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I am a guy who sold his startup and I have like $20M in the bank. AMA.
- staunch 17y agoI saw this early, and it was killed. Not sure why...this is right up HN's alley. Not many people talk about this stuff publicly, so it's pretty interesting to hear someone talk honestly and openly about it.
- stanleydrew 17y agohave any idea what the startup was?
- quilby 17y ago1. He said that it was sold between 1 year ago and 4 years ago. In addition, his company is still going. 2. He said that before taxes he had 30 million dollars, so the startup was sold for >=30 million dollars. 3. He is married and has an 11 year old daughter (and at least one more kid). Him and his wife are at least 30 years old. 4. At least one newspaper reported on him selling his startup. I tried using CrunchBase to search for his startup but the list of companies sold in the last 5 years is huge...
- crocowhile 17y ago>so the startup was sold for >=30 million dollars He got 30M. That means that startup was sold for much more than that (2-300M?)
- jfarmer 17y agoMaybe not. Derek Sivers, for example, sold *Baby for that range but owned 100% of the company.
- jasonlbaptiste 17y agoI'm pretty curious too. The affiliate marketing IAMA was not killed. this is pretty good and useful to the community here. let's just keep the "lets guess who it is" commentary to a minimum.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- cellis 17y agoDid he say his company was founded solely by him?
- quilby 17y agohttp://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/azgs6/iama_guy_who_sold_his_startup_and_i_have_like_20m/c0k6tst http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/azgs6/iama_guy_who_sol...
- quilby 17y agoIf we assume that everything that the OP has said is true, I dont think that this is Joshua: 1. Joshua works at Google, OP says that he does not have a job. 2. It looks like Joshua isnt married.
- joshu 17y agonot me. Married, no kids. Not that rich. I also know how to invest.
- icco 17y agoI must say the comments on this reddit thread amuse me more than most. Nothing like a guy with a good sense of humor.
- Sukotto 17y agoIf he wanted people to know who he is, he wouldn't have used a throwaway account. Give the guy some privacy.
- brown9-2 17y agoIf he didn't want people to read his "ask me anything" post, he would not have made one on reddit.
- tsally 17y agoRight so let's violate the privacy of every interesting person who posts things online. Oh wait, that's what was done with _why. Seemed to work out well, didn't it? I don't even want to think about how many interesting Ruby innovations were lost as a result. Bottom line: the information is meant to be read but decency and common sense should prevent you from probing deeper. If you don't follow these guidelines, interesting people will stop posting online. Unrestrained curiosity in these situations leads to everyone losing.
- brown9-2 17y agoAnd how is linking to this provoking people to "probe deeper"?
- tsally 17y agoYou seem to have misunderstood Sukotto's comment. He's not protesting linking to the thread. He's protesting a comment posted earlier by a user here on HN that speculated as to the identity of the AMA poster.
- yesimahuman 17y agoI think you need to know going into posting an AMA that people will want to know who you are. I think if you use a pseudonym for anything people will want to know who you are. Just because _why couldn't handle it (as you say), doesn't mean everyone else is to blame for that.
- varaon 17y agoNote: the gold star next to the post means that the reddit moderators have verified the claims/identity of the interviewee.
- jerry5 17y agoSend me $1000. Do you prefer paypal or bank transfer?
- petercooper 17y agoLike $20m? So he might actually have 5 million boxes of Twinkies in safety deposit boxes or something..
- Mz 17y agoFrom the comments: Two quick stories for you, which I hope will give you some perspective: 1. I knew a billionaire with cancer. Imagine having all the money in the world and being unable to eat. 2. I knew a super millionaire with half a dozen properties all over the world who lived next to another super millionaire with half a dozen properties all over the world; they were locked into a multi-million dollar argument over 6 feet of beachfront between them. This is actually very relevant to my life. My medical condition can seriously interfere with the ability to eat and can cost hundreds of thousands per year in medical expenses. My oldest son has the same diagnosis. So, by getting me and my kids well, I am literally saving millions of dollars over the course of our lives, even though my income is probably a lot less than most members of this forum and the quality of life aspect of it is worth way more than money to us. That helps keep me sane in the face of serious financial issues. :-) I also like to think that if I ever do have serious money, this perspective/experience will continue to keep me grounded and keep my priorities straight.
- mattmaroon 17y agoThat sounds really rough. I had some relatively minor digestive issues this year and lost 20 lbs in 1 month. I felt, for almost an entire month, as if I would get sick at any moment (yet only did twice). It really sucked, though it's largely over and I can't imagine what someone with serious issues goes through.So good luck with getting well!
- Mz 17y agoThank you. :-) But I am mostly well. Finishing up the process is basically just a matter of time. :-D Next project: Figure out how to support myself without a day-job! ;-)
- mrtron 17y agoI had similar symptoms that last summer - do you know what caused it? I was tested with no conclusive result, but it was also during a listeria outbreak which I was not tested for. It was a rough few months.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- csmeder 17y ago"My question for reddit: what would you do if you had $20M in the bank?" Thats a hard question, with that kind of money I can't think of any obvious ideas that would have a big impact on humanity. If he had said I have $20 billion heres my ideas: - Make Creative Commons text books. Hire a group of editors and staff that over see super star teachers who write the books. Release them under the CC licence. - Startup Apartment Complex in San Fransisco. Build a large building in San Fransisco with small apartments. Small on size big on quality. Some floors would be modular office space. Subsidize the rent for equity in Startups that move in. - Rethink college: Start a college a new college. It would be like a start up but instead of starting a business your creating a new college. - Create an ethical version of Best Buy. An consumer electronics store that actually puts the customer first and treats it's employees well. The same for an ethical version of Kmart.
- patio11 17y agoThats a hard question, with that kind of money I can't think of any obvious ideas that would have a big impact on humanity. Hypothetically supposing you were to automate a labor-intensive process in the field of your choice, and market that successfully to 100,000 people saving them each one hour a year, you'd have contributed essentially fifty full-time workers of your chosen profession to the community. Those could be nurses or teachers or priests or what have you. That is very doable on dollar amounts much, much smaller than $20 million. Plus, the Internet chews up numbers like 100,000 for breakfast.
- pyre 17y ago> - Make Creative Commons text books. Hire a group of editors and staff that over see super star teachers who write the books. Release them under the CC licence. The problem being that no one will use them. There was an article a while back about how all the textbooks' content is basically controlled by some Christian 'watchdog' group in Texas.
- Huppie 17y agoI think you mean this one: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598523 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598523
- sbhat7 17y agoWould it be possible to have AMAs and AMAAs here?
- rms 17y agoGo for it
- icey 17y agoYeah, if they were topical (like this guy's AMAA at reddit would be) then I'd definitely be interested.
- gxs 17y agoI like reddit. In fact, it is in my rotation of sites I check at least once daily. I visit HN mainly for the technical/startup articles. I would prefer, personally, for general interest items to remain on reddit, since I check both. It's not good vs. evil! We can have both.
- icey 17y agoI'm a redditor too; but don't you think that the questions here would be a different nature than the ones you see on reddit? Especially if it was someone like the author of this AMA; I get the feeling there would be a lot more advice seeking questions here (and far less begging for money).
- aymeric 17y agoWhat are AMA, AMAA IMAA, IMAIIAMI and IAMMAMMIAMMAII?
- yumraj 17y agopardon a newbie, what's AMA and AMAA ?
- city41 17y ago"ask me anything" and "ask me almost anything"
- maksimka 17y agobasically you have 3 choices. - try to help others(less fortunate). Setup/contribute to charities, teach, cure, feed... - try to change the world. promote democracy in russia, try to figure out how gravity works, actively support/participate on a team that does something visionary such as new energy initiatives or space exploration. - defer the question for some time. Try to turn 20 into 200.
- houseabsolute 17y ago- have a bunch of fun You should probably do this, plus one of the other three.
- whughes 17y agoThat's a given, though. I don't know what kind of fun you're after, but everything I can think of won't put much of a dent into a large sum of money.
- vishaldpatel 17y agoI can think of a few things that will =)
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- Eliezer 17y ago> "My question for reddit: what would you do if you had $20M in the bank?" Fight death. - Fight death of individuals: Cryonic preservation: http://www.cryonics.org/ http://www.cryonics.org/ -- see also http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Cryonics http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Cryonics Basic research on aging and fighting it: http://mprize.org/ http://mprize.org/ - Prevent the extinction of Earth-originating intelligent life: Oxford Future of Humanity Institute - academic research on global catastrophic risks. http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/ http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/ Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence - http://singinst.org/ http://singinst.org/ - Where to hang out with other people interested in rational philanthropy with maximum utilitarian impact per marginal dollar: http://lesswrong.com/ http://lesswrong.com/ and http://felicifia.com/ http://felicifia.com/
- maxklein 17y agoWhat about robots who talk and feel like humans, but are made of metal? Are they life originating from earth?
- tsally 17y agoWhere to hang out with other people interested in rational philanthropy with maximum utilitarian impact per marginal dollar As far as the human race is concerned, pretty much everything you listed (cryonics, anti-aging, preparing for AI that may never be invented, etc) has the least amount of utility per dollar spent.
- crystalis 17y agoAs far as these comments are concerned, pretty much your entire comment has the least amount of reasoned argument per claim made.
- xenophanes 17y agoDo you have stats showing anti-aging research has low benefit per dollar spent? Or do you just have some kind of prejudice against life? Aubrey de Grey says it's cheap, as these things go.
- aditya 17y agoWeird. This was killed earlier today, not sure how it came back. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1109895 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1109895
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- js3309 17y agoA comment I liked, that a reddit user asked: Question: Do your kids know how much money you have? His answer: My oldest is 11, and I think she is figuring it out. It's hilarious, because over the last couple of years she comes home and says "My friend is totally rich - can we be rich someday? They live in a mansion!"
- Hexstream 17y agoYou cut out the best part, which is that those friends are actually in debt and just look much richer.
- ananthrk 17y agoI particularly liked this heart-felt comment/feedback in the original thread http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/azgs6/iama_guy_who_sold_his_startup_and_i_have_like_20m/c0k72z1 http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/azgs6/iama_guy_who_sol...
- stanleydrew 17y agoHonestly, I think this kind of thing is interesting, but it's totally for the benefit of the ego of the poster. And I think it's fine to speculate about his identity too. That's part of the ego stroking.
- ra 17y ago"My question for reddit: what would you do if you had $20M in the bank?" Well, you could deploy 1mm or so in angel investments.
- Kilimanjaro 17y agoSo you are Stewart Butterfield.
- kls 17y agoIf it where me, I would rebuild a 74 ford Bronco from the frame up, with my son. Then, I would rebuild a 44 ft. Sportfisher and start competition sport fishing in the Florida Keys. More importantly though, when my kids where a little older, I would disappear for a year, roaming as a drifter, I would find individuals and families in need, not broke people, but people who have a tragic life story to tell. I would personally help them one by one to overcome their adversity by becoming their true friend as well as helping them financially and psychologically repair their and their families life. When I returned from my travels I would use my journal to write a novel and then produce a film titled "the man who purchased friends" or "buying friends" I can't decide. Obviously I would change my friends names as well as my own so that it could be construed as potentially fictitious accounts, leaving people to wonder always makes for a better tale.