DISQUS

Perhaps one of the best articles I've read from you Jof and one that makes a lot of common sense more common (in a good way). Businesses should be built and created and run like businesses and not on the trends of the few exception cases out there.

Google? Seriously people what is the point? $25,000,000,000 + $8,000 then

Sorry about the typos and semantic mistakes ("your won network" should be "your own network" etc.), but you get the gist

The startup would have been a great experience as they are really great people there and you would have learnt so much about many areas of the business and large-scale web app development and site scraping etc etc. which will not have been exposed to working in a larger company.

Talk to Ian and Pete and Michele as they are really nice people and will certainly understand your dilemma.

Money in the short term is not an important thing. Being in your early twenties you are able to take much more risk than in later life (especially with wife, kids, mortgages, steady job, etc. issues to consider) and you will always regret the things you never did than the ones you did do and which did not work out.

In any case, in the long term, working for yourself/small company that grows fast is actually better than working in other jobs both financially (unless you go into a front office role at an IB or at a PE firm, as you well know) and personally. This has been the experience of myself and most of the others I know who have started to do their own thing, and if you ask around you will find this to be true in your won network of friends.

Good luck Philippe, and if you need any help from me (assuming I am able to help), feel free to get in touch.

I am actually very happy to read this post as I often think too many of us are too preoccupied with making money, especially those in the money business. It is possible to do both, make money and have positive impact on the world and ultimately the lesson we all need to remember is our time on this earth is limited and when we are gone often our passing will not (unless we are *especially* fortunate) have lasting legacy in terms of the business we are in or the money we have made but more in the lives of those we have touched.

The web is a great tool for this and creating a world market, and world society, via it will surely only serve to benefit us all? Initially there will be winners and losers as first world and third/emerging world markets find common balance/ground, but web tech will be no less prominent than bio/energy tech in helping to address many of the worlds problems. We already have precedents in the form of the social and cultural progress made in countries like India which have benefited immensely in the areas of IT/call-centre outsourcing mainly due to the improvements of Internet technologies and the global communications based upon them. The wealth created in India, and the trickle down effect ultimately benefits everyone there (initially there may seem to be much disparity i.e. between those that benefit from IT/tech and those that do not, but even now we are seeing IT aiding the boom in better road/electricity/water infrastructures and as a core driver behind other initiative such as the low cost car projects that are enable by the spending power people there now have).

Soon, I hope, we will see the same effect propagate to others countries e.g. in Africa, as access to cheap computers (OLPC) and cheap internet becomes more mainstream and people learn how to use it for their benefit e.g. real "fair-trade" ecommerce and services direct from the producers.

Many may say without energy/medicine (and issues to do with food/water) people in such countries will not be interested in Internet, but we know this is often now true - micro-fund projects like Grameen in Bangladesh prove this, where people in remote villages use the money not to buy water boreholes or seeds but mobile phones they then use rent out to others in the same vein as pay-phones and also for themselves to find produce/crop prices to enable them to buy/sell at better rates. This ultimately allows them greater control of their lives and the ability to do better and hence later buy several wells/bore-holes etc.

Anyway, I'll end by saying there is nothing like travel to broaden the mind and give perspective to our perspective and make one realise what are the important things in life. I hope in your visit to Europe you can see and get a broader feel for things that are happening to the world/web outside of the US and hope this influences your decisions to invest in products that merge the best of all these elements and aids you in becoming more altruistic.

Dan, been reading your articles and have to write telling you I also love your writing style, very funny and very real. I recently started twittering myself and find it really good fun. Keep up the good work!