The only point of life is whatever you make it. Life's your own video game and you set the rules of what defines winning or losing it. There are definitely lots of external pressure trying to get you to align to what their game is, but I think you've come to realize that those rules aren't the rules you want to live by.
I felt the same way in my 30s. The thing that changed it for me was when my father passed away, my mother was diagnosed with dementia, and the pandemic. I started to realize that life is really short and it made me think a lot about what it all meant. I think you've also come to realize that there really is no point, so you can either be depressed about it and not do anything or you can just do things that bring you enjoyment. Some people find enjoyment in help others and volunteering (I don't) and will say that's the meaning of life. Other's will say finding enjoyment in the process of something is the meaning of life (I don't). I think it's different for everyone and part of life is defining the game. Everyone wants validation that their rules of life are the right rules.
I'm in my late 40s now and I just focus on whatever I want to do that I enjoy - hanging out with friends, spending time with my family, not stressing too much about work, entertaining myself with my hobbies.
On hobbies - I'll pick up hobbies just to try them out now. I have no expectations any longer. If it sticks, it sticks, if it doesn't, I don't care that much. I've come to realize I just really like to try new things, and learning the depth doesn't interest me. If i'm inspired to pick it up again, I do. There's probably some self-help/hustle porn out there that dissuades this, but I enjoy it.
In the end, everything is pointless and it can be either depressing or liberating.
So all you described - just do the things that you feel are enjoyable or meaningful - it doesn't have to be a startup, it can be as much as caring for elderly or even running naked in the forrest, whatever it is.
2,200,000 = Delivering $1 of value to 2.2mi people. Just play with that numbers until you can figure out something that you can build that fits into that model....
$1 of value to 2.4mi people (in a year) // (i fudged the number to make the math easier)
$1 of value to 200k people a month
$2 of value to 100k people a month
$3 of value to 75k people a month
$4 of value to 50k people a month
$8 of value to 25k people a month
$16 of value to 12.5k people a month
$32 of value to 6.25k people a month
...
The tricky part is figuring out what people want to pay for.
There are also abstractions to this... like advertising... An average cpm is $2.80. So you'd have to get ~$3 of value from 75k people a month (if they viewed 1000 pages/mo each).. or 75mi page views a month would get you 2.2mi a year.
Building something actually drastically reduces the requirements. OP stated $2.2MM to live off of the interest ($80k/yr); put it another way, OP wants a passive income stream of $80k/yr, which can come from $2.2MM invested via the 4% withdrawal rule.
In the case of building something, that replaces the need for $2.2M in capital, which means the 75mm page views/mo reduces down to 2.7mm views/mo, or in the case of the SaaS business, looks something like:
$1 of value to 80,000 people / year
$1 of value to 6,667 people / mo
$5 of value to 1,334 people / mo
$6.67 of value to 1,000 people / mo
$10 of value to 666 people / mo
The key insight is that $7/mo (in perpetuity) from your "1,000 true fans" gives OP the lifestyle he/she is hoping for.
The problem with this is that no service is likely to maintain that level of profit indefinitely in the way that $2.2m of capital will.
In fact, it might be easier to build one product that millions of users pay $1/year for a few years than it would to get $1/year from 80,000 till one's death.
Exactly, Google has every right to fire Damore. Google can do whatever it needs to do if they think this is going to hurt their reputation, finances, or stock price. If your fundamental beliefs don't line up with the organizations', then you probably shouldn't work there.
feeling the same way. just getting through a crazy release cycle. here's some of my plans for 2017:
1. i'm taking a vacation. seriously, we have them for a reason. if the company culture isn't one that supports this, i'm going to start looking for a new job.
2. create more definitive boundaries for myself. if something is sent to me mid sprint with an expectation to complete it, i'm going to push back and say 'no', or i'm going to ask for something of equivalent difficulty to be taken off my stack.
3. practice gratitude more. as engineers, we're lucky to have these well paying jobs and families we can spend the money on.
4. make time for myself. as parents it's easy to get caught up giving everything to everyone else, but not taking time for myself. i'm going to take time to focus on my health and fitness again.
5. make time for my friends. focusing on work and family isn't enough, there needs to be time with a community of friends.
Comparing yourself to others is always a losing game. Compare yourself to where you were when you started this journey, and you'll see that you've come pretty far.
Get ready for the rollercoaster (emotionally) ride, and good luck!
Sounds like a bad deal. In reality the product you're building is almost entirely technology based. They wouldn't really offer any value to you unless they were technical as well.
What would they spend their time doing while you coded?
The only caveat to this is if they've already exited and are successful entrepreneurs. My guess is they're not, and just looking for someone to do the development for free.
Plainly put and well put. They sold the dream, mentioning to me that we can change our lives, buy Patek timepieces, get boats and finally meet Kanye West. At the end of the day, it'll be a major time investment for me and I don't see how 4 to 5 hours a week would be sufficient any any business situation, especially when it comes to tech (although, I would love to only have to invest that much time into anything and change mankind).
It'll really come down to me doing a lot of development between now and October, including managing another developer if they stay true to their word and get another developer to help out.
And no, they haven't already exited or anything of that nature. Not yet. Ambitious friends of mine, though.
As you know, 4-5 hours a week won't get you much. Even a POC will probably take a few months at that rate. The ratio is inverted. It should be two devs to one business person. As others have pointed out, you're going to be doing all the work while they're glad handing and doing lunch. Also, not having the background, they will have unreasonable expectations and will have no appreciation for the amount of work you put into it over time.
It also sounds like you have goals of your own. There is a true opportunity cost here. This will be your side project for longer than you probably expect. You don't really get any others if you're trying to get a business off the ground. I'm not sure how old you are, but divide the remainder of your working life into 5 year chunks. That's how many tries you get, roughly speaking, if you're going the startup route.
Right now they've got an idea to jump on the trending app sector, with you doing all the work. Run, this will end badly for you. They bring nothing to the table but inconvenience.
I felt the same way in my 30s. The thing that changed it for me was when my father passed away, my mother was diagnosed with dementia, and the pandemic. I started to realize that life is really short and it made me think a lot about what it all meant. I think you've also come to realize that there really is no point, so you can either be depressed about it and not do anything or you can just do things that bring you enjoyment. Some people find enjoyment in help others and volunteering (I don't) and will say that's the meaning of life. Other's will say finding enjoyment in the process of something is the meaning of life (I don't). I think it's different for everyone and part of life is defining the game. Everyone wants validation that their rules of life are the right rules.
I'm in my late 40s now and I just focus on whatever I want to do that I enjoy - hanging out with friends, spending time with my family, not stressing too much about work, entertaining myself with my hobbies.
On hobbies - I'll pick up hobbies just to try them out now. I have no expectations any longer. If it sticks, it sticks, if it doesn't, I don't care that much. I've come to realize I just really like to try new things, and learning the depth doesn't interest me. If i'm inspired to pick it up again, I do. There's probably some self-help/hustle porn out there that dissuades this, but I enjoy it.