My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
“You can't be the guy behind it because you have too much power”
What It Means
Being a known founder of system-threatening technology makes you a target for institutional retaliation
Why It Matters
Explains why anonymity is strategic rather than just privacy preference for revolutionary technologies
When It's True
When building technologies that challenge existing power structures, especially financial or governmental
When It's Risky
May not apply to technologies that complement rather than threaten existing systems
How to Apply
Evaluate whether your technology threatens existing institutions
Consider pseudonymous launch if institutional targeting is likely
Plan exit strategy before technology becomes too visible
Example Scenario
“A founder building a decentralized identity system realizes it threatens government ID monopolies and chooses to remain pseudonymous from launch.”
Related Knowledge
Three-Stage Currency Adoption Framework
A currency must pass through three distinct stages to become truly functional: store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account.
Launch a potentially system-threatening technology while avoiding personal targeting
Technology achieves widespread adoption while founder remains unknown and safe from retaliation by threatened institutions.
High-Profile Criminal Capture Through Minor Mistakes
Sophisticated criminals with otherwise perfect operational security are frequently caught through small, seemingly unrelated errors rather than major investigative breakthroughs.
Anonymous founders are strategically superior for system-threatening technologies
Builders of technologies that challenge power structures should prioritize anonymity over personal recognition
Government is now pro crypto, political suicide to be anti-crypto
US political landscape has shifted so significantly that opposing cryptocurrency is now politically disadvantageous
The world is better off never knowing who Satoshi Nakamoto is, despite intense curiosity about Bitco
Revealing Satoshi's identity would create personal danger for the individual, undermine Bitcoin's decentralized credibility, and satisfy curiosity at the cost of the technology's foundational principles.