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Comment by fra | Hacker News Reader

I’ve seen many people climb the SWE ladder or build a YC company (having done both myself), and trust me the founder route is not the most efficient. You only believe this because you didn’t see the 2 failed startups and 10 year journey grinding 80h weeks almost running out of cash a few times.

Jensen Huang himself says nobody in their right mind should start a company https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/05/11/jensen-huang-i-didnt-kno...

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> Jensen Huang himself says

Not that I disagree, but it doesn't refute the original argument. It could even support it, class protecting their own from more people figuring out there's no clothes on the emperor.

This. I saw way more people build a few millions of retirement nest egg reliably in 10-20 years, by working on a boring good swe job and manage their investment a bit better. It's a much safer route.

Nobody in their right mind should start a company up to some equilibrium. As a society we should fund the appetite of experimental founders to put more pressure on quality than what natural conditions might allow.

survivorship bias

Except that he did start a company so his comment is really saying you have to be crazy enough to start a company

"Lottery winner says you should not gamble"

Which is totally valid! You shouldn’t gamble to get rich, and that’s true whether you’ve won in the past or not.

I would say closer to a skilled black jack player. You can’t really change the odds in lottery but a good player can improve their chances in gambling.

What part of "start a company" requires "grinding 80h weeks"?

Sounds to me as inability to delegate. Or implicit in the [acquire VC, aim for high growth] mindset as if that were the only path to success.

Companies can grow organically. With a positive cash-flow early on & reasonable work/life balance for founders & employees alike. Heck, there's even non-profits.

> Companies can grow organically.

Yes they can, but unless you strike luck, they take many years, often decades of work to grow to a level where you can retire and enjoy the money.

With FIRE and similar concepts being pushed around everywhere, and the plight of the masses to keep their jobs and homes, I see where that desire for "make money fast" comes from. And from a game theory mindset - it's not wrong. (That is also a bit related to the explosion of gambling and gambling-alike stuff such as "prediction markets"...)

> Heck, there's even non-profits.

Non-profits often enough run on conditions bordering on (self-)exploitation.

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