As someone who attempted to found a potentially multi-billion dollar company that did not succeed (MetaMed) and who has also made a few other attempts with mixed success, I can strongly confirm:
Starting companies is the highest EV play available in terms of money and also direct impact.
The odds are stacked against you and you probably fail outright not only fail to make billions, but that’s fine.
You learn and skill up a ton even in failure, on real attempts, and make good connections.
Even in moderate success you still can do way better than working for a living.
However, it requires a ton of commitment of time and energy and will, far beyond normal working for a living, and if you don’t go all-in in that sense your chances are way worse. And it’s totally stressful and exhausting and stuff like that especially as CEO. This isn’t a free action.
Also the whole process has a very high probability of corrupting someone’s epistemics and values, so you
As someone who attempted to found a potentially multi-billion dollar company that did not succeed (MetaMed) and who has also made a few other attempts with mixed success, I can strongly confirm:
Starting companies is the highest EV play available in terms of money and also direct impact.
The odds are stacked against you and you probably fail outright not only fail to make billions, but that’s fine.
You learn and skill up a ton even in failure, on real attempts, and make good connections.
Even in moderate success you still can do way better than working for a living.
However, it requires a ton of commitment of time and energy and will, far beyond normal working for a living, and if you don’t go all-in in that sense your chances are way worse. And it’s totally stressful and exhausting and stuff like that especially as CEO. This isn’t a free action.
Also the whole process has a very high probability of corrupting someone’s epistemics and values, so you
so I/we..?
better do what recommended in https://80000hours.org/articles/accidental-harm/#3-have-a-degree-of-humility ?