
Beware of Ballers on a Budget - ssclafani
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2013/02/09/beware-of-ballers-on-a-budget/
======
richardjordan
Silicon Valley has been filled in recent years by people who've seen movies
like "The Social Network" and read TechCrunch with its myth of the heroic
entrepreneur, and have come here thinking this is how it is.

They are emulating a simulation of a startup that really isn't anything like
the real startup. It as if Baudrillard's Simulacrum of a startup has taken
over Silicon Valley. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation>

These folks feel they have to live some mythical startup lifestyle and - a
particularly hated phrase in my book - fake it till they make it.

~~~
stcredzero
_> Silicon Valley has been filled in recent years by people who've seen movies
like "The Social Network" and read TechCrunch with its myth of the heroic
entrepreneur, and have come here thinking this is how it is._

Really? I seem to have met someone like this last year when I first arrived in
the Bay Area, but he seemed to be focused on the racier party scenes in "The
Social Network." There was one incident where he decided it would be dandy
repeatedly to leap up and down from his bunk to the floor, in the process
spilling a glass of beer on a woman's Macbook and upending it face-down opened
on the floor. He didn't apologize to her or even acknowledge that he did it.

This guy has the gall to mumble editorial comments under his breath while I'm
trying to talk business to someone.

He's also the quintessential example I give of shallowness I've encountered in
the Bay Area:

    
    
        "This needs better design."
        "Really? Do you know what those buttons do?"
        "...no."
    

When pressed for what better design constitutes, he recommends a different
font and "some gradients."

~~~
ceejayoz
In fairness, not knowing what buttons do at a glance can indeed be an
indication of bad design.

~~~
stcredzero
Sure, but unless the buttons function as buttons was obscured, not pressing
them to find out what they do during a critique is shallow.

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techsupporter
Every city--and culture--has people who look flashy above their means. In
Dallas, the stereotype is called called $30,000 Millionaires[1] and every car
dealer can spot one from a mile off. Working for one can be a miserable
experience or it can be a great way to expand your own wings. In my
experience, the jet-setter likes "groupies" who appear to raise his own
stature. Use this to your advantage to accompany him or her on these trips,
then do your own networking either for yourself or for your company.
Investing: if you don't have the resources, leverage someone else's.

1 - [http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-29/news/douchebags-
in-...](http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-29/news/douchebags-in-the-mist/)

~~~
lotharbot
_"People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are—it's only
the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are "Gangnam
Style"—so this song is actually poking fun at those kinds of people who are
trying very hard to be something that they're not."_

—PSY (via [http://travel.cnn.com/seoul/play/interview-psy-gangnam-
style...](http://travel.cnn.com/seoul/play/interview-psy-gangnam-style-posers-
and-hysterical-little-boy-285626) )

You're completely right. Every culture has this, and such people can be either
dangerous or profitable -- depending on whether they're wasting your money, or
spending their money in ways that benefit you.

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callmeed
It's funny that he praises Trevor Owens, but the picture on Trevor's Facebook
page shows him (apparently) speaking at a conference:
<http://www.facebook.com/trevor.owens>

Not to pick on Trevor but what qualifies him to run a lean/entrepreneurial
workshop? Has he had a successful startup? If not, how is that any better than
being a "conference ho"?

This post is weak-sauce IMO

~~~
trevor99
absolutely nothing qualifies me to run a lean/entrepreneurial workshop. except
our workshops kick fucking ass.

what qualifies you to start a business? what qualifies anyone to do anything?

~~~
callmeed
Take a step back and think about what you just said. Many startups can be
launched without any specific qualifications or experience. You can learn as
you go, fumble around, yet still find product-market fit and grow. I've done
it and so have many others.

Maybe I'm taking crazy pills, but once you enter the realm of
teacher/speaker/mentor/workshop-runner, I thought it was sort of assumed that
you've previously put your knowledge to the test and at least _tried_ to build
something. Hell, even if you tried something and it was a huge smoldering
failure, that's better than jumping on stage as soon as you close your copy of
the Lean Startup.

Sorry, I really don't mean any disrespect. I just don't want to see an
ecosystem of _"startups teaching people how to build startups that teach
people how to build startups"_ I've seen it in other industries and it sucks.

~~~
trevor99
No worries. I didn't mean to sound harsh in my tone. I thought your comment
was a snap judgement without any real research. If you did do research you
would know that I don't do all of the teaching, we bring in experts from every
location, just like a conference.

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tatsuke95
> _"Whoa. Why so many on leases?"_

Because leasing is a pretty efficient system that can be economically superior
to buying an asset that depreciates like mad the instant you sign the papers?

Leasing isn't reserved for people who can't afford to buy a car, just like
renting isn't reserved for people who can't afford to buy a home.

~~~
bane
Even more fun is when you buy a car for $17k cash new, 11 years later it's
still "worth" north of $4k, but you own it outright, it's reliable and doesn't
break down, and costs you basically gas (money/miles) + oil changes to operate
it and statistically for the make and model has about another 80k miles before
it's expected to start needed expensive repairs. At my rate that's 8-10 more
years.

~~~
brianbreslin
What car is worth 25% 11 years later? Honda civic?

~~~
bane
don't know why you got downvoted, but yeah, I drive the most humdrum Honda
civic imaginable. Other than tires, brakes and oil, the only thing I've had to
fix was a $100 air mix sensor that broke after 10 years.

I _do_ wish I drove a nicer car, but then I remember that extra trip to Europe
or Asia I take every year instead and it more than makes up for it.

~~~
brianbreslin
I seem to get downvoted all the time here though. :-/

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freework
The problem lies with the investors. They would rather invest in a group of
guys well known on the conference circuit than the team of unknowns with great
work ethic.

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jgh
My wife is a big fan of the term "ballin on a budget", which means that we get
nice things by saving for them, and by learning how to make things like nice
meals for ourselves. If we go to a restaurant and pay a lot of money for a
plate and decide we like it, we'll figure out how to make it. Slowly but
surely that bar of "what's worth going out to a restaurant for" is shrinking.
Not that we don't go out to restaurants, we love doing it because it's fun,
but we're learning how to make really high-quality meals together.

The other part of her "ballin on a budget" lifestyle is saving for nice
things, not going into debt for them. The car we own is totally paid off.
While it's not the nicest car you'll see in LA, it's definitely not a hoopty.
One thing I do notice a lot about West Hollywood especially (where I live and
work) is the fact that at least half of the nice cars have dealer plates on
them still. People must not keep cars for much longer than a few months or
something!

I like the term "30k Millionaire" better if you want to degrade people who go
into debt to look richer than they are lol

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temphn
The interesting part is that the article ends with him and McClure traveling
to China for a conference circuit. Did they have any customers in China?

As a rough proxy for the correlation between tech circuit exposure and
results, it would be useful to make a scatterplot of the (number of times a
company is mentioned on Techcrunch) vs. (exit value in USD). Two companies at
opposite ends of the spectrum would be Foursquare ($2M revenue in 2012,
mentioned frequently on TC) and Meraki (acquired for $1.2B in cash, handful of
posts on TC).

~~~
emmett
Or Facebook, mentioned CONSTANTLY on TechCrunch, which is currently at a
market cap of $68 billion on the public exchange.

Or many startups that get mentioned once on TechCrunch and never again and
then fail.

I agree that the scatterplot would be interesting, but I think you are
supposing that the answer will come out the way you expect.

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robk
Said the guy posting about taking several weeks off to go to China on a "tech
tour". That seems like a massive boondoggle.

~~~
trevor99
Mark was actually only there for the China part which was four days including
weekend. He's actually highly interested in the business climate there and
wants his kids to learn mandarin.

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jmartens
This problem might even be worse outside of the valley in places like Portland
where I am writing from. They glamorize the valley lifestyle and act like they
think all of silicon valley does.

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orionblastar
Gosh I am so different. I drive an economy car and I try not to spend so much
money and live within a budget. I don't pretend to be something I am not. What
you see is what you get with me. I don't live a startup lifestyle, I try to
live a minimalist lifestyle by making do with less. Sometimes less is more.

As an executive I'd even go for a lower salary just so the company can have a
higher profit or pay employees better benefits. That is the way I'd run my
startup lower executive salaries, higher worker salaries and more benefits to
keep them on, and then a higher return for shareholders as well. If anything I
might even go the Steve Jobs route of $1/year CEO salary and be paid in stock
instead.

