David,

I posted this to raise awareness about regulatory issues, not to solicit pity or life advice.

I know that startups are hard; that's why I do them. It's just bullies like you who make them especially so.

Aaron

Again, you're focusing on the wrong thing. Being honest (or "sharing my opinion") doesn't make me a bully. You titled your post "Death by regulation" and I think you're doing yourself a disservice by choosing to believe that regulation is the reason why FC hasn't succeeded.

I'm happy to help. I'm a mentor at I/O Ventures where I hold office hours periodically -- please feel free to drop in, or shoot me an email and I'll let you know next time I'll be there. Even if you don't think I'm qualified to mentor, I'm certainly a good person to bounce ideas off of, and you can probably guess, I bring a healthy dose of reality to discussions. ;-)

David,

I don't even know what to say. Your point seems to be "Shit happens...but it's all your fault."

Also, I didn't say that FaceCash hasn't succeeded, and I didn't say that regulation is "the" reason why. It's far too early to tell.

When your honest opinion is consistently derogatory toward a single person no matter the circumstances, and you never have the faintest praise to offer, then yes, I think that does make you a bully, albeit an honest one.

If you truly want to help, and you truly believe that I just don't know how to "execute," whatever that means, then fine. E-mail me with what I should have done differently, and I'll be happy to share some reality with you.

Perhaps you can offer some lessons on "execution" to Jeff Bezos as well. Based on what the California legislature did to him today, he's clearly in need of some mentoring.

aarong at thinkcomputer dot com

Aaron

Calling somebody a bully always makes you look like an asshole.

Even if you're right.

I did so once, I believe I was and still am right, but looking back I still believe I came across as an asshole by saying it and didn't achieve/gain anything.

Don't waste time dissing people. Evolve, pivot, code around them. It's much more productive, for you and for them.

This isn't a case of random, baseless name-calling. If it makes me an asshole to defend my work (which I disagree with you on because I don't think it does), so be it.

I think that the complaint is not with regulation in general - it's with poorly executed regulation.

We can all benefit from a discussion about good ways to regulate.