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Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company

(medium.com)
2101 points jamesjyu | 5 comments | 07 Feb 19 15:28 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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sahillavingia ◴[07 Feb 19 16:33 UTC] No.19106256[source]▶
Hey, #1 on Hacker News! I don't think that's happened since...I launched Gumroad back in 2011:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2406614

Thanks HN for being a part of my journey!

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ChuckMcM ◴[07 Feb 19 17:26 UTC] No.19106684[source]▶
I love your story Sahil, it is so true that people equate 'wealth' with 'success' but that is short sighted. If you step back and look at the big picture, you're on this planet for anywhere from 70 to 100 years, and at the end of that time there are two metrics, the number of people you helped and the amount of wealth you amassed and held on to, which number is a better representative of 'success'?

Working on things you enjoy, making a positive impact on people's lives, and raising a new generation to carry on where you left off, that is success.

Stay focused there and you might accidentally accumulate so much wealth you have to work at putting it to use helping people like Bill does!

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mindcrime ◴[07 Feb 19 17:51 UTC] No.19106878[source]▶
at the end of that time there are two metrics, the number of people you helped and the amount of wealth you amassed and held on to

I don't disagree with your overall point, but I do wonder why those should be the only two metrics to consider. IMO, the range of metrics is nearly infinite and highly subjective.

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zild3d ◴[07 Feb 19 19:31 UTC] No.19107754[source]▶
Agreed, these two metrics are just as arbitrary as any other life-defining metric, "the number of healthy grand children you had", "the number of phish concerts you went to", "the number of Free AOL hours CDs you collected"
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1. mindcrime ◴[07 Feb 19 19:35 UTC] No.19107798[source]▶
"the number of phish concerts you went to"

Yep. For me it's "number of Mötley Crüe concerts attended" and "number of Trans-Siberian Orchestra concerts attended".

(currently "4" and "4 or 5" respectively)

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2. themoat ◴[07 Feb 19 20:50 UTC] No.19108461[source]▶
My wife and I have missed the Trans-Siberian Orchestra every year for 10 years, but we REALLY want to go. It's almost a running joke at this point. This year I set about a dozen alerts that'll start going off at the end of summer to make sure I don't forget to get the tickets.
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3. mindcrime ◴[07 Feb 19 21:25 UTC] No.19108744[source]▶
Oh man... I cannot recommend seeing TSO live highly enough. The music is amazing enough by itself, but the live shows - with the lights, the pyro, the video screens, and all the other "stuff" they do - are an absolutely amazing spectacle.

I'm also very happy that they've slowly been incorporating more old Savatage songs into their sets. :-)

4. retsibsi ◴[08 Feb 19 10:43 UTC] No.19113021[source]▶
> "4 or 5"

I'm curious now: is there a story behind this ambiguity?

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5. mindcrime ◴[08 Feb 19 22:33 UTC] No.19119330[source]▶
Not really. I just don't remember exactly which years I went. I think I went to my first TSO show in like 2004 or 2005, and for a while I was keeping to a cadence of going every other year... but I haven't been for the past couple of years, and I've lost track of exactly how many times I've seen them.