I am in the opposite camp. I want to work for the author of the article because he gets it and he has humility, a trait that top level commenter (who informs us unironically in his profile that he likes grapes and other plants) needs some work on.
> we, the users, are compliant with such abuse of monopoly.
But Bolt is not a monopoly. There are many taxi services in Riga.
> I invite you to boycott any company that forces (or coerces) you to install an app...
I do not think I will boycott Bolt just because you hacked their product and somehow become outraged. Bolt rides are cheaper than the alternative and .. the app works. The alternative mainstream taxi app needs an ios upgrade, and the ios upgrade fails on my shitty old phone.
Edit: There is no uber in riga looks like. Nice work, but running a company that generates cash at scale is hard. So i am sympathetic to the app developer.
Not sure why corporate drones like you visit hacker news. Why not go start middle-management-cop out news and take your office-worker-class opinions with you?
Maybe apply to YC or some other seed stage fund with your best idea once you spend a few months developing the concept and talking to potential customers. By the time the process completes you should be well recharged too.
My startup was funded through revenues from day zero, the world entered a recession soon after, and that was a motherf** hard grind. Spending other peoples risk capital would be easier on yourself.
* Sitting in a beach chair gets old in one or two weeks. Use the time to skill up: spend a few hours a day building something, or do a masters degree or short term course - maybe somewhere picturesque in Europe.
* Starting up is going to burn you out more than you are now. And possibly in addition to being burnt out you will have much less money than you do now.
* You will find another job unless you quit into the start of the recession.. then you have hiring freezes all around and you might need to take a sh*y job or work with sh*y people.
* Even if the bubble doesn't pop - for your next gig its unlikely you come in from a position of strength. They WILL low ball your comp on your next job. HR scum have seen this movie enough times.
* Boredom breeds a gambling habit. Don't use your free time to trade exciting markets.
* Cut up your credit cards. Its super easy to pile up "just a months income when I get back to work".
* Put half your money into a long term investment account. Put the rest in a cash account. Never eat into that long term account. When the cash account goes to 10% of what you started with drop everything and begin searching for paid work.
* Be accountable to yourself. Try to something meaningful to show for yourself when you're done.
Tom Cruise was right then.