Happy Money — Ken Honda

Much of success in high-tech projects is having a balanced relationship between money and value. The vast majority of startups fail, less than 1/12 succeed. Founder and employee relationships are often the cause of that failure, and much of Web2 was founded on Ponzi-scheme like behavior, with only a few winners and many losers.

The truth is, early-stage technology is highly unpredictable at an individual company level. Themes like the Gartner Hype Cycle and Diffusion-of-Innovation theory only coalesce in aggregate. Anyone working in high-tech with a gambling mentality will lose money; instead, the requisite skillset is that of a professional poker player.

We believe in win-win relationships. That means open and transparent negotiations, acceptance of risk, clear deal terms, equitable income, and early-revenue. But this cannot be negotiated or achieved unless all parties come to the table with a clear head about money.

To create clarity and teach this mindset, we recommend the financier Ken Honda’s book Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace With Your Money, or the course of the same name.