fluff article, no description of the so-called 'coding obsession'. All this article says is he had a hit poker app, and then sold it and squandered the money. The end.
I feel there is a distinct difference between a "startup" and anything software related that you sell
Like maddox said himself, he had never the intention of running a business, and that's okay, that's perfectly fine, but it's not a startup. I feel lately everything is labelled a startup, while a lot of things could be, it is just not the case as long as you don't treat it like one.
I've known Pat Maddox for a very long time now -- I'm glad to see his stuff up on Hacker News. I think he is incredibly bright.
I think a lot of people tend to scoff at products that only make $2500/mo -- every startup is aiming for that billion dollar valuation. But given that he only had to put in 2-3 hrs a week in maintenance, he was really making something like $850-1250 / hr -- which is a rate most people would kill for.
As he mentions, with that sort of business leverage, he could have worked on other projects and just floated off the cash from his original business. Sure, it wasn't going to make him "rich" -- but it was at least a somewhat stable asset (unlike the car he bought).
I think a lot of people overlook these smaller, niche opportunities -- and I think there is a lot of money to be made there.
