# Asymmetric wealth and my youth

Source: https://bootstrappingkiwi.substack.com/p/asymmetric-wealth-and-my-youth
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Asymmetric-wealth-and-my-youth?index=0x665b09710b33dc82a89c4a3ebc5aac41670e6be3577d304a77160e11c51b985100034c06
Submitted by tim on 2024-06-01 UTC, 9 upvotes, 1 comment

## Summary

The author, who went into startups and crypto nine years ago after university, argues that the asymmetric wealth strategy has not paid off and that their youth is running out to keep trying. Despite working hard at a startup, they say they did not get rich, and they now compare themselves unfavorably with a hypothetical 33-year-old who took a proper industry job and has grown wealth linearly. They are currently bootstrapping Kiwi News, a social network that pays them no salary, and they ask at what point they must abandon the strategy, for example to start a family.

## Article

Nine years ago, right after uni, I went into startups and crypto because I believed in the asymmetric wealth opportunity. I knew that I would have enough skills to land a job at a prestigious industry player in Germany, too. I could have applied at one of the automakers or whatever, but I had an intentional goal of generating my wealth asymmetrically through, for example, founding a startup or being very early in something. The idea was and is that through this way, I’d have more, and it would be achieved more nicely.

So I actually joined a startup, worked my ass off, and didn’t end up getting rich. In fact, so far, except for going super hard on building a startup to its logical conclusion (which I’m currently trying with Kiwi), I’ve done “everything they suggest” to become rich and successful on the “asymmetric wealth generation” path. That lottery just hasn’t panned out for me. I’m certainly not doing bad - but I’m far from actually being wealthy.

However, what has now started bothering me is how my youth is fading and how my strategy is starting to be marked to market as we speak.

When I was 26 and told people about my plans to start a startup, I didn’t see any issue with it, as my peers were all still finishing their university degrees. So, in many ways, I felt superior, having already taken on all that risk of building a career while they were still living their uni life.

And up until very recently, that was still the case, with me doing comparably well in terms of wealth. I was doing the startup thing, but despite not being super lucky to have the asymmetric wealth generation events of startup land, I did pretty decently financially (comparably).

Today, however, at 33, I feel like I have to reevaluate this strategy. That is because a hypothetical 33-year-old man who went into “a proper industry” job by the time I started in startups is now significantly more wealthy and successful than me. I know this simply by talking to many of my peers and, over time, forming opinions. This hypothetical 33-year-old has now linearly outgrown my wealth (whereas mine grew in random waves), and because he has a more reliable growth and because he probably has more wealth in absolute terms, he can now probably also take more advantage of asymmetric opportunities. And I? It almost feels like I have to go back to linear wealth generation! Or am I fooling myself here?

You can say: “Oh, but he has no idea about growing early businesses,” and there may be a source of truth to that. But there’s also a caveat in that he probably knows how a working business looks from the inside, whereas I just know how half-assed startups look from the inside. And I’ve sure seen more failing startups from the inside than I have seen really well-doing startups!

In any case, though, I hope this text gives people an idea of where I stand personally with bootstrapping Kiwi News.

Surprise! It’s another one of these asymmetric wealth generation plays that I’m trying to make work. I don’t get a proper salary here; there isn’t much tremendously valuable and proprietary IP that we can hoard. But it’s a social network, so it has digital social effects that are ergodic, so hopefully…

But I’m just constantly thinking: What if it also doesn’t work out? Personally, at what point do I have to scrap the “generate wealth asymmetrically” strategy out of my life because, for example, I want to start a family, and so I have to provide? Or because I really need to live in a better apartment, etc?

The title of this post is asymmetric wealth and youth, and sadly while I’m still super motivated to just grind on shit, my youth is fading and with it the opportunity to play around and try shit. Shit has to work now. I wish someone told me when I started. Maybe someone reads this, and it cautions them not to just take in the YCombinator romantic startup bullshit.

Because this is me nowadays => 😬

## Comments

**macbudkowski.eth**: I feel you, bro. 

I had a similar story - joined a startup when I was 26, then I joined a smaller company where I eventually became a partner, did some consulting, and now I'm working on Kiwi. 

Some of my friends ended up in better places financially. I was often jealous of their predictable salaries and career paths, where they knew exactly what they had to do to get to the next level.

On the other hand, some of these friends complain about their jobs. That it's boring. That their bosses are assholes. Or the dread of being potentially laid off because of some company-wide cuts.

And I can say many things about my career so far, but I don't remember ever being bored for more than one day. 

If I don't like working with someone, I can say "No" since when you work in a company, you have one client (your employer), but if you run your business, you typically have more of them.

Plus, this path helped me develop agency and trust in myself. I know that if something went wrong, I'd find a way to provide for myself, even if I had to invent a job for myself.

Also, I think working in crypto is a two-dimensional asymmetric bet: one is working on a startup that may or may not work out, and the second one is having alpha on the fastest-growing asset class, so if you invest well, you can actually get a juicy return.