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Comment by arielm | Hacker News Reader

This naive view that if is someone is silly enough to throw money at your silly idea you should take it isn't just hurting the current industry by setting unrealistic expectations but will also be the driving force behind the collapse of the unhealthy capital market in the valley. Unrealistic salaries (that completely ignore any roi calculations), ideas that aren't grounded, and the need to get it all done super fast are what's going to cause a drought in capital for tech and then both good and bad ideas will suffer.

I urge you to rethink your statement with the future of the industry in mind, not just a single bank account.

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Everything you've said is sensible, though I question whether in a cheap money environment investors will stay away if they've been burned. People fall all over themselves to lend money to sovereigns who have defaulted fairly recently, and that at very low interest rates. I would be surprised if people with access to unlimited cheap money will really stay away.

That said, even if I agreed with you 100% (and you're certainly right in principle), I would not change my view. That's why I noted that humans live only once and have a short time frame to accumulate money. In the fullness of time, yes, this behavior is harmful. But humans don't live in the fullness of time; they live when they're born. Secure your own future and to hell with the industry's.

> Secure your own future and the hell with the industry's

This is just not something I can agree with, regardless how it's twisted. Accumulating a sustainable amount of money isn't as easy as raising a few rounds on a weak idea. It takes a real idea, perseverance, and thinking really long term. The mindset quoted above isn't likely to support any of these requirements.

So, really what you'll end up with is a nice house, a pretty car, and a few fake friends while it's all running smoothly. The second you can no longer deliver it all goes away. I might be in the minority here, but I plan to leave my children an empire. Not a house of cards.

Assets don't just "go away" unless they're encumbered by debt. If you're paying yourself a bloated salary, living frugally, and taking advantage of opportunities to sell things that are ridiculously overvalued, you should not have any trouble building durable wealth in a short time.

It's fine to say that you don't like what I'm saying. It's fine to think it's unethical, or that it harms others. But don't suggest that it doesn't work; it very obviously does.

You're right in your approach. However, in the capital market founders don't usually get to dictate their salaries or suck in more of the loot than is absolutely necessary. That's why VCs keep a good portion of the control.

Now this may not be the case always, so yes, a short term plan could work. But I doubt it works reliably enough to be turned into a rule.

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