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Comment by cperciva | Hacker News Reader

Most of us here want to become financially free. This is what draws us to talk about start ups, finances, and the like.

You're oversimplifying. Most of us here want to build cool stuff. Becoming financially free is certainly something which makes building cool stuff a lot easier, so to that extent it's worthwhile; but startups would be attractive due to the drive to build cool stuff even if there was no chance of them ever being profitable.

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What does a startup have to do with building cool stuff? The startup aspect seem mainly a diversion to me: networking, raising support, handling customers, etc. I see many posts talking about how well a particular startup is doing, but does anyone talk about how fun it is to do startupish stuff?

I have yet to see anyone here say that they enjoy raising money from VCs. As for customers, the best I've heard people say about them is that occasionally customers make interesting suggestions.

Running a startup might not mean that all of your time is spent building cool stuff, but it's probably better than working at <insert big company here>.

And that's my point regarding financial freedom. People want to form a startup for freedom to work on cool stuff more often. But, why go that circuitous route instead of pursuing financial freedom directly? The startup route only makes sense if it is the most effective way of achieving financial freedom. But, no one here is discussing the most effective way. People just assume startups and go from there.

What's a more efficient way to financial freedom than creating and selling a startup? Probably the only other realistic alternative was becoming an investment banker, but I don't think anyone is going to argue for that one right now.

Yeah, startups are known to not be a very dependable route to financial freedom. On the other hand, it doesn't cost too much to live overseas or in certain places in the US. Most here are programmers or other creative types, and it does not cost much to pursue such interests either. It comes down to standard of living and relationships.

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