Even when you have even only an extremely modest amount of money to invest (e.g. a million or so that you could afford to lose), you get really used to hearing from people thinking that they could make better use of your money than you can ... very few, if any, can ... in addition to the investments that I scrutinize routinely and follow closely as an owner, I have a list of over 300 developmental projects that I'm working on ... I take my responsibility to build wealth and serve as a steward of resources extremely seriously; I spend at least 80 hours a week doing this ... I'm not stupid, I'm not uneducated, I wasn't born yesterday, I'm not poorly informed, there a good chance that I worked harder on this today than you did. There's a big world of investments and you probably have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER of how tough it is for your idea to make it into my top 1000 list.
I guess you could say that this posting is intended to be a polite rebuke of people who think this ... it includes churches, charitable organizations and other projects ... as you read it, you might think that it's not all that polite ... well, all I can say is that this posting is my most toned-down version ... if you find this is offensive, you really don't want to know what I really think of parasites who want to waste my time.
Here's how I look at it ... for the last five years, there have been entrepreneurs on Kiva.org that have inspired me to invest $25. I don't think that any one of those little projects is disruptive, but I think the example has potential. Some people think in terms of explosive huge investments ... the next Microsoft, the next Cisco, the next Google ... I think in terms of lots of small explosion, chugging away. A disruptive engine is a matter of several thousand tiny revolutions. Just recently, I've started funding projects on Kickstarter.org -- the vast majority of the Kickstarter project do not inspire me, but a few do and when you invest with others a few hundred dollars goes a really long way.
I guess you could say that this posting is intended to be a polite rebuke of people who think this ... it includes churches, charitable organizations and other projects ... as you read it, you might think that it's not all that polite ... well, all I can say is that this posting is my most toned-down version ... if you find this is offensive, you really don't want to know what I really think of parasites who want to waste my time.
Here's how I look at it ... for the last five years, there have been entrepreneurs on Kiva.org that have inspired me to invest $25. I don't think that any one of those little projects is disruptive, but I think the example has potential. Some people think in terms of explosive huge investments ... the next Microsoft, the next Cisco, the next Google ... I think in terms of lots of small explosion, chugging away. A disruptive engine is a matter of several thousand tiny revolutions. Just recently, I've started funding projects on Kickstarter.org -- the vast majority of the Kickstarter project do not inspire me, but a few do and when you invest with others a few hundred dollars goes a really long way.
Eventually, I will try to start a competitor that imitates what Paul Graham is doing at yCombinator, but I'm keeping my powder dry for now for personal reasons -- basically I can't stomach being involved with slimeballs. I don't care for VCs, angel investors with unrealistic expectations and I get really depressed when I see stupid, entitled wet-behind-the-ears pukes who imagine that they are going to disrupt the world and create the next FaceBook (i.e. I'm ecstatically happy for Mr. Zuckerberg lottery winning and thrilled that he will spend his money trying to make education better and change the world ... but I'm not the least bit impressed by the Facebook phenomenon)
So if you think you have a great idea, go to a place like Kickstarter and register your project and start trying to inspire other people ... AFTER your big idea gets a degree of traction and support, send me a link to your project and I'll look at it, but don't waste a lot of time waiting for me ... especially if you don't have your shit together, if you aren't ready to use my money wisely ... I'd prefer to buy you a cup of tea [because it's cheaper], but I'll even splurge and buy someone a cup of coffee relatively easily (I buy discontinued Folger's crystals in bulk from liquidators; a cup of coffee costs me about four cents a cup)... but $100 is a lot of money to me -- it's four Kiva loans ... if you want to inspire me, your idea has to be a lot bigger than the Fixer's Collective idea of collaborative mending and artistic upcycling ... if you can't inspire others first and build something that absolutely just blows them away so that $500 is a huge amount of money, don't waste my time.
So if you think you have a great idea, go to a place like Kickstarter and register your project and start trying to inspire other people ... AFTER your big idea gets a degree of traction and support, send me a link to your project and I'll look at it, but don't waste a lot of time waiting for me ... especially if you don't have your shit together, if you aren't ready to use my money wisely ... I'd prefer to buy you a cup of tea [because it's cheaper], but I'll even splurge and buy someone a cup of coffee relatively easily (I buy discontinued Folger's crystals in bulk from liquidators; a cup of coffee costs me about four cents a cup)... but $100 is a lot of money to me -- it's four Kiva loans ... if you want to inspire me, your idea has to be a lot bigger than the Fixer's Collective idea of collaborative mending and artistic upcycling ... if you can't inspire others first and build something that absolutely just blows them away so that $500 is a huge amount of money, don't waste my time.
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