[fennecfoxen]

"To all of the people who say that the best thing to do is get a good job, buy a nice house, and to put the max into a 401k that the company will match: Fuck you. It’s not what I want. Mediocrity is worse than failure."

Hey, man, if that's not what you want, that's cool and all, but I'm just going to defend myself and my buddies with good jobs and stuffed 401(k)s: There are other things besides Business that matter to people. For instance, I'd rather be a middling-to-decent family-man than a wildly successful entrepreneur, any day of the week.

There's a lot to give up in pursuit of your dreams, whether that dream is family or success or artistic fulfillment or travel... Sometimes you can choose to have some of column A and some of column B at the expense of being "mediocre" (or at least not-99.999th-percentile) at both - but maybe sometimes that leaves you a better person overall.

Anyway. Whatever floats your boat; just don't be too down on the rest of the world's strategies or anything

[mgkimsal]

More to the point, most 'wantrepreneurs' rely on customers being in the middle class or higher, and having discretionary incomes from their stuffed 401ks to spend on their product/service/Saas/etc. To call that lifestyle 'mediocrity' and insult the very people that you need to grow your business is beyond the pale.

Just wait until he starts hiring people. He'll need those people who are satisfied when their work life is 'mediocre' by his terms.

Silicon Valley startup porn is harmful to many people, and I think the OP might be one of the harmed.

[mindcrime]

To call that lifestyle 'mediocrity' and insult the very people that you need to grow your business is beyond the pale.

FWIW, I think "mediocre" is relative and very personal. A stable job, a modest house, a 401(k) with some money in it, etc., would be mediocre for me, because that just isn't what I want. But I would never argue that it's mediocre in any universal or objective sense. Whether someone's life is mediocre or not is entirely relative to their ambitions, goals, and priorities.

So if you ever hear me describe that kind of life as mediocre, know that that only means it isn't the kind of life I aspire to.

In fact, I go home sometimes to visit my best friend... he works as an over the road truck driver, doesn't make a ton of money, has a modest home, etc., but has a great wife and three kids. I would never call his life mediocre, and I'm even jealous in certain regards at times. I'll even be the first to say that he has accomplished more than I have in a lot of ways, while I'm off chasing entrepreneurial dreams and big ambitions.

Silicon Valley startup porn is harmful to many people

No doubt. But for some of us, it's not just "I want to be rich". I mean, I joke about a lot of things (search for my old posts here mentioning the word 'Maserati' for example), but the real driver for me is the need to be free. I want to run my own company and have plenty of money, just for the degree of freedom that entails. I can't stand the idea of having a "boss" in the traditional sense, somebody who can come in and order me around and keep me under his thumb. I want "FU money" because I want the freedom to say "FU" and go do what I want to do. But that's just a reflection of my self-centered, radical individualist, libertarian nature.

[mgkimsal]

"I want to run my own company and have plenty of money,"

There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company. We all need FU money, but if 'freedom' is the ultimate goal, you could reduce your wants and probably have FU money after a year or so at a decent job, then move to some asian island and live decently off the interest.

That's not the 'freedom' most of us aspire to though. :)

[mindcrime]

There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company.

Oh yeah, no doubt. That's the problem with engaging in too much reductionism in conversations like this. Human motivation is always more complex than just one or two things. I want to build a startup for other reasons than just financial independence, for sure. I guess the way I'd put it is:

"Founding a startup and growing a successful, profitable company seems - to me - to be the best path to satisfying a large number of my goals and ambitions and priorities, to an adequate degree, without compromising any of my fundamental principles".

Or think of it as an optimization problem... my calculations optimize the system of equations best by starting a company, based on what I know right now.

[mgkimsal]

BTW, are you ever back in NC?

[mindcrime]

Oh yeah, I've been back since mid June, modulo a two week trip to Miami that I just returned from. I'm sitting at the Barnes & Noble at New Hope Commons now, writing this. :-)

We should get together again sometime soon, and do lunch or drinks or something. Shoot me an email or give me a call and let's see what we can line up.

[epa]

> Just wait until he starts hiring people. He'll need those people who are satisfied when their work life is 'mediocre' by his terms.

I think this is the best point brought up so far. He doesnt realize that others have different ideas about what success in life is. You cant be at the top looking down on your employees as just people who work for you and who are happy with mediocrity. It's a team effort, some have more responsibility than others.