

Why I walked away from a million dollars - kushalc
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/commentary-walked-1-million/

======
ceejayoz
Apparently because it makes a good hook for a PR fluff piece?

------
diego
This is an example of an article that doesn't belong in hacker news. For one,
the title is an example of bait-and-switch. The article doesn't explain why
the author walked away from a million dollars. Even worse, it's incredibly
vague and self-promotional:

 _"Four years ago, I walked away from Amazon and a million dollars. I was a
21-year-old kid running a billion-dollar team, but I wanted more."_

Walked away from a million dollars? How? What is a billion-dollar team?

Flagged.

------
lighthazard
Here I was thinking it'd explain why you walked away from a million dollars.

TLDR: I didn't want a million dollars to sell my company, now here's all the
information about my company.

~~~
Terretta
What actual million dollars was walked away from? Why is this the lead with no
explanation?

Why not take the actual million, then fund this? Or use the million to fund
1538 students? Seems like a waste to walk away from funding 1538 students.

What's the actual "why" of the decision? It's a nice title, but I can't find
the "why" anywhere in the piece. The paragraph that purports to answer why
reads like a non sequitur: "Why did I walk away from a million? I wouldn't be
here without my education." Explain how walking away happened because of this
education.

The piece says it's so rare to be given a chance. By whom? And in what way is
it rare for 21 year olds "running a billion dollar team" to be given chances?
All data suggests these are the exact guys with an embarrassment of
opportunities beating down their doors.

Speaking of explanation, what is a $5M organization? Is that revenue, run
rate, valuation counting good will?

Agree with ceejayoz, this reads like a "please click and donate stuff and make
us a $6M organization" piece, with no substance but lots of "click and give"
links, name checking a few known "geeks" (Dave Schappell, Glenn Kelman, Rich
Barton, Tim Ferriss, Alex Algard, Kevin Merritt) to encourage other geeks to
get named too.

We keep being told if you win, you’ll be honored on stage at the GeekWire Gala
on December 6. Great motive! (And the karma's good too, adding that makes sure
it's not just pure crass self promotion, right?)

The idea's great, the cause is great. A zillion charity startups are doing
good work in this arena. Having lived and worked in Africa for a decade,
focusing on education, this piece doesn't really persuade me of value other
than getting my own name in Geekwire.

I wish the piece had also touched more on the work being done and the
percentage of money ending up directly in the hands of those being helped
(100% we're told in a diagram, so what's the business model?).

And I agree with you. I wish with this title, the piece had explained _why_ he
walked away from a million dollars instead of taking that and then using his
own money to get going or fund students rather than leaving it on the table
and approaching others hat in hand.

------
lubos
way too much self-promotion...

