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Comment by 1dom

8 days ago

From the careers page:

> Life at Mentra

> We're a squad of hardcore builders between San Francisco and Shenzhen working 996 to build the next personal computer. We're upgrading human intelligence with high bandwidth interfaces. We're transhumanist hackers.

> And we're not just here for a job. We're here for a mission.

This is the worst of SV VC bullshit right here and is antithetical to open sustainable software.

"We're here for a mission" - I'm sure all those VC firms involved are there for the the same mission too, right?

If this goes anywhere or becomes anything, it'll be rug-pulled out of open source.

3 comments

1dom

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nissepihl  8 days ago

I know the founders and they're very sincere and passionate. I think their drive is more important in shaping the company than the VC capital.

  • 1dom  8 days ago

    I don't doubt that they claim to feel that way, and that they feel they'll be the ones who push back against VC profiteering and enshittification.

    That just confirms to me that they're in the same position as any of VC backed founder. That's why the VC firm backed them: because they saw an opportunity to profit from someone else's dream.

    I would really, really love to revisit this discussion with you and the founders in 5 and 10 years time - I'd be happier if you proved me wrong:)

    • walterbell  8 days ago

      We need more knowledge sharing on the topic of negotiating with VCs. Charles Ferguson's book was good, followed by the Venture Hacks blog from AngelList, https://www.amazon.com/High-Stakes-No-Prisoners-Internet/dp/...

        What we have here is a rare thing - an unvarnished account by an insider of what it took to make a deal with the VC sharks during the dawn of the Internet Age and come out of it with something you could take to the bank. You wont find many other tech business books giving such a detailed account from start to finish. Though it is lacking on the technical side, the view from the 'money guys' is pretty detailed. It is pretty amazing to realize the whole arc of the story is only about two years..  To then leverage his proceeds into some constructive social documentaries like 'Inside Job' is a great second act..