Atman flops; gets fired by his own company

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014127236#post17

Oh my.

An oldie but a goodie.

Roland99 (37,222 posts)    Wed May 23, 2012, 10:40 AM

Facebook's Zuckerberg, Thiel sell shares

after which blah-blah-blah

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Atman (27,513 posts)    Wed May 23, 2012, 11:26 AM

17. Okay, kids...reality check...

I started a dot.com in 1999. A few months later, I was on a plane to LA from MA to do a sales pitch when I literally -- literally -- watched the stock market crash before my eyes, on the pre-historic telephone screen on the seat-back in front of me. Dropping like stones, as I watched, and nothing I could do about it.
 
We still did our pitch in LA, and raised a lot of money, despite the market crash.
 
The company is still in business.

But here is the larger point...we raised half a million dollars. But the venture capitalists and lawyers and what-not valued the company at $4,000,000. Seriously. I was a millionaire for a year, and was looking at an apartment in Manhattan. But now...meh, not so much. I still own a few hundred thousand shares of stock in a company I'm no longer involved with, and which has never made a dime, but WTF?
 
Zuckerberg got suckerberged by his lawyers and Wall Street scam artists. Just like I did. I'm no Zuckerberg, but the scenario isn't much different...a hot property, traded by scam artists who didn't give a shit about the actual company, based upon a totally ridiculous pie-in-the-sky valuation.
 
It's a casino. Bet it on red, bet in black. Due diligence means nothing. When you're the target that shit means nothing. They'll make their money either way.

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Atman (27,513 posts)    Wed May 23, 2012, 03:04 PM

43. Here is what I meant by that, and why it relates...

...to Zuckerberg. Sure, there is a vast difference in scale; a $4mil company as opposed to a $104bil company. But the same bullshit applies. My company had virtually no assets. We performed a miracle, according the Wall Street people, by raising half a million bucks in "angel funding" in six months in a podunk Western New England town. The lawyers and brokers at certain big Wall Street firms who shall go unnamed until my own lawyer clears this, said we were "going places."
 
We used our first check to rent a big booth at Art Expo in NYC, right next to Sotheby's and a couple of other big players. We bought the entire back cover of the Art Expo program, something like 50,000 copies, for cheap. Wicked cheap...because we were supposedly so hot. The first morning of the show, four guys in $5,000 suits walked up to our booth and said they wanted in. They bought in, they valued the company at $4,000,000, they used that to raise more money, they fired me from my own company, they all made fortunes, and I walked away with some worthless paper and some valuable lessons. I was about Zuckerberg's age at the time.
 
My point is/was -- these Wall Street ****ers, just like Mittens, they DON'T CARE. When I was fired from my own company, a la Steve Jobs at Apple, they couldn't understand why I was upset. "It's only business," they told me. If you can't afford to play, don't get into the game. They ALL made fortunes, and every single principal in the company is now working on something else, with barely a dime to show for our efforts.
 
The lesson is simple...the people with money, like Mittens and the people who ****ed me, don't care and will NOT -- WILL NOT -- help make you rich. There is no "level playing field" in America. If you're rich, you work to stay rich. If you're not rich, the rich will **** you out of every good idea you ever come up with.
 
I hope Zuckerberg at least bought some tangible assets he can sell off after his board of directors ****s him over for a profit.
 
Kid, don't ever, EVER, let anyone tell you can make it America. The people that already made it will make sure you can't...they're covering their own asses. If you want to "make it," become a cut throat slimy soulless asshole like they are. Like Mitt Romney is. Then at least you'll have a shot.

[Big Dog]

Pedro Picasso
 
The lesson is simple...the people with money, like Mittens and the people who ****ed me, don't care and will NOT -- WILL NOT -- help make you rich.

Pedro, you fool. The reason the investors fired you is because you fail to understand the basic principle of capitalism: You make your own fortune.  The owner is not in the business of making the employees rich.

The fact that you are bitching about it at the DUmp proves they were right to can your DUmmy ass. Twat.

[Bad Dog]

That was a very nice story and, even though it's probably not true, I enjoyed it a lot.  How come nobody on this forum ever complains about being screwed over by people smarter than them?

[GOBUCKS]

So, the only difference between Mark Zuckerberg and the permanently unemployed Atman McGrath is:

if Zuckerberg's wife loses her job, he won't starve.

Oh, there's one other difference:

when Zuckerberg talks about starting an internet company, he isn't lying to impress a little band of DUmpmonkeys.

[98ZJUSMC]

So, the only difference between Mark Zuckerberg and the permanently unemployed Atman McGrath is:

if Zuckerberg's wife loses her job, he won't starve.

Oh, there's one other difference:

when Zuckerberg talks about starting an internet company, he isn't lying to impress a little band of DUmpmonkeys.

Hmmm....yeah, isn't it just like Boooooosh and the banksters.  Jetsetter dot.com gAbIlLiOnaIrE    gets shanked by the Clintoon dot.com kerfluffle (hey (D)Ummies, if you want to give him credit for someone elses doings, you have to give TheRapist the blame, too) and is so traumatized by the (D)Marxist top campaign donors that, he can't find any steady work for almost 15 years.


Damn, rEtHugLikkkans.....

[franksolich]

That was a very nice story and, even though it's probably not true, I enjoyed it a lot.  How come nobody on this forum ever complains about being screwed over by people smarter than them?

Well, I wonder.  It might, or might not, be plausible.

The only thing with which I have a problem is how a dot.com enterprise associated with art could be worth much money, much less half a million dollars (the original investment).

But I'm not to fond of his reference to "a podunk Western New England town;" that smacks of mocking the "angels" who put up the money (it's safe to assume tightwad Atman didn't reach into his own wallet).

However, whatever.  Atman was never known for his sensitivity and manners.

Now, if it's all true, surely there's a lesson in it for Atman.

Atman quite obviously made the mistake of thinking he was smarter than, brighter than, the four guys in those expensive suits.

Atman isn't young; it astounds me that he still hasn't learned that overestimation of one's talents is an inevitable guaranty of falling flat on one's face.  He shouldn't have done that, arrogantly supposing he was smarter than those guys.

In blunt fact, Atman's not an iota smarter than franksolich, and he needs to accept that.

<<<has always come out on top in those instances where I figured I wasn't as bright as the other side.

[JohnnyReb]

45 years ago the richest man in our town told me, "Never go into business with someone that has more money than you do." .....sound advice, eh DUmmie.

[Carl]

Atman (27,513 posts)    Wed May 23, 2012, 11:26 AM

17. Okay, kids...reality check...

I started a dot.com in 1999. A few months later, I was on a plane to LA from MA to do a sales pitch when I literally -- literally -- watched the stock market crash before my eyes, on the pre-historic telephone screen on the seat-back in front of me. Dropping like stones, as I watched, and nothing I could do about it.
 
We still did our pitch in LA, and raised a lot of money, despite the market crash.
 
The company is still in business.

But here is the larger point...we raised half a million dollars. But the venture capitalists and lawyers and what-not valued the company at $4,000,000. Seriously. I was a millionaire for a year, and was looking at an apartment in Manhattan. But now...meh, not so much. I still own a few hundred thousand shares of stock in a company I'm no longer involved with, and which has never made a dime, but WTF?
 
Zuckerberg got suckerberged by his lawyers and Wall Street scam artists. Just like I did. I'm no Zuckerberg, but the scenario isn't much different...a hot property, traded by scam artists who didn't give a shit about the actual company, based upon a totally ridiculous pie-in-the-sky valuation.
 
It's a casino. Bet it on red, bet in black. Due diligence means nothing. When you're the target that shit means nothing. They'll make their money either way.

I would say that proves firing you almost immediately was a stroke of genius from real businessmen.