Yeah, it's truly bizarre that Alex is at Amy Hoy's throat about this. Amy is utterly dedicated to encouraging more people who don't feel safe starting a business to GO DO IT. That seems like something Alex would be into.
Maybe because he's shooting for the stars right now with BankSimple (which I am SO excited about) he's feeling a little nervous about that strategy. Being pre-launch on something so anticipated and ambitious must be at least a little scary!
I guess I can understand Alex's perspective when I consider he's one the lucky few to be on the 0.0001% side of the equation and raised $2.9 million first round funding. (Must be nice.)
I think the idea that only %0.0001 of people who enter into startups walk out with their lives improved is absurd.
It's a myth that we're all in this game for an FB payout, and it's a myth that that's the reason we want to play the game.
Most of my startups have had payouts to me personally, via either stock buyback (to retain control of the company while securing more funding), or exit deals (in the case of powerset). And even for the cases where I didn't get a big payout, my experience and skills were improved dramatically by the environment and demands placed on me by the job.
I went from working a dead-end job at Lockheed Martin and getting less than 3/4 the fair salary for someone with my skillset to courting jobs and turning people down. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not a lucky person, and I am not a brilliant star amongst the constellation of smart people that fill the Valley. I simply play the game and move to jobs that balance my personal improvement with my chance for a payout.
I really like your ideas here! But the thing you do where you take what someone else said, and then turn it into something absurd, and then call them out for being absurd... it doesn't really move the dialog forward.
jv22222 said "Alex [is] one the lucky few to be on the 0.0001% side of the equation and raised $2.9 million first round funding"
You translate that to "only %0.0001 of people who enter into startups walk out with their lives improved"
He might also be financially independent (at least on paper) thanks to Twitter stock. That could completely excise one's interest in lifestyle businesses.
Agreed. There's plenty of room in the world for both Alex and Amy's approaches to work, to be valuable, and to make people happy. They don't preclude or cancel out one another. It's all good.
Maybe because he's shooting for the stars right now with BankSimple (which I am SO excited about) he's feeling a little nervous about that strategy. Being pre-launch on something so anticipated and ambitious must be at least a little scary!