# How to Get a Lamborghini: Allen Wong's Story



## SkyFall (Jun 19, 2012)




----------



## sags (May 15, 2010)

In 1969, I was in the grandstand watching Mario Andretti win his only Indianapolis 500 Race in front of 300,000 racing fans.

I remember looking at all the people and turning to my buddy and saying..."if only we could get $1 from each of them...we would be rich".

That is basically what Wong and tens of thousands of other app makers try to do.

I don't see any difference though, between the successful few and the disappointed many...........except for luck.


----------



## Tightwad (Mar 28, 2014)

Mark Zukerberg and many like him are ultra wealthy.

But what has be produced and contributed to society? Nothing of any value.

I signed onto Facebook twice. The first time I lasted a month till I cancelled my account and the second time I lasted less than twenty-four hours wondering what the hell am I doing again...what a waste of time. People must be really lonely and are desperate for contact to sign onto stuff like that or to be texting all day long.

Oh and by the way, I got to see a Lambo like that in a storage facility. The manager gave me a quick tour of the car. What a disappointment compared to a Porsche when it comes to fit, finish and detail. Looking into the front compartment where the battery was and the frame rails, etc. what an unfinished product.


----------



## Letran (Apr 7, 2014)

*Inspiring*

Inspiring, Thanks for sharing


----------



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Excuse me if I say this is a load of crap (in my opinion) Quit your job and go develop apps? That's a _terrible_ idea. But I've been hearing it a few times in the last few years. Why?


 We're in an echo tech bubble, for one, so you get stupid ideas like this during bubble times
 It's an optimistic message for otherwise discouraged youth, since let's face it, there are NO jobs left out there...
 So pinning hopes on this sort of long shot may be all that you can tell a disillusioned youth facing no jobs and the worst economy since the Great Depression
 All the real engineering and production jobs have been sent to Asia, so what remains is "app" development... a lightweight, non-capital-intensive activity that's easy to finance because it requires low funding, and the naive young men doing this work practically do it for free
 America, and Europe/Canada, have stopped investing real money into R&D, so all you really have left is fluff like this

You want to pass up a steady paycheque and go join an over-saturated market, where millions of software programmers worldwide are all tripping over each other to create the next hot thing? Talk about coming late to the party... your odds of pulling this off are very slim.

I've got news for you. These silicon valley guys making big bucks off their startup companies come from wealthy families, with wealthy friends, and tight connections from places like Stanford University. They make money because they're in rich circles. Don't make your life plan about emulating them, because you probably can't.

Not because you aren't smart, but because you're not in the club. Unless you went to Stanford or something. And if you're female, forget about it, you're not in the club either. This is an ultra-homogenous group of men, from well off families, from the same educational institutions.

I know this because I've spent years working with silicon valley-style guys. (There are no women among them, because women flee once they see the toxic culture and hostility towards those who don't resemble the in-crowd). I do know one Canadian guy who is close to making millions at a start-up. He has a degree from MIT, and another from Stanford, and his circle is full of medical guys with ties to wealthy financiers.

It's a total misconception that these things are the consequence of hard work and a good seed idea.

There are always outlier examples that make for good stories. Cute stuff, but pretty meaningless


----------



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Actually this kind of story (quit your day job and get rich doing X) is really just symptomatic of the current tech bubble. This is round 2 or 3 of the original 2000 tech bubble.

It's natural to get this kind of pop-culture overoptimism about silly things, near the market peaks. And that's exactly what's happening here I think. Just pull up a chart of QQQ and it shows the story of what's going on


----------



## SpIcEz (Jan 8, 2013)

This was a snorfest.

Heck, I'm a technical, smart guy. I work in electronic security, know a little bit of code (not much), could probably learn more if I wanted to, but I dont. So this idea (one that Mark Zuck spreads around) that everyone can be a coder, is ridiculous. Not everyone WANTS to be a coder, not everyone CAN be a coder, and especially, not everyone can be SUCCESSFUL as a programmer.

Also, if this was about his life story and struggles and his family, ok... but no, its about a Lamborghini and getting rich by making apps... REALLY? REALLY?

Hard work is important. But that youtube snorefest of a non-video honnestly is not worth anyones time, unless you already make apps, then skip to the last 10 mins.

p.s. Can I have that 34 minutes of my life back please???!??!? I feel I could have learned a life altering skill in that time


----------



## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Tightwad said:


> Mark Zukerberg and many like him are ultra wealthy.
> 
> But what has be produced and contributed to society? Nothing of any value.


I don't have much good stuff to say about Mark Zuckerburg but a friend of mine found a child she gave up for adoption 18 years ago, in about 30 minutes on Facebook. It changed her life.

I don't use Facebook at all but I don't think you can call a company like that "nothing of value".


----------



## Tightwad (Mar 28, 2014)

OptsyEagle said:


> I don't use Facebook at all but I don't think you can call a company like that "nothing of value".


You can when you look at the other side of the coin and how it wastes people's lives.


----------



## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

People have been wasting their lives way before facebook. Now, they just post about it.


----------



## SkyFall (Jun 19, 2012)

Tightwad said:


> Mark Zukerberg and many like him are ultra wealthy.
> 
> But what has be produced and contributed to society? Nothing of any value.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry and no offense but facebook is one heck of a tool to reach out to people, EVERY successful company out there has a fb account if you are not using social media to promote your company it will be very hard to compete against those that are using it. 

and are you really saying that an Aventador is an unfinished product? there's only two Porsche that may be comparable to some extend only to a Lambo it's the new 918 and the Carrera GT. The Aventador was define as a work-of-art by EVERY automobile journalist out there, just type Aventador review on youtube and you will see.


----------



## Tightwad (Mar 28, 2014)

SkyFall said:


> I'm sorry and no offense but facebook is one heck of a tool to reach out to people, EVERY successful company out there has a fb account if you are not using social media *to promote your company* it will be very hard to compete against those that are using it.


Keyword being "promote". I could not care less. As for personal use that I have seen, I could not believe the crap on it.



SkyFall said:


> and are you really saying that an Aventador is an unfinished product?


I was just in the storage facility last week where a recent model was parked. The short front hood was open for some reason and talk about an "unfinished" product. Italian cars look great on the outside. Once you delve in under the skin, it is a real disappointment. A forum member was doing a clutch job on his Ferrari. Once the rear section of body was removed, it looked like a kit car. Sorry, I was not impressed or I would have bought one instead of a Porsche.

Go to Trader.com, the US site. Check out any Italian exotic. None of them have any miles on them even after 20 years. I wonder why?




SkyFall said:


> The Aventador was define as a work-of-art by EVERY automobile journalist out there.


Yes, work of art...exterior art. I also do not pay any attention to journalists. Do you think they would get invited to the next new car showing if they had something negative to say? They talk shallow elevator talk, nothing more. BTW, I also do not pay much attention to the lies spewed on media (TV/radio) which is usually controlled by some interest.


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Tightwad said:


> Mark Zukerberg and many like him are ultra wealthy.
> 
> But what has be produced and contributed to society?
> Nothing of any value.
> ...


So because you don't value it, nobody should - right?

I doubt the family that uses Facebook to share photos and comments to stay in contact from Japan to Canada or the Philippines to the US agree.


So if Facebook adds the ability to transfer cash payments - would that change you mind?

Just curious ...



Cheers


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Plugging Along said:


> Tightwad said:
> 
> 
> > You can when you look at the other side of the coin and how it wastes people's lives.
> ...


+1 ... how many countless hours have gone into Euchre or other card games, TV watching, sitting in Timmie's etc. etc.


Cheers

*PS*

How many people spend hours here posting about US gun laws, misrepresent what the people they are disagreeing with have said and at the end of the day, will make no impact on what happens? :rolleyes2:

Or debate the value or lack thereof of Facebook for that matter ... :biggrin:


----------



## Tightwad (Mar 28, 2014)

Eclectic12 said:


> So because you don't value it, nobody should - right?


Based on what I have seen on it so far, yup.

I can get shallow elevator talk...in an elevator...unfortunately I have to get exposed to it there.


----------



## Tightwad (Mar 28, 2014)

Eclectic12 said:


> How many people spend hours here posting about US gun laws, misrepresent what the people they are disagreeing with have said and at the end of the day, will make no impact on what happens? :rolleyes2:


All you have to do is look at their post count.

I just laugh at all those poor souls texting all day long about....absolutely nothing. Talk about empty simple minds.


----------

