Money is certainly not an indicator of true success, other than, of course, success of acquiring money. However, why is money vulgar. Sure, there are many vulgar things one can purchase with money. But money in and of it self isn't vulgar.
Many people here want to understand how WhatsApp managed to convince someone to pay so much money for it, perhaps so they can replicate this success and also become rich. What's so wrong with that?
> perhaps so they can replicate this success and also become rich. What's so wrong with that?
My theory: Perhaps because an ever growing population of tech professionals are disgusted with the race for more wealth?
I will be the first to admit, I'm an Elon Musk fanboy, although I think its justified. Instagram. Whatsapp. Messaging apps! Billions of dollars! For messaging! With that same amount of cash, Musk has delivered goods to an orbiting space station and has succeeded in changing the direction of transportation, something an entire auto industry wouldn't (not couldn't, wouldn't) do.
I could be wrong. Perhaps money is still the end goal for everyone. If its just to have money for money's sake, I feel sad for you. If its to pursue your passion, I think we can all empathize with that.
Money for money sake is silly. You can't take it to your grave, and you can't enjoy it unless you spend it. But there are a lot of cool toys money can buy, like space rockets or cool cars and motorcycles. In my case money would buy me time for tinkering with unprofitable projects and building things with my hands, which I enjoy doing
What do you expect? It's a startup-oriented hacker bulletin board run by a guy that suggests that hiring is obsolete and most nerds should be able to start a new venture and make a killing.
Even if it's overly optimistic, it's a pretty reasonable aspiration compared to the wage slavery most have to endure, so I fail to see why this is wrong.
There are plenty more of stories of failure studied at HN than successes like WhatsApp. That's actually more correlated with reality than the mainstream business media that focuses mostly on success.
Still waiting for the explanation of why it's rotten to want to create value through technology and seek reward for it.
One might argue WhatsApp isn't worth what was paid for, or that the money would be better spent elsewhere. But that's a rather subjective judgement. Spending $16 billion on, say, philanthropic causes, doesn't necessarily lead to desirable or sustainable effects. As with any scarce resource, it depends on how the money is managed.
There's nothing vulgar or clueless with loving money and wanting more of it. Most startups got started thanks to people who have insane amounts of money and enjoy making more, this includes investors in startups that changed the world such as Google, Apple and Facebook. The world needs people who love money so they can fund people who love making stuff that put this money to good use. Simple as that.
So yeah, get off your high horse and please stop lecturing people with cheap and meaningless moral judgments.
I didn't say I personally enjoy making money more than coding/building cool stuff. I just said it was ok if some people do. And yes, when you call something "vulgar and utterly clueless", you're definitely making moral judgments.
> consideration for your position
You have enough consideration to feel like posting a comment about how much you feel about it.
>And yes, when you call something "vulgar and utterly clueless", you're definitely making moral judgments.
I know! My point is merely that I wasn't lecturing.
>You have enough consideration to feel like posting a comment about how much you feel about it.
I suppose I enjoy throwing the moral imperative into sharp relief; making it clear just how much I disdain your vulgar acceptance of the love of wanting money.
That moral imperative alone is enough to carry weight in this thread. It has wandered in as mere sentiment without ever presenting an argument.
...Now, of course, I have strayed into lecturing you about the mechanics of this whole thing--but note I still have not lectured you with the moral judgment itself. I don't care about convincing you that money is vulgar. Sanctimony is enough for me.
You are quite right, though; I have spent enough time here.
> I suppose I enjoy throwing the moral imperative into sharp relief; making it clear just how much I disdain your vulgar acceptance of the love of wanting money.
Really? You disdain the love of wanting money? Looks like you have some personal issues, you're taking this way too personal. Get over yourself, some people love making money and there's nothing wrong with that. I tend to worry more about people who hate making money and have to rely on others, even if that means giving away their freedom or stealing.
At what point has my absolute contempt for "loving money and wanting more of it" been unclear to you? Because you really should have clued in around when I said "Yes?".
>Looks like you have some personal issues, you're taking this way too personal.
This is banter while I fold my laundry.
>some people love making money and there's nothing wrong with that.
See, you just keep on repeating your disagreement with me as if it's going to change anything. Moral imperatives are, well, imperative, you know? I'm just going to reiterate: there is something wrong with that.
I'll rephrase you: some people hate the love of money and there's nothing wrong with that, or at the very least, you can't do anything about it.
You're wasting your own time and giving me more opportunity to bash greed, which is, as I said, making the folding of my laundry more enjoyable.
But I guess it might bother you that someone might think your moral compass is off center because of your position on money.
I'm fine with people hating money, but people hating the love of money? Sounds like personal issues to me. I don't hate hating money as I don't have a personal grudge against people who hate money but it sounds like you do with people who love money. Oh, and I used to think greed was bad too, like when I was 12 but since then I've figured every single one of us act out of greed all the time and waiting for a greedless messiah is naive at best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
> Yes? It is not only vulgar, it is utterly clueless.
I don't have the knowledge or experience to say otherwise, so if someone were to ask me if WhatsApp was a success, $16B seems like a good reason to say yes. Are you implying that WhatsApp's sale was a failure case for their owners, and success for them would have looked differently? (reject the sale and continue growth of the platform?)
