How you know you’re an entrepreneur

http://mattmaroon.com/2010/05/25/how-you-know-youre-an-entrepreneur/

by herdrick • 16 years ago

16 13 16 years ago

younata• 16 years ago

It wasn't until I read the part underneath it, talking about what your first thought should be, that I realized that I actually was thinking about the fact that the individual organs sell for more than the complete body.

jacquesm2• 16 years ago

There are some car part companies that work along this scheme, they buy complete (new) cars, disassemble them and sell the parts at a discount compared to the official channel. It's a bit problematic because not all parts are equally wanted but on the whole it seems to work.

The writer doesn't take in to account that most of those organs have to be harvested within minutes of death and treated very carefully to make sure they are usable for a recipient. The observation is a funny one though, pity that in practice it doesn't work out.

Makes you wonder if you could bequeath the value of your harvest-able parts to your estate, organ donor-ship is for the most part a 'free' affair.

brc2• 16 years ago

That's probably the entrepreneurship opportunity right there: bring in your dying relatives to try and get some cash out of them.

I guess the problem is that old people generally don't leave much usable stuff.

IIRC I think Iran has a functioning market for (some) body parts. There's an argument to be had for the creation of a regulated market, especially in kidneys. Because the black market is going to happen anyway.

JoeAltmaier2• 16 years ago

You could put after-market parts BACK on the car and resell it used!

DuncanIdaho• 16 years ago

If you're an entrepreneur you'd also figure that there is a very good reason for such discrepancy in price.

Then you'd identify and account for reasons (organs go bad, quality might be this or that way, risk of getting caught, logistics,...). If you did it correctly you could figure if some of reasons for higher price can be removed or minimized. And from this we can derive our arbitrage opportunity.

For this case you'd probably figure out that guys in biz already got it covered (these guys are definitely pro's) and that there is really no opportunity.

erikstarck• 16 years ago

Not sure I agree, although the article was written tongue in cheek. Entrepreneurship is about taking control of your own life and making stuff happen. Not trying to profit from everything you lay your eyes on.

Of course it helps to see opportunities everywhere but it's not only about money.

qq66• 16 years ago

This example makes no sense. A cadaver is a dead corpse. The organs listed (except corneas) need to be harvested from a brain-dead person on life-support, which is only 1-2% of all deaths.

rms• 16 years ago

The easiest arbitrage opportunities are always illegal...

johnyzee• 16 years ago

Even when I was a kid I saw scarcity or demand as business opportunities. If I had a cool new toy that noone else had I would rent it out to the kids in the yard for a buck per go as soon as play with it. As one of the first kids to have a home computer I would charge kids to play arcade games at my house rather than go to the arcade, etc.

I try to convince myself that this makes me entrepreneurial rather than just a greedy bastard...

JoeAltmaier2• 16 years ago

Sorry, just greedy. And a geek. The other kids had real friends.

AmberShah• 16 years ago

Gross and I think the word he is looking for is "greedy" not entrepreneur.

How you know you’re an entrepreneur

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