Tales of the CodeStorms

I recently came across a post in regards to Manny Pacquiao refusing to fight on US soil due to the high tax rate applied to his earnings. From his last fight, the total payout was $24 million (he lost to Marquez) -- but after tax, it can turn out to be $15 million. At 39% tax rate, it becomes stupid to think about fighting on US soil. Incidentally, there are reports of Americans giving up their citizenship for other countries to "evade" tax -- One being Eduardo Saverin, who saved over 60 million dollars in tax when Facebook IPO'd. He now lives in Singapore. Looking at tax rates per country , it almost always feels like the go-to country to setup a corporation will always be Ireland. Setting up shop in Ireland is a fairly common "pay less on taxes" strategy because it is only 12% for corporations. One thing I am starting to notice in startups that start to gain traction and revenue is that they all start bringing in a CFO who has significant experience in b

I recently saw that the government is wanting to introduce a sales tax to help improve the transportation services in the lower mainland . There was massive uproar from people who claim that they're already paying too much ($151 per month for 3-zones). While I do agree that the costs of living in Vancouver are becoming insane, I do believe that the government is doing a great job of keeping the service up and running. The Skytrain is the backbone of our city. The interesting thing about Vancouver is that the core of downtown is full during work hours but drops drastically in the evening. This is because most people who are downtown are only there for their jobs. Incidentally, an increase in tax would require too much effort to collect and would dispel its advantages. I'm sure they have run the numbers on this strategy but I'm thinking a better way to go about lowering the cost of transportation is to help businesses transition to a model that allows remote working (us

We've all been through that phase in product development where you're extremely excited to keep building out specific features and you're hustling so hard that you want to get it into the hands of your users and get feedback (The MVP, minimum viable product). Incidentally, I've come to the conclusion that what really makes or breaks startups is momentum. If the team stagnates on product development and continuous improvement, your team's overall confidence, dedication, and motivation will dissipate slowly. Taking this advice on, it becomes ever so clear on how to determine whether a team is going to be successful; also, it provides you that level of insight when to cut your losses short. They say, "never give up when all hope seems lost". I'm a big believer in this; only if I'm the only person in the equation. For example, if I'm on the treadmill with no breath and needing to hit a specific benchmark (time or distance) -- I'll