's supposed to do" seems fundamentally correct.

And, sure, #NotAllEntrepreneurs. But if this fellow dropped $20M in investments that returned merely 3% a year, he could pay himself a "salary" of half a million a year just from the interest. I'd really like to read an article some time about someone who walked away with a one-time payout of a few hundred million from a deal like this and said, "Hey, you know what, I'm going to put 90% of my new wealth toward benefiting others, and still have enough money that I'll never have to work again if I don't want to."

I think you do have a point about him trying to buy what you are "supposed" to buy once you are wealthy.

However, I think that your robot criticism of entrepreneurs is unfair.

Street sweepers, cashiers at a grocery store, McDonald's employees are doing work that is way more repetitive than what an average entrepreneur does, yet you wouldn't call them robot-like, would you?

When I say robotic I'm not referring to the reptitiveness of the work.

I'm talking about the singularity of focus and mind founders often posses for things that are utterly mundane. Making an energy bar is surely exciting at first. Creating recipes, working out deals to sell them, building a brand.

But at a certain point your energy bar is about as good as any other. And it tastes as good as any other. And your branding is as good as any other.

And the only thing that really differentiates you is how well you can wedge your prybar into the market. That work is really mundane but there is a type of person that thrives doing that.

I've known a few people in this situation and many of them are like this guy. When the struggle is over, the mission is achieved and they just kind of shut down.

They've spent so much time obsessing over how to sell a freaking energy bar that they've never developed themselves or their passion.

Wouldn't in that case making money be their passion?

I can't relate to that either, but I think that this is common among successful entrepreneurs, often going all the way back to their childhoods (the guy in the article was buying and selling stuff in elementary school).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com