this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
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[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I don't get it, what does "a temporarily embarrassed founder" mean?

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I don't get it, what does "a temporarily embarrassed founder" mean?

It's a combination of "temporarily embarrassed future billionaire" with the (mostly mythical) "garage software business founder".

Many software programmers (including me) spent the first decade of our careers sure we would produce a world-shaking program in our garage, and then found a company to scale it to the world.

[–] kazerniel@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's a reference to this quote:

“John Steinbeck once said that socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” ― Ronald Wright, A Short History of Progress (source)

Edit: apparently the original John Steinbeck quote was:

"I guess the trouble was that we didn't have any self-admitted proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist."

[–] yamper@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

"i would totally be a founder right now if it weren't for [excuse xyz]"