Posted this over in feld.com, but I'll put it in here too cuz I actually saw the article here on Hacker News. Thanks for Posting. Absolutely love it!...
People have often criticized me for my fire. When I was young it was: "You're too competitive, can't you just take it easy?". When I set out to chase my dream of becoming a world-class independent stock trader it was: "Your ambition will end up costing you big". When I started my first and current tech company it was: "Aren't you being rash suddenly going into something with the goal of changing the world?"
All I can say is that I kicked their butts in sports and school when I was young, ended up making huge returns and a living trading professionally for years, and now... I'm about to change the world.
Someone on feld.com thought that my comment was arrogant. Of course fire is often confused with arrogance too :) But I thought I'd clarify anyways since I wasn't so clear at first:
Making a bunch of money trading was not at all what it was about for me. That was only a validating result. In truth I was deeply passionate about trading, lived and breathed it, and did it for its own sake. I quit my job and moved half way across the world to chase my dream of becoming a trader. I left my family and friends and lived 2 years without income to do it. All that fueled me was the fire of my passion for the activity. The same fire that an athlete or musician feels for their art. Those guys may not change the world, but the fire is nonetheless the same fire.
Did my trading change the world? no. But it did change ME through a journey of self-discovery where I had to reach to the depth of my soul to survive and succeed in an endeavor where 95% fail. But I also did have a yearning to change the world in some way. And that's why I ultimately gave up trading and started a new tech company who's goal is to bring transparency to the retail trading and investing industry and thereby improve it as a whole.
It's the same fire that fuels this new desire as the one that fueled the seemingly less noble desire of making money trading. But ultimately, if it hadn't been for that previous pursuit and all the self-growth I experienced through it, I wouldn't be trying to change the world now.
People have often criticized me for my fire. When I was young it was: "You're too competitive, can't you just take it easy?". When I set out to chase my dream of becoming a world-class independent stock trader it was: "Your ambition will end up costing you big". When I started my first and current tech company it was: "Aren't you being rash suddenly going into something with the goal of changing the world?"
All I can say is that I kicked their butts in sports and school when I was young, ended up making huge returns and a living trading professionally for years, and now... I'm about to change the world.
And it's because of fire.
So criticize away.
FIRE GET LAST LAUGH.