It means you can upset the entire economy gambling with oil futures or betting on investments actually going bust through naked credit default swaps.

That's what Extremistan truly means in the financial world. And those are the kinds of narcissistic or narcissistic co-dependent fantasies of omnipotence you harbor when you tell others that you prefer a marketplace like that.

Although there is a lot of bad news around, there have been some positive stories too. Take a look at Billshrink – thery just raised a whopping US$8million.

My sense about it all is that one has to try react constructively to the good and the bad.

On a positive note, the startup I am involved with, Jemstep, Inc. (based in Palo Alto) is hiring people, renting premises and remaining up-beat. I think that this is an opportunity for great start-ups to get noticed more than ever. If this is what Extemistan is being about, I'm all for it.

Thanks for the great blog.

Kind regards
Kevin Cimring

"If I myself had to give advice, I would recommend someone pick a profession that is not scalable! A scalable profession is good only if you are successful; they are more competitive, produce monstrous inequalities, and are far more random, with huge disparities betweeen efforts and rewards–a few can take a large share of the pie, leaving others out entirely at no fault of their own."

Later on page pg 94 he gives good advice to extremistan entrepreneurs: "Indeed, we have very few historical records of people who have achieved anything extraordinary without such peer validation–but we have the freedom to choose our peers. … If you engage in a Black-Swan-dependent activity, it is better to be part of a group."

(…And the Paul Graham essay is fantastic; the best and most encouraging thing I've read in weeks. Thanks for that link.)

This economy has put my startup in a situation where sales have almost completely dropped off because we are focused on serving small businesseses. Since we launched earlier this year, we have had a good run but didn't get far enough where cash flow could sustain us though a prolonged 12 month recession.

My question is should I now resort to consulting or getting a job temporarily which would help continue to fund development and marketing efforts but would take away my total attention on the company for the next 6-12 months while we ride out this storm?

I would be interested in hearing people's opinion on the "bootstrapping = consulting" problem that Paul speaks of and why it is not an ideal way to fund your startup or why it has worked for others.

“If I myself had to give advice, I would recommend someone pick a profession that is not scalable! A scalable profession is good only if you are successful; they are more competitive, produce monstrous inequalities, and are far more random, with huge disparities betweeen efforts and rewards–a few can take a large share of the pie, leaving others out entirely at no fault of their own.”

Later on page pg 94 he gives good advice to extremistan entrepreneurs: “Indeed, we have very few historical records of people who have achieved anything extraordinary without such peer validation–but we have the freedom to choose our peers. … If you engage in a Black-Swan-dependent activity, it is better to be part of a group.”

(…And the Paul Graham essay is fantastic; the best and most encouraging thing I've read in weeks. Thanks for that link.)

Although there is a lot of bad news around, there have been some positive stories too. Take a look at Billshrink – thery just raised a whopping US$8million.

My sense about it all is that one has to try react constructively to the good and the bad.

On a positive note, the startup I am involved with, Jemstep, Inc. (based in Palo Alto) is hiring people, renting premises and remaining up-beat. I think that this is an opportunity for great start-ups to get noticed more than ever. If this is what Extemistan is being about, I'm all for it.

Thanks for the great blog.

Kind regards
Kevin Cimring

This economy has put my startup in a situation where sales have almost completely dropped off because we are focused on serving small businesseses. Since we launched earlier this year, we have had a good run but didn't get far enough where cash flow could sustain us though a prolonged 12 month recession.

My question is should I now resort to consulting or getting a job temporarily which would help continue to fund development and marketing efforts but would take away my total attention on the company for the next 6-12 months while we ride out this storm?

I would be interested in hearing people's opinion on the “bootstrapping = consulting” problem that Paul speaks of and why it is not an ideal way to fund your startup or why it has worked for others.