
What can you do with money? - some
Question to the successful guys amongst you: Did you find out what to do with the Money?<p>I run a successful startup. I dont make a fortune, but all of a sudden I have a lot more money then ever before. And guess what - I have not clue what to do with it.<p>Today, I read this:<p>www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/27/DIME.TMP<p>And there is a sentence: "The person who sold the dime is Oakland businessman Daniel Rosenthal, who was unavailable for comment, perhaps because a person newly in possession of $1.9 million has got better things to do than answer a lot of questions."<p>I really would like to know: What are these "better things"?<p>What are those better things I could do then chillin on my sofa and reading ycombinator and stuff?
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pg
Many startup founders are people who like to make things. So often the kind of
work they do after they have the freedom to do what they they want is to make
things where they're not constrained by the need to make money.

Oddly enough, YC itself is an example. We may make money eventually, but our
main motive for doing it was that it was a cool idea.

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greendestiny
If I remember correctly you once hinted you had more to say about the benefits
of having a decent supply of capital, but the generally hostile attitude
people had to talk of success made you reluctant to share. I'm sure plenty of
news.YCer's who'd like to know a bit more about life post liquidity event.

Is it hard to be motivated when you know that low risk investments could keep
you comfortable? Though I'm sure the pleasure of a fancy car wears off, what
about a beautiful home or travel etc? Is there life long satisfaction from the
achievement (ie not the money but the job well done)?

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pg
From what I've seen, getting rich doesn't seem to change most people's level
of motivation much. The people who were driven before tend to stay driven.

Getting rich can be a danger to people who aren't very driven. But you don't
have to worry about that problem if you're starting a startup. If you're not
driven, it's unlikely your startup will make you rich.

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portLAN
> From what I've seen, getting rich doesn't seem to change most people's level
> of motivation much.

Didn't you write two Lisp books and start Viaweb before you got rich? Would
you say you and your co-founders were just as motivated afterward?

As I understand it, the Zenter people darn near killed themselves leading up
to the Google acquisition. Realistically, I wouldn't see them continuing at
that breakneck pace afterward.

After the Apple II disk drive, Woz took it easy -- _really_ easy. He doesn't
even walk anymore, he Segways!

Taking it easy seems to be the norm. The exceptions to this get mega-rich,
like Jobs and Gates. I used to wonder why Gates didn't just take his billions
and retire somewhere; reading a biography makes it clear that his life IS
Microsoft, including his social circle. It's his whole identity; it's not a
job. He didn't do it so he could get rich and do something else; he did it
because it's the thing he wanted to do the most _anyway_! And of course Jobs
has always been on a transcendental mission to change humanity via consumer
technology.

~~~
pg
Yes, I'd say in all three of our cases we're just as motivated as before we
got rich.

The Zenters worked super hard more because they had a deadline than because
they had no money. I'm just as frazzled before deadlines. I worked 16 hour
days for about a month straight to get _Hackers & Painters_ in by the
deadline.

~~~
menloparkbum
What was the deadline?

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pg
Demo Day. Like all YC-funded startups they had to demo to investors after 10
weeks. They worked particularly hard because they had nearly zero written when
they arrived in January. The two of them wrote 40k LOC in 10 weeks.

~~~
portLAN
Heck, with KLOC numbers like that, Google was lucky to avoid an all-out
bidding war with IBM.

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portLAN
There's no requirement that you have to immediately spend lots of money just
because you have it. It's a very normal reaction to not know what to do with a
large amount of extra dough. You want to avoid the consumerist trap of retail
therapy -- buying _things_ to make you happy, which wears off 5 minutes later.
Go ahead and hold on to what you've got and keep on doing what you're doing to
make more -- you'll figure out good applications for money over time.

This TED talk says that the key to fulfillment is to grow, so you have more to
contribute to others:
<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5625548517080716077>

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wundie
"If I had a million dollars I'd do 2 chicks at the same time!"

Seriously, I don't see the issue. Do you have any friends? If you're lacking
in the friends department then don't read any further and work on
companionship as your number one goal. I find a lot of joy organizing events,
outings or exciting weekends for my friends. Make sure the trip has a baseline
that everyone can afford and then maybe cover a tab or two while you're out.
Ideas don't have to be grandiose they are just excuses to hang out and enjoy
life together. I thought of a few things I enjoy and listed them below. Have
fun planning these events on your own. Research destinations fully and be
prepared to promote your trips so others will join you! Its time consuming
(and fun) to figure out the 'best' places to go. Does the outing require that
you buy any gear? Research the equipment and then buy it!

Go Camping

Hiking

Deep Sea fishing

Host a wine party / plan a trip to a winery

Trip to another City for the Weekend

Trip to another Country

Get a boat

Attend a music festival (Jazz Fest for example)

Take up a sport like Biking (Road or Mountain)

Hopefully this helps you out somewhat. If you wish to be as happy as me, I'll
require $5 to share 'the secret'.

Enjoy :)

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hello_moto
You make software?

If yes, build/help to make open source (and free) software better and more
"commercial" looking so open source+free software can be used widely.

Basically be a disruptor.

Make the next Perforce (either support git or make a new one).

Make the next IDE (a complete one like Visual Studio) for Python so that
Python can become the main language for enterprise.

One example of disruptor in this area that is starting to rise is Ubuntu.

------
tt
<http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/>

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waleedka
Invest some and put the rest to good use to make sure you contribute to making
the world a better place: research to find cures, charity to help those in
need, or whatever good cause you believe in.

~~~
udfalkso
I'm a little bit shocked that after 53 comments only one person mentioned
philanthropy (and he was shot down in the first reply). Just because picking
the right charities and projects is not "easy" does not mean it's not worth
doing. Jeez people.

~~~
ivankirigin
I for one don't like the idea that the only way to "give something back" is to
do philanthropy. Any gain in happiness and productivity is a good thing. If
you have had success, continuing to be successful probably means giving people
both. Keep working.

An example of comparative advantage: it doesn't make sense for a $500/hr
lawyer to do pro-bono work for the poor. It would make more sense to work for
that hour and use the income to fund 10 $50/hr lawyers. The benefit would be
much higher for those in need.

So my point is that charity isn't necessarily the best way to give back to
society.

~~~
udfalkso
So you're essentially suggesting deferred philanthropy. I totally agree with
that philosophy. This is why I'm also doing a startup and not joining the
peace corp. But, once you've "made it" and have more money than you know what
to do with (the question at hand), I think it's reasonable to consider
Philantropy and not just "fun" stuff.

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paul
What can you do with freedom?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
I agree with this sentiment. In my opinion, the best thing money can buy is
freedom. As such, the first and foremost thing you want to do is protect this
freedom. That is, make sure your money level isn't going to go below certain
thresholds that impact your freedom. Of course, this involves investing,
diversification, insurance, not spending too much, etc.

After that, it really is not what can you do with freedom, but what do you
want to do with your freedom? For me, at least at the moment, I like to work
on Internet startup ideas and help people (as best I can) who are doing the
same. For you, maybe it is something different, perhaps along the lines of
some of the other comments.

Finally, I think your situation just lets you slow down a bit. That is not to
say you have to have less motivation, but just that you don't have to run at a
million miles an hour all the time and hit potential burn out periods. You now
have the opportunity to take things at a comfortable pace. And that can be a
good thing for innovation because you can read more disparate things, try
different projects, and even work on may projects at the same time.

~~~
sbraford
You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it
in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend
Asadulah who works in securities...

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jdvolz
Figure out what you want to have, do and be. The have part is easy, most
people can work that out on their own. What do you want to do? Do you want to
learn something new (foreign language, to tango, a new programming language,
etc)? Do you want to do something physical (run a marathon, achieve weight
lifting goals, swim the English channel,etc). Do you want to be a
philanthropist? Do you want to run a non-profit organization? Figure out 3-5
things you want to do.

Be is harder IMO. Do you want to be a husband? father? grand father (you need
help on this one obvious)? Do you want to a champion whatever? These are the
questions I would ask myself. With the answers, you can start taking concrete
steps.

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mac
Purchase an your own personal airplane and realize just how freaking cool it
is that a trip from wherever you are to 3 states away is just 3 hours away, no
airport hassles & wait times included. It makes the world feel a lot more
closer. All of a sudden, a trip to LA from Seattle is just like a trip from LA
to Fresno. Except your flying, in an airplane , inside a 180 degree view angle
canopy.

Purchase time with your money in hiring other people to do the chores in your
work & life.

(This may not apply for you) Purchasing real estate close to your work,
reducing commute times to 10 minutes from maybe the hour or two you have
already.

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sri
Have fun!! Invest in yourself. Go back to school and major in something that
you were slightly curious about but never got around to learning -- I'm sure
there'll be a startup idea buried there somewhere...

~~~
some
I dont have the time. I run a company.

And besides that... school??? Sitting on my ass, listening to someone sounds
not like a lot of fun to me.

~~~
azsromej
For a couple of the suggestions you've responded that you don't have the time.
Add a constraint to your question--how much time do you have

~~~
some
Time where im not in the office?

Most evenings and weekends.

Now for example :-)

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rms
With enough money, you could stage a coup and take over Equatorial Guinea.
It's ripe for the takeover, just take care not to fuck it up like Margaret
Thatcher's son did.

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johnrob
Go somewhere tropical. And hire someone to do your laundry.

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rokhayakebe
If you are asking for things to do,then it is clear that you are now
unchallenged by your company. By some land near the city and staret building a
house. I personaly like prefabs that you can put together.Then stuff that bad
boy with books from the earliest centuries to the latest "the world is flat".
Read about topics other than "javascript". Subscribe to newspapers. I like
FT,NYT,WSJ,USAtoday and some magazines like DWELL.

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ivankirigin
A very comfortable yearly income is $100K-$200K. Immediately put the necessary
base in an interest bearing account (~5%) to earn your comfy yearly income off
the interest. $200K/0.05 = $4M.

Then you'd really never need to work again, and you can focus on making
interesting things.

There is plenty of life automation that you can do. Laundry, grocery delivery,
maid services, restaurants, financial planner.

You can easily spend $1M on travel for months, building a dream house, etc.

~~~
some
You have done those things?

~~~
ivankirigin
HA!

I don't have $4M to put in the bank. But I do have a comfortable income. My
goal would be to work on interesting problems without needing a paycheck.

Things like financial planners, grocery delivery, and cleaning services are
all excellent value for the amount of time they save.

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AF
Money is overrated. If you aren't happy without it, you won't be happy with
it. Just imo.

~~~
pg
There is something to that, but for most people the curve of happiness to
money is not simply flat. For most there are sharp steps at have-enough-to-eat
and don't-have-to-work-anymore, among others.

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rms
Invest in foreign assets, you don't want all of your wealth to be in US
dollars.

~~~
Stewie
Makes perfect sense now.With dollar constantly losing against Euro and Indian
Rupees , its best to invest in politically inert geographical locations .(I
would love to invest in South India, but the government regulations are too
much )

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epi0Bauqu
Are you talking about using your money to grow your business, grow your money,
or grow your happiness?

~~~
some
Grow my Happiness.

That does not exclude the other 2 points. In fact, currently most of my fun
comes from my business.

~~~
amichail
<http://www.virgingalactic.com/>

~~~
some
It says "To view the flash version of this website you must have Macromedia
Flash Player 8.0 installed." And thats all there is on the screen.

I translate that to "We dont know what Javascript is, probably something that
has to do with HTML which probably is some weird programming language or
something."

I dont think I will let these guys take my ass to the moon :-)

~~~
amichail
If they can achieve 100 suborbital flights without an accident, would you go
then?

~~~
some
No, because having done something 100 times without failure is not a proof of
a low failure-rate.

Say your failure rate is 1%. Then the chance that you get away without failure
in 100 tries is 37%. (0.99^100).

~~~
amichail
If your failure rate is 5%, then the chance that you get away without failure
in 100 tries is 5.9%.

~~~
some
0.59%

~~~
amichail
So what sort of failure rate are you looking for? Everyone wants to go into
space, no?

~~~
randallsquared
Well, some of us want to emigrate to space, but taking a several hour ride and
coming right back isn't nearly so interesting. :)

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maurycy
Secure your future. And do whatever you want. If you want nothing, spend some
time thinking. :)

~~~
some
Ok, I spent time thinking.

I want plenty of Girls.

~~~
mian2zi3
Converting Money into Girls, if your not willing to engage professionals, is
not as easy as you'd imagine. Or rather, it is about as hard as you'd imagine.
Money doesn't make that big a difference.

~~~
davidw
Investing in some salsa/merengue lessons is a pretty good way to go. It worked
well for me in that it's a very non-geeky thing that lots of girls like. It's
also a fun environment - in the right places, you can dance with lots of
people without it being a Big Deal asking someone to dance.

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mdolon
Buy a Ferrari F430! Actually I'd probably invest in another business first if
I had the money. Donating to charities is also a good call, or perhaps helping
out your local (young) entrepreneurs who are in need of some financial
support.

Don't forget the Ferrari though. ;)

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dfens
Depending on how much you have, why not invest in start ups? (No, I don't mean
me.)

~~~
some
I dont have the time to analyze other startups, because I have to care for my
own company. Of course if there would be some very cool project out there, I
might take the time to help them. But finding that cool project would need
time that I dont have.

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thingsilearned
Usually the problem is the other way around. You have an interesting scenario
:). My suggestions:

Start another.

or

Spend a year in Argentina reading and building a boat. This is my plan upon
retiring (2.5 years to go!)

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budu3
I think you should secure your future and that of your future family. So
invest the money. You can use some of it to pursue or fund projects that you
like.

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Skyhoper
Mentor other startups. I have been actively seeking a personal mentor and
guidance developing my startup.

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davidw
Apparently you're not married?:-)

~~~
some
No, thank God !!!

~~~
ivankirigin
HA! Long term, children make people more happy than almost anything else.

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euccastro
Give me that problem. :)

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some
What would you do then?

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euccastro
Sorry, I was just being silly. For me money means mainly time. In your
situation, where most of your time goes to your business anyway, I think I'd
only 'outsource' time consuming tasks that I don't enjoy doing (e.g.,
cleaning, laundry) so I can do more of what I enjoy (e.g., reading).

