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$300 for three guys.

Once you factor in the girlfriend subsidy, they would have made better money with far less risk by getting shifts at local fast food restaurants.




He said they only worked for about 3 hours.

Even if you take out $75 for the GF subsidy (being generous and assuming she gets an equal share), each guy made $25/hour, cash (i.e. ~$30-$35/hour pre-tax), which is >3x what they'd get at a fast-food joint.

Now of course, one does need to take into account the fact that they're restricted in spending their loot on beer, which they are obligated to share. From a short-term economic standpoint this is probably a significant hit on their profits (i.e. unlikely that the three gentlemen will consume the majority of the beer). However, from a longer-term/more holistic view, purchasing beer for the group will surely lead to fun, team building, general goodwill, and so on, which is arguably more valuable than the $300 cash at this point in the startup's lifecycle.

tl;dr startups should use aeron-chair arbitrage to fund investment in beer, it's science.


The 3 hours doesn't include the research and preparations required to pull off this deal, so it's not a reliable number to be thrown around.


Wouldn't the $25/hour still be taxable? (I understand that nobody pays taxes on small cash amounts, but if we're considering its viability as a business it seems unfair to compare one option with tax evasion and one without.)


Definitely true, but the tax evasion is made possible by the nature of the work (i.e. it's not an option at all in the fast food job)


its a proof of concept. through iterations the business can grow. I think this first painful experience is how many large retailers or wholesalers got established.




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