inignoct wrote:
] Who knew? Some of us here must live within a mile of Hayes'
] old house. I had no idea.
]
] Man, what a sad story.

What's more sad is that happens more often than not. Apple Computer? Steve Wozniak left the company in the early 80s worth nearly a billion dollars (a LOT of money back then), but spent 100's of millions on failed projects.

Cisco Systems? The original founders were forced out by the lead investor. They got $10M. Value of their holdings today? Nearly $40B!

The tech industry landscape is littered with stories of founders who crashed one way or another. Very rarely are the stories of Jobs, or Gates. Usually the big winners are things like "Paradise Fund IV, LLP."

flynn23 wrote:
] inignoct wrote:
] ] Who knew? Some of us here must live within a mile of Hayes'
]
] ] old house. I had no idea.
] ]
] ] Man, what a sad story.
]
] What's more sad is that happens more often than not. Apple
] Computer? Steve Wozniak left the company in the early 80s
] worth nearly a billion dollars (a LOT of money back then), but
] spent 100's of millions on failed projects.
]
] Cisco Systems? The original founders were forced out by the
] lead investor. They got $10M. Value of their holdings today?
] Nearly $40B!
]
] The tech industry landscape is littered with stories of
] founders who crashed one way or another. Very rarely are the
] stories of Jobs, or Gates. Usually the big winners are things
] like "Paradise Fund IV, LLP."

well, like most people who lose a lot of money, it seems hayes made some bad choices. to me, the statement haye's partner makes about leaving with X million and never working again is the best part of the article... how many millions do you need? You only live once and all that.

inignoct wrote:

] well, like most people who lose a lot of money, it seems hayes
] made some bad choices. to me, the statement haye's partner
] makes about leaving with X million and never working again is
] the best part of the article... how many millions do you need?
] You only live once and all that.

bad choice or pragmatism?

Having been someone who's goal in life was to retire by the age of 30, and accomplished that goal, I can tell you... it's not what you think it is. There's a reason why people don't retire until they're 65. It's not just about the money. It only takes about a million bucks to retire and live a very comfortable life. If you work hard and are diligent about investing, you can easily put together a million bucks in a few short years. But not having a focus in your life, a routine, or even for some people - a reason to exist - is a lot more difficult problem to solve.

Sure, you can travel the world, donate time to worthy causes, fix up your garden. But then what? Working provides a lot of positive tangible and intangible impact on a person. It appears that Heatherington would've been happy spending his life constructing sensors to track his cat whether he had $20M or $20. At the very least, the only thing separating the two men is luck. Why is Mark Cuban 'smart'? Because he was lucky enough to cash out before the sky fell. There's something to be said for Hayes to stick around and finish what he started.

Ever notice the difference between people who made themselves rich and people who were born rich?

Shorty wrote:
] Hayes, always the trendsetter, started to tank as a company
] long before the dotcom bubble started to burst.

I worked for Hayes from 1994 until it finally went under in 98. It was a great place to work with a great bunch of people. I miss the Hayes days.