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Comment by brc | Hacker News Reader

This is a stellar example of the muddled-headed thinking I keep posting about.

Define 'just enough to get by'.

Even if investors and employees are in it for a higher altruistic goal, they'll still want a good return on their time and money. Very few people are wont to just burn money so that someone else gets to enjoy playing CEO of a cool company. And even if they do enjoy it for a couple of years, the fun will soon stop.

Profit has to be the main motive for any long-term, successful enterprise. And the really big goals require really long periods of profitability to keep everyone interested and invested, whether with their money or their time.

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It was hypothetical if someone with that kind of ambition could make just enough that he accomplished all these great things even if it left him middle class, he'd take it. I agree it would take a huge amount of cash to get there, but the point is the end goal wouldn't be money.

I've noticed by your responses you think everyone who thinks any entrepreneur wants anything besides profit is "muddle-headed." The world is "muddled." Not everyone is playing the same game in life, for some people, money is the game, for some people, money is just something you need to play it. I've noticed some of the former types really want everyone to be playing the same game so they can measure up.

I'm not going to argue any more, because you don't see my point. I'll reiterate once more, in your example: any entrepreneur who wants anything, whether it is a cure for aids, a colony on another planet or just to build a gigantic Hearst castle to show off must first create profits. Thus profits must be their first and primary motive. You can say you did it for whatever reason, but you can't dismiss making a profit as the fundamental purpose of the activity. Everything else flows from the first objective.

Suppose I am craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Suppose that a spreading knife is an essential and irreplaceable requirement to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Would you say that my first and primary motive, and fundamental purpose is obtaining a spreading knife?

I don't think it's at all deceptive or muddle-headed to say that I'm really just hungry for a sandwich.

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