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Comment by threatofrain | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to build something interesting so I want more. Some people want to buy homes, happiness, and family prosperity with their wealth. If that's the case then $10M is too much. That's multiple homes territory.

But if you want to build something for society and not die doing it then you might need more than $10M.

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> I'd like to build something interesting so I want more.

My dad built tents for diabetes research in Africa, I think that's pretty interesting and helpful. He's never had even a million dollars.

You need way less than you think.

Isn’t that backwards? Most people need to build a business to make the $10M+ in the first place. Are you talking about a nonprofit or an airplane/movie business (both famous for turning large fortunes into small ones). Otherwise you probably should follow the advice from the “Producers”: never put your own money in the show.

I think you have conflated 'build something for society' with 'build a business' which is very hacker-news-core. My mind immediately went to building infrastructure and schools in rural Nepal, not building a b2b saas that raises customer acquisition rates by 8 %.

You might be right, but somehow GP’s comment didn’t come across that way to me. Does it take more than $10M in wealth before someone can build a school in rural Nepal? It just seemed like a convenient rationale for wanting to accumulate a lot of wealth, which is also very hacker-news-core.

You are exactly right. If you want to build something big from scratch you will likely need to control that thing, which in our system means ownership and wealth. If you don't own it, someone else will own/control it and you could lose your ability to execute on your vision.

>how much you'll ever need

If that's the case then it's no longer just for you, so I think that's fair

Depends on where person wants to live

You can live in the Bay Area.

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