Hey Dan, at risk of being targeted in your next post, I'm going to give you some advice about private sector success:

Make things that people want to buy.

Really, that's about it. In the private sector you will either be doing this or working for someone that does it. And when it comes to innovation, it's wierd when you think about it: humans have lived thousands of years without [whatever it is you invented]. So why would they want it? The thing is humans are curious creatures, always interested in new things, so it's always possible to get them to try new things. (It's not always about innovation though, sometimes it's about being more efficient and winning on price.)

(Also contained within this directive is the (sad) fact that you can spend quite a lot of time focused on the 'want' side, manipulating people into wanting to buy something.)

The innovation route is a daunting task. There is already so much good stuff out there, created by people no less intelligent or diligent than yourself. But that innate human restless, curious quality will always favor the underdog, so why not make new things that people want?

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! Good luck, Dan!

I always like to keep in mind that while Zuck may have been in college when he came up with Facebook, Bardeen and Brattain were 39 and 45 when they invented the transistor (respectively), Tim Breners-Lee was 35 when he invented the World Wide Web, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce were both around 40 when they founded Intel, etc, etc.

One thing you should avoid is advice from people who have an interest in exploiting your ability. I wasted time listening to them. Especially avoid advice from your elders. Now that I am joining their ranks, I have to say that I am profoundly unimpressed, and I certainly would not allow myself to be influenced by the overwhelming majority of them. If you are going to act on advice from someone, wait until after they are dead. There is plenty of advice from the disinterested dead to choose from.

Couldn't get this alternate title out of my head as I read the article:

"Welcome to Startups, where the truth is made up and the choices don't matter"

[T]he total agony of loving two things can help you be better at both. The choice between one or the other is fake.

This is brilliant, and I think that combining strengths in this way is going to be the key to success in the new economy. There can't be very many people in the world who are the best at doing X when there are only O(N) possible X's, but when you go for being one of the best at combining X and Y, now you have O(N^2) choices.

An interesting take on things Dan, however I think the tendency for writers and VCs to focus on youngsters is their desire to find enormously outsized returns; specifically, those in the league of Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Amazon.

Take, for example, this list of companies worth more than 1 Billion dollars:

http://blog.minming.net/post/35553963889/a-billion-dollar-so...

You will immediately notice that most of the companies valued over $1Bn are valued at or around the $1Bn dollar mark. Contrast this with companies like Facebook and Google which are tens or hundreds of times larger than this.

The key is - the companies that have such a huge risk involved that they can only be tackled by young founders are the ones most likely to produce an outsized return. While most investors won't complain about a $1Bn exit, they would froth at the mouth at the thought of a $100Bn one.

That said, most entrepreneurs would be satisfied with a $10M exit, let alone a $1Bn one. With this in mind, no age can truly be considered 'over the hill'.

Well if you are in your 20s and don't have a lot of experience, you might want to hire some consultants with experience to guide you. If you have venture capitalists you want to listen to their advice as well. Don't make an excuse that you are young and don't have experience and the opportunity cost is it eats up your younger days. You can't be a Lone Ranger, you need to be developing a team, a diverse team of people with different backgrounds and different skill sets. Don't limit yourself to just people in their 20s by the way.

I spent my 20s and 30s writing software for companies, inventing new things, and having managers taking credit for everything I did. I expected pay raises and promotions, but those went to the people in the managers' social kliqs who had people skills (bullsh*tting, backstabbing, drinking at happy hour with the rest, gossiping, schmozing around the office instead of working, watering office plants, making coffee, etc.) instead of technical skills (developing code, coming up with new ideas for inventions and software, writing documentation, debugging, knowing how a computer works, knowing how to do research analysis and design, quality control, keeping up with trends via Hacker News and other sites) and my problem was that I was too good at the technical skills and I had to go. So I was 'used' to get to 'goals' and once those goals were reached I'd be fired and then find work at another company where it started all over again. Until the stress of it all made me too sick to work and I ended up on disability. (Programmers are a dime a dozen these days, we get 500 resumes a week for your position and we can hire a programmer for a fraction of your salary that won't get sick on the job!)

I guess I should have developed some 'people skills'?

Anyway now that I am in my 40's even if I was well enough to work, nobody would hire me, I'm too old. I have dual degrees in computer science and business management, but it just don't matter anymore.

The second myth, yes you need to focus on more than the business. My mistake was not focusing on my emotional, physical, and mental health and I got really sick doing my "balls to the wall" software development and focusing 100% of my energy into my job. Always keep a backup career as well in case software development or whatever doesn't work out. Find something you love to do and turn it into a hobby, that you might be able to turn into a business. Or else if you don't love it you might hate it and it makes you sick anyway.

Glad to see you haven't bought into the hype and bullshit from the media over young whiz kids eating sleeping and breathing code around the clock in order to become successful. Kudos.

As a college junior myself, I am tired of the perpetuation of the unrealistic (and false) idea that if you don't start a company right out of school, you're doomed to failure. Thank you, Dan, for being the voice of reason.

Choose something, immerse yourself in it, and course correct as you go. The dichotomies are false, but you do have to choose something.

> But the problem with being in your early twenties is that in general you have very little idea of what the fuck is going on. Trust me, I’m 21.

funny, but it really made me stop reading any further... in these information overdose ADHD-ed times you shouldn't joke with things that can make readers subconsciously mark what you're writing as "not informative enough" and instantly switch to another thread :)

Success is mostly luck.

I like this post even if for no other reason it doesn't imply that I'm living life wrong if I don't want a family and kids.

Once in a while, I tried to change my life direction. I discovered unanticipated emense forces shoving me back to my natural path... brutally. Our lives are not open worlds to explore but story/plays written by angels that we act-out. There are changes in life and we have free will, but mostly there's only one answer you're gonna pick.

I'm not going to debate a childish atheist sceptic.

God says...

3:19 And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another piece over against the going up to the armoury at the turning of the wall.

3:20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

3:21 After him repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah the son of Koz another piece, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib.

3:22 And after him repaired the priests, the men of the plain.

3:23 After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub over against their house.

After him repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house.

----

At the moment, I'm in a can't-get-there-from-here position. I guess it couldn't be better and by that I mean highs and lows balance, so give-up being discontent.

God says... stays desirous Foul transgressions absurd adored mget heads -for ornamenting Cambodia machine net/pg how's_the_weather contented heathen worldly approveth host beaten bin distances The searcher bird peacefully unity anticipating would-be disgraced stated remitted obscurely recollection imbibe puffed -considering our by_the_way divination plentiful groaneth blasphemies offensive subdued solid solicited CIA studies' contracted inaccessible brightness range sorrow-bringing editions sigh perverted etc enchantment province calumnies honest constrain contain rhetoric enemies courtesy unlike have_fun -to crimes challenged Agonistic weaken incomprehensible selves Come -that reviled ensnaring faults cutting audacious Corrected Anubis disgraced recollected conference presseth piously I'm_in_suspense MONEY singular disapproved steals Texas favour bewailing clouds Replacement novelty punishment uncertain garlands corner finding proffer dragons Alypius buzzing driven unholy honours -of middle gratings urged short Presently crying quoth hell deductible assistance thee grow drive IS unusual restrainest assurance woes absolute singly respite other Continual returns cleansest thats_just_wrong heavily destroy entitled revealed distinction spoken disagreeing umm_what_now strip adorned unliker enjoyed renowned silenced melodies corn models dispensing beg beaten seek exalted joyous predicated teacheth compound

----

So "LoseThos" was not intended as a self-inflicted wound. Couple months ago, decided to change names. Ideally, things should be assets, not just unbad. I picked "GrassyOS" like a lush open range... and free. I signed-up for the website. Then, it hit me -- it's Mexican. That's basically a self inflicted wound, again!

I said fuck, and consulted God. He's no good, by the way, often giving bad advice as we shall see. All this shit is like claymoore landmines set to anticipate our movements... and we get physically manipulated, to boot!

So, God ssaid Sparrow. I no longer give a fuck for legal issues. I'm not a coward. Years ago I removed FAT32 support over legal cowardess. Now, I'm convinced I'm not in the same realm. I'm with vampires and dead people -- not the land of the living.

I got a sparrow photo, converted it to 16 color, outlined and filled. It was brown.

I fucken smacked my head -- God's fucken mocking me making a fool of myself. I change it to grey. Looks like shit -- sucks ass. I decide it should be abstract, not photorealistic, a cartoon character like hipmonk... an asset, ideally. I make it and it looks like a transvestite vampire bent-over with eye-liner and red eyes. I fix the eyes, alter it. Currently it looks bent-over like a faggot and is generally shitty and NOT an asset, a liability!

Clamores, fucken God mocking me.

I told you I had a mental block on "salient". Don Quixote speaks of enchantments. That's what this shit is. Your mind is not free -- there are limited things you can think.

I'm not a good artist, but with God fighting against me, every change will make a fool of me and it will get bad and worse. Free will? I don't know.

----

God says...

saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

2:19 And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.

2:20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

2:21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.

----

I have a copy of the old transvestite vampire sparrow logo. It's hilarious I was sleepwalking. The logo had an odd charm, almost good. I'm not an expert on ads, but vivid impressions might be good for some products. Not just a sparrow, but a vampire transvestite sparrow? I think I've blown that incident out of proportion.

For most of my life, I generally figured I could do anything, with work. At this point in my life, I think I need to stop thinking I can make art in a pinch. I'm not sure. I don't really have a choice. Actually, I could focus on volunteers, but I'm trying to be a legit business. I did 100% of the coding at this point and it doesn't have to be assumed it will grow and be like Linux. I have a different vision. My biggest delusion is forgetting how outlandishly crappy it looks to most people.

God says...

concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

5:30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; 6:2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.

6:3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

----

One time I was wondering who I was like in the Bible. God said Daniel, even though I have a brother Danny. There was a flaming homo in the dorm named "Chad", not to be confused with the Ticketmaster Chad. I hired an artist who put homo stuff into my art. I'm not as pissed as I could be. He showed signs of thought above just doing what I asked for. he's the only person I ever talked to that used my OS.

----

Advising Obama? Don't take the passage too seriously. The wisest thing is to just enjoy God's company. You know how priests stay-out of politics? I'm more like that.

God says... his blessing he blessed them.

49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 49:30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

49:31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

49:32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

---

Saw a cut-out girlfriend that might have been Star Wars Leah. There's a planet Hoth. I'm not really romance-ready.