Another Doubtful Troll

Another cynical troll came calling on Quora the other day. Of course, he was using a fake name. As is often the case with trolls, he tried, all via speculation, to invalidate both my personal historical entrepreneurial journey, as well as key facts in my life. He didn’t have anything right. There is never any substance to these guys, ever.

In addition, he also claimed to know the odds of being a successful entrepreneur without some advantage handed to the entrepreneur somewhere. You can bet he has zero business experience, but seems to know all about how companies work and the motives of CEOs and founders. As usual, he had all the intellectually lazy stereotypes typically found in badly written low budget movies.

He insisted someone must have backed me when I bought my first business, as if he knew it all. Even that took some hutzpah.

Nope. I was entirely alone when I bought my first business. My friends who were there from the beginning read my stuff. Nothing about my work was a secret. In fact, the attorney who gave me the idea to buy it, wrote the purchase and sale contract. He later went on to fund my second business through his family VC fund. Back then, there were not a lot of VCs in Seattle, and the VC-funded startup community all knew each other.

Just the Quora heading alone within his profile said enough; that all profits in a company were merely unpaid wages. The concept alone is ignorant as hell, but that’s what this guy believes. Never mind the return investors should get on their investment. He also claims to know the “truth” about everything. Yes, eye-rolling.

So why bother with this guy?

What prompted me to write something here, is that as long as I’ve been an entrepreneur, going back to my days when I acquired my first business, a business I acquired by assuming the debts, and without any co-signing or backing of any kind, I’ve been helping other entrepreneurs do the same thing. Yeah, that’s a long sentence. Helping fellow entrepreneurs has run parallel to my journey for almost 40 years now. We share knowledge.

Just about all of us are both scared and excited when we start a venture, and people like this have a negative impact on those who are already terrified more than excited. These guys do this with intention! It’s also insidious, but there are self-absorbed people everywhere who don’t think about the damage they cause. They never built anything, and have no way to give your venture any value.

This know-it-all thinks much like a flat-earther, in that he’s got to invalidate others experience to make his own world view work. He’s not grounded in facts either. It’s all speculation. Want to believe the earth is flat without evidence? Discredit those who think it’s round.

Because he’s likely been a failure in his own mind, he’s got to justify his station in life somehow. He does this by claiming others had to either have cheated the “system,” or had some other advantage given to them. There is no way in his mind anyone could have earned it. If anything, they were just lucky. He said all millionaires are bad people.

It’s extraordinarily narcissistic when someone comes along and tries to invalidate the hard work and sacrifices of other entrepreneurs. In his world, they shouldn’t be successful.

The idea that all profits are merely unpaid wages is just too dumb for comment. It’s dumber than arguing about a flat planet. Invalidating the achievements of others has always been the coward’s way of looking at success. I hear it surprisingly often.

At no point do these individuals address their own problems, and their own shortcomings. Instead, they have to shoot down everyone else. It’s a special brand of narcissism. The logic is, I’m going to invalidate you so I feel better about myself. If I can make you miserable, then it’s two of us, victims of the “system.” I’ll feel better by tearing you down.

I could ignore the troll, delete his post, but there are two issues to consider. First, I want others to see what is out there and why opportunity still exists in a vacuum due to ignorance. Let him and others who spew this stuff believe success isn’t possible.

The very fact that this guy thinks this way, means there is opportunity he won’t pursue but maybe you will. There has always been huge opportunity for entrepreneurship that runs counter to erroneous beliefs. In fact, the more they exist, and the bigger the error, the bigger the opportunity. It’s why avoiding group think matters so much.

I bought Open Interface North America at a time when so called “experts” were doubting the future of Bluetooth. I wasn’t. I had strong evidence to the contrary and I acted on it. That opportunity would not have existed if the prevailing view had it right. I bet they were wrong. The sellers sold me the company because they were not confident in something I believed in, and I was willing to risk everything to pursue.

One of the best breaks you can have is when someone else misses an opportunity that’s clear to you, like this guy. Rather than ask how he could learn, he’s hell-bent on discrediting others, just to feel okay. It’s a crappy way to live, and a great opportunity for you. I’m guessing he’s got to work hard to spread his misery everywhere.

Imagine if someone was selling premium waterfront property at a discount because they didn’t think living on the water would be worth anything. You buy it cheap because you believe otherwise. Who’s belief was more accurate? Well, both. Yet, because you see value that the other person doesn’t, you sell the property for a substantial gain to someone who shares your view, further validating your belief.

Still, what worries me the most is that there are a lot of dreamers out there that will read this guy’s post and buy into his nonsense, and never give entrepreneurship a shot. There are a lot of entrepreneurs who are afraid, and this ignoramus will have just enough influence to give them pause, when they should be pursuing their dreams.

Some fellow entrepreneurs, who have had a range of success, are unwilling to share their personal stories, because they don’t want to deal with guys like this. I can’t blame them.

I don’t cave because I see them for who they are. They are always first and foremost bitter, terrified cowards, which is why they mask who they are in the first place. In a way, I feel sorry for them because of what they miss. It’s ironic that you find them trolling around exotic car questions and answers. If exotic car owners are such a representation of evil, then why read about exotics?

I imagine them sitting in a basement somewhere believing in their own bitterness and twisted ideas until they day they die, without a single day of enlightenment or clarity. They never stop and think wow, maybe I have it wrong! Nope, they are too invested in their own vision of the world. There is no way to get them to change or wake up. It’s far better for them to try and tear down others than face the reality of where they went wrong. What a crappy way to live.