altreal · HackerTrans

No one is using Java because it has great features compared to C#. Java is essentially what C# 2.0 used to be and C# has already moved on to V5. People use Java because it's cross platform. When you write server code you want it to be able to run on whatever box instead of paying for hefty Windows hosting. With now Oracle at helm, Java is likely the worst choice for any new project.

altreal

13 anni fadiscuss

I used to use this argument and only now I realize how flawed it was. At some point there were 1000 COBOL programmers for every <your favorite language> programmers. If you decide to go with COBOL career, you will be maintaining bad software for years.

altreal

13 anni fadiscuss

It would be hard to appreciate this without thinking like an investor. Let's say you pitched an investor. He has seen your passion and drive 100s of other times before. He decides to give you $200K as seed money so you can keep getting same income as your corporate cushy job. He knows your chance of failure is 90%. Next year very likely investor is going to loose all of that money.

On the other hand, you have no downside. For you, it's pretty much the change of job because you get to keep same income as before. In fact, it's much better than a change of job because now you get to work on stuff you want in your pajamas in your backyard of your 4 bedroom home. Come next year, there is 90% probability that your startup would have failed. But you would have zero loss in any material respect. Instead most likely you are just going to move on with your life and find another corporate cushy job with minor or even major promotion given that now you can brag about having tried your own startup and claim that experience.

So you see, we have a transaction where one party has 90% chance of loosing everything and other party gains 110% always. Anyone fantasizing about such transaction would have to find a great fool or own a casino. This is why you can't expect any competent investor funding your startup so you get to keep your "cushy job" income.

PS: Betting your "name" and "reputation" is meaningless to investors unless you are Evan Williams or Kevin Rose.

PS2: If you think investors are still getting fair deal because they have chance of hitting a jackpot, know this: Average VC fund has less returns than S&P 500. Rate of failures of startup takes away pretty much everything but small slice of big pot.

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