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Downtown Project Suicides Shock High Tech Community
HughPickens.com writes Nellie Bowles writes in Recode that three of the most prominent high tech entrepreneurs involved with Tony Hsieh's project to build a startup city in Downtown Las Vegas have recently committed suicide, sending the tight-knit community into a tailspin. In January 2013, Jody Sherman, the 48-year-old founder of Ecomom, one of the most prominent Vegas tech-funded startups, shot himself while in his car. His company had been going south. In January 2014, 24-year-old Ovik Banerjee, who was part of the first Venture for America group in Vegas and an integral member of the Downtown Project team, leapt from his Town Terrace apartment in downtown. In May 2014, Matt Berman, the 50-year-old founder of Bolt Barber, the flagship shop at the center of the Container Park, was found in his home in an apparent suicide by hanging. Whether or not the suicides are statistically significant, the deaths have clearly shaken the entrepreneurs.
According to Alyson Shontell, in a social media age where word of success and failure travels fast, entrepreneurs say it's harder than ever to run a company — and it's harder than ever to fail. "It was a hell of a lot of work for not a hell of a lot of return," says Dave McClure, an investor in Ecomom and the entrepreneur behind investment firm 500Startups. "And then there are days when you sit in a corner and cry. You can't really do anything else. You don't have a social life. You don't really want to interact with family and friends because there's just not much context for them. Your world revolves around your startup and it's all about trying to survive and not look like an idiot in front of employees." "In the past, failure was very contained," another entrepreneur says. "When you failed, you felt bad around your family, the people you raised money from, but it wasn't as public. Failure in an era of social media and social video and global events is a very public thing. Jody [Sherman] put himself out there this time and became very respected for what he was doing. That possibility of very public shame is something that didn't exist before." Brad Feld writes that if you are ever considering committing suicide, reach out to someone and ask for help. "It's ok to fail. It's ok to lose. It's ok to be depressed. If you are contemplating suicide, get help. If you have an entrepreneurial friend contemplating suicide, do your best to get them help."
According to Alyson Shontell, in a social media age where word of success and failure travels fast, entrepreneurs say it's harder than ever to run a company — and it's harder than ever to fail. "It was a hell of a lot of work for not a hell of a lot of return," says Dave McClure, an investor in Ecomom and the entrepreneur behind investment firm 500Startups. "And then there are days when you sit in a corner and cry. You can't really do anything else. You don't have a social life. You don't really want to interact with family and friends because there's just not much context for them. Your world revolves around your startup and it's all about trying to survive and not look like an idiot in front of employees." "In the past, failure was very contained," another entrepreneur says. "When you failed, you felt bad around your family, the people you raised money from, but it wasn't as public. Failure in an era of social media and social video and global events is a very public thing. Jody [Sherman] put himself out there this time and became very respected for what he was doing. That possibility of very public shame is something that didn't exist before." Brad Feld writes that if you are ever considering committing suicide, reach out to someone and ask for help. "It's ok to fail. It's ok to lose. It's ok to be depressed. If you are contemplating suicide, get help. If you have an entrepreneurial friend contemplating suicide, do your best to get them help."
How does "providing eco friendly and organic products to moms who desire an eco-conscious lifestyle for themselves and their children" amount to being a member of the "high tech community"? How does real estate development or running a barber shop make you a member of the high tech community? All these people are businessmen, and their troubles seem to be due to bad business decisions. No "high tech" involved, except perhaps that they were hoping that they could sell to "techies".
In this day and age... it was the first thing that popped in my mind when you get a cluster like this.
But in the end, so many people seem to opt for suicide for reasons stemming from Facebook harassment to a failed business which tells me they are weak minded, weak willed, and frankly we are better off without them.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
All of those are reasons for suicide. Oh, you mean you don't believe they are *sufficient* reasons for suicide, for you, at this time? Then don't kill yourself. Today.
Your life can change in the blink of an eye.
While the thought of loans from corrupt sources comes to mind as a catalyst, I believe there are other reasons. (this is Vegas, and while Corporations are now the Casino hoods instead of Cosa Nostra, hoods will still make you short-term, high interest loans featuring successful collection agents)
Business IS business.
These people were living their dream, too close to the bone.
1. Never Marry Your Business. That's like marrying your hammer or pocketknife, it is a tool. If it doesn't work , replace it. You are not there to serve it as a marriage partner. It will never fullfill this role and you will waste your life trying. If you spend your life trying and failing, you aren't interested in what you are doing. If you learn from your mistakes and others mistakes, you can't help but climb.Your business that you love is still a soul sucking vampire that will drain you and leave your husk to rot in a ditch. Avoid giving it priority above family, health and other dreams you have. Sacrifice is for chumps.
2. Build your BIG business from smaller businesses and investments. This gives you throwaways to practice your chops with and if they fail, you have learned with one of many baskets of eggs, not the whole hen house. Keep yourself the main investor in the Big One, sell off other ventures as your time and profits demand.
3. Avoid investors in the BIG one, unless you want to retire. Even then, keep a vast majority of it unless the rat race appeals to you less than that island you've been eyeing.
4. Short of transgressing ethics, take every positive break you can, incorporate with the government as little as possible and be honest in your dealings. You are only as good as your word. Even accomplishment is second to this.
5.Go with your intuition every chance you get.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I just don't understand this idea.
Why would you have only one chance? Why would your life from that point forward just suck forever? I left college before I got a degree the first time and started doing database development. The company never did well but also was not horrible and managed to survive overall. However I got bored of it and decided to go back to school.
I just graduated with a degree in chemical and biological engineering, solving a problem for a major biotech company, I am now in Germany about to starts a Master's degree and PhD and some of the experts I know expect I will start at the mid to high six figure range when I get out. That is also if I don't choose to go the startup way where I could make massively more than that.
This was after just doing database development for about 10 years and deciding to go back to school. Sure I was the older person in the class but nobody cared and nobody seems to care now and my experience has been very helpful.
This idea that you only have one chance should be taken out back and shot the way it deserves. You have as many chances as you want and you can always try again.
Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD!
Man, my comment subject looks like it was written by a 14 yo. But that aside...
...I can absolutely relate to that. My biggest fear in life is rejection, I hate rejection, I have such a hard time handling rejection that last time I was rejected for something, it took me 3 years of my life just to recover. Many times I contemplated suicide, but I wussed out every time I tried (and that's a good thing).
That's the NO #1 reason I'm not starting up my company right now, I have experience and TONS of it, I've been a service tech for years, an elected official for large groups of people, teacher for all ages. And STILL - I am worried about failure. C'mon, who isn't? I read somewhere that most business executives are Psychopaths because running a business with no empathy makes for one helluva war machine hellbent on winning, thus increase the chance of actually getting there, no matter the costs of others...which definitively isn't me as I have deep feelings for anyone who suffers or goes trough hard times.
Heck, I even went trough a very expensive leadership assessment test (not online, this was with a bunch of professional coaches, psychologists etc.) and of the entire group I was elected the most likely to be a good successful leader. But would you believe I STILL DOUBT THAT?!
This is tough stuff, not easy for anyone. This is a problem that gets WAY too little attention, and I'm pretty confident that any country who paid attention to this, would have a lot more successful starter companies and thus a much lover unemployment rate.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
People who haven't been suicidal just don't tend to understand it very well. Those who contemplate suicide are well beyond the point where they can rationally see a future without intolerable pain whether that's physical or psychological. They typically just want to end that pain and cease to be. They don't feel like they deserve the respect you're talking about - they believe their loved ones are better off without them. And in any case they are often beyond caring about what others are going to think of them (those are the ones who won't leave a note - they figure what's the point).
You're right, but that's a sure grim way of looking at the situation. After all, life is no fault of our own. Suicide is always an attempt at bettering the situation. If you take the stance, "You are weak for thinking over suicide" then if you ever are in the situation where you're thinking over suicide, in a real way, you'd be one of the ones that may actually do it, even if only for looking at yourself as the weakling that you are now calling others.
Have a heart, man.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Suicide has nothing to with doing 'something else'. It's not about the future at all.
Suicide is about Making The Pain Stop. Now. At Any Cost.
It hasn't much to do with rational thinking. Mental health is not something that we are conditionned to think about. Among other things, it relies heavily on a fine balance of chemicals in the brain. You have been able to think of your circumcstances rationally, and your are better for it. However, stress can easily lead to despair for various poeople, even if their circumstances are not as dire as those of others. Just as some people may be consumed by rage for no good reason.
Mental health is tricky, and I am certainly not an expert on the subject or on how to maintain it. Hopefully as a society we can move on from it being a taboo subject to people being able to routinely seeking help or just evaluation. How many tragedies could be avoided then?
I like my dinosaurs feathery, and my pterosaurs hairy (or is it pycnofibery?)
Depression is a pain sensor just like the nerves in your hand. If you stick your hand in boiling water your body will report to your brain bad things are happening.
I suffer from a chemical imbalance that sets off my depression without the need of an external event. When I've attempted suicide it wasn't because "nobody understands my problems" it was because my depression was telling me I was in boiling water and it wouldn't shut off.
Depression is pain and when it is too much you want to end it by any means. Many suffering depression will try to give a reasoned solution however illogical, but this is the result of the brain trying to identify why this pain sensor went off. This is the same as the brain identifying there is pain in the hand because it is in boiling water. The problem is that the human brain is not wired to identify that the issue is with a faulty sensor.
The reason for many suicides is that the pain is intense and does not go away. Death is the only sure means of ending it.
And no, not everyone has experienced the same level depression. A faulty sensor can report a massively higher value than a properly working one.