Comment by neilv
6 months ago
Regarding the part of breaking up with girlfriend shortly after a winning startup exit, I'm reminded of a friend. (Different situation, but something to think about.)
She saw her bf through the difficult process of a developing a creative work, and eventually he completed it, won a prestigious reward... and he broke up with her.
He got invited to the White House because of the award, and I think missing out on that recognition and experience, where she could've attended as the partner, was symbolic for her.
It wasn't that he was upgrading, since she was an all-around catch, including probably being fabulous at whatever kind of cocktail party circles he entered.
It did seem like awkward timing, to decide that a relationship wasn't going to work out, after all.
(Don't worry, she's OK now: highly accomplished in her own career and creative side, and is also raising a family with a better match.)
When a relationship fails you can be certain about one thing: something wasn't working. Many bad relationships continue, but no good relationships end. There are many factors that can make a relationship bad that people will not talk about, like sex. You just have to give people the benefit of the doubt really.
Sure, awkward timing.
But the alternative would be to change the timing for… optics?
No, the alternative would be to not drop your gf merely to "find yourself".
And suddenly wanting to "find yourself" when you don't need the support any more.
Sounds like a pretty shitty person. To some people, loyalty counts for nothing.
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Let me present a more charitable phrasing of what OP wrote:
He is going through an unanticipated personal crisis, and decided he needed to be alone at this point in his life.
Should he have kept the relationship going because he has money now?
Yeah, I found that quite shitty. Some vague Bollywood BS about finding oneself and no meaningful reasons for ending a 2yr long relationship.
Not surprising for someone who describes post-acquisition colleagues as NPCs. They do have a modicum of self-awareness around wanting to be Elon, so perhaps there's hope. I'm only realizing now how empathy goes a long way in giving a sense of purpose.
It reads like the first act for a movie that can go in one of many directions: a drama about a middle-aged, coke-fiend Miami "baller"; a tragedy about a bad Ayahuasca trip that leads to a psychotic break; or a heartwarming romantic comedy about an asshole with a heart of gold who finds themself (and true love) in Hawaii, with a quirky, doe-eyed British tourist as the love interest.
Edit: curious to know that the DOGE has ramped up and staffed with SV geniuses to be set loose on complex systems with long feedback loops. The next four^w few years will be interesting.
It really is quite comical.
"Within 5 minutes of my first hike, the trees smiled at me and whispered their simple wisdom."
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You don't know enough to know the full picture, easy to draw conclusions sure, but they are most likely incorrect.
I assume she was just an NPC so it does not matter