RE: What about changing the rules?

Subject: RE: What about changing the rules?
From: "Didier PH Martin" <martind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 21:14:13 -0500
Hi Ray,

<YourComment>
  Anyway, I can see what you are trying to do,
</YourComment>

<Reply>
NO you don't.
</Reply>

<YourComment>
 I just don't think it
isn't anything that hasn't been tried before. Virtual Company? It's
been done. Get people to work for nothing, but promise them stock?
It's called a startup company. For the last year and a half, I have
been spending my own savings living like a pauper at the company I own
a part of.
</YourComment>

<Reply>
This explain a lot why you are talking like that :) Work hard and long
hours, get few rewards. Don't like if the other guy make it and not me. I
understand the feeling. Disillusioned? everything has been tried, invented,
created. Things didn't worked as expected? You need some success Ray and I
wish you all the success you deserve.
</Reply>

<YourComment>
  Now, the idea sounds promising: try to attract 100,000 freeware
developers to your company by giving them stock. But is it
economically viable? Let's see, even if the company gets bought for
$100,000,000, I only have a %.01 stake, which amounts to $1000. Even
if it gets bought for $1billion, it's only $10,000, surely not a great
return given that the average developer can bring home $50k/year and
put $5-10k into the stock market over that period. The downside is
worse, if in all likelyhood, the company's stock becomes worthless.
</YourComment>

<Reply>
If there is 100 000 freeware developers the value could be a lot more than
that.
Also, there probably won't be 100 000 active developers. Probably less than
that. Also, if we make money, we can have people working full time and then
provide them a decent revenue and obviously stocks in proportion to their
work. You ay say, who will decide if they do hard work? We have to create a
good mechanism for this and try not to replicate the commonly make mistakes.
</Reply>

<YourComment>
 The only person who is going to get rich off of this, is you,
assuming you keep a 20% stake yourself, you can probably sell the
"100,000 developers" to Microsoft or IBM for targeted advertising at
$100/user. You can't even sell the human capital, or intellectal
property. You don't have any employees, nor do you have any
IP since it is all open-source-free-ware.
</YourComment>

<Reply>
If you have plans like that in your mind, don't ask why the idea you got
would not work :) Who told you that I be the only guy making the money? I
understood something if you are alone making the money, others become too
envious and the problems start. Is collaboration better than competition?
Did you studied game theory? Ray, I understand that you could think this, we
don't live in a perfect world and I whish that your efforts get some
rewards, but please don't accuse others without even knowing if that is
true. Sane paranoia doesn't mean that you have be paranoid all the time :)
</Reply>

<YourComment>
 In the end, these kinds of ideas are nothing more than ponzi schemes.
Why not start up a competing portal to yahoo and given each user who
registers some stock? Maybe you will signup lots of users, and they
call all get 1 penny a piece for their share after the company is
sold (with you, at the top of the pyramid) getting the lions share.
</YourComment>

<Reply>
And what if you got a stock of all things we buy in life? Did you ever
though about this? In this type of scenario what would happen?

I think Ray, that this mailing is not the right place to discuss about all
this. I wish you some success because the long hours of work will get some
rewards and you will be less cynical.
</Reply>

Regards
Didier PH Martin
mailto:martind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.netfolder.com



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