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Comment by MikeCapone | Hacker News Reader

It's a simple fact that people will never be as careful spending other people's money as they would be spending their own...

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That doesn't go to explain the whole difference between business and government though. Presumably start-up owners don't view venture capital as their own money yet the good ones still spend it carefully.

In a way though, VC money IS your money. Your reputation is on the line, and if you spend/manage the money wisely, there is a great potential windfall for you in the future.

>Your reputation is on the line, and if you spend/manage the money wisely, there is a great potential windfall for you in the future.

I don't see that being any different than government.

With the government, there is a relatively unaccountable representative standing between the funding organization (the taxpayers) and the projects to be funded.

If entrepreneurs::VCs was like government::taxpayers, then entrepreneurs would throw VCs in jail whenever the VCs decided to withhold funding for a failing project.

>> if you spend/manage the money wisely, there is a great potential windfall for you in the future.

> I don't see that being any different than government.

Oh really? What is the "windfall"? (It's not supposed to be money in govt.)

And, if it's the same, why is the typical govt service so bad?

I don't know about you. But I'm 100% satisfied with the US/State govt services I've interacted with (IRS, USCIS, DMV, Social Security, USPS, BART).

My most horrifying experiences were with the private sector (1) to clear up identity theft that happened to me, (2) admitted inaccurate billing by a dentist.

You're the first person I've run into who is 100% satisfied with the DMV. Which office do you use?

What is your interaction with the IRS and SS? (I haven't run into any problems giving them money, but that's all that I've done with them so I don't have useful data.)

I receive USPS mail for a different address at least twice a week. I haven't been burned yet by my mail being misdelivered, but odds are that I won't stay a lucky unicorn forever.

"VC money" post-investment is now your company's money. Assuming you own a percentage of your company, it is your money.

My current day job is working in the public service of my country (in IT). Here, if you spend under your budget, the assumption often made on high is that you didn't really need the money you didn't end up using and so that money will most likely no longer be available to you next year.

This creates the insane situation where government agencies will often madly and recklessly try to spend any money they have left over when nearing the end of the financial year.

This is the one major difference I have seen between when I've worked in the private sector and when I've worked in government. In most areas of the private sector, you are rewarded for efficiency, in most areas of government, you are penalised for it.

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