A Unicorn Is the Last Thing This Web 2.0 Survivor Wants

Post by crdoconnor » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 9:24 AM UTC

mikekchar wrote: post #6

I really wish startups would pay attention to this: “The nice thing about revenue is it’s not diluted capital”. Far too often I see people look at their valuations as something like a scorecard for success. And if you can cash out, then I suppose more power to you. But this programmer is tired of the ".com", "web 2.0", "unicorn" bubbles... I wish companies would concentrate on providing value to their customers.

Post by TuringTest » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 10:13 AM UTC

rosser wrote: post #7

mikekchar wrote: post #6

I really wish startups would pay attention to this: “The nice thing about revenue is it’s not diluted capital”. Far too often I see people look at their valuations as something like a scorecard for success. And if you can cash out, then I suppose more power to you. But this programmer is tired of the ".com", "web 2.0", "unicorn" bubbles... I wish companies would concentrate on providing value to their customers.

I wish companies would concentrate on providing value to their customers. That's just it, though. "Customers" are just another measure of your value to the people to whom you're actually beholden: investors. As long as you're providing value (perceived or actual) to them, you're winning this game. Ideally, that involves providing value to customers, as well, but it's demonstrably not necessary.

Post by mixedCase » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 10:29 AM UTC

thanatropism wrote: post #10

This site first lets me read the article above the fold and then ambushes me with a "disable ad blocking or pay" screen. So I disable Adblocker and get the same message again. Fuck you, I'm not diabling Ghostery and letting you get to my social media information. The anti-adblocking movement is going too far.

Post by epalmer » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 10:36 AM UTC

lmitchell wrote: post #3

windlep wrote: post #2

It will be interesting to see if this one takes off more than a similar one that launched about a decade ago now... http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/15/social-networking-platform-... CrowdVine also let people setup custom white-label social networks, though I suppose its founder didn't have as neat of a background story as a Ning founder. It's probably a nice business model, but not a "startup" by PG's standards, since…

I love Hacker News, but my least favourite thing about it all is how we glorify 'startups'. It's honestly just a really weird business model, that seems like it's bound to inspire things like the recent Zenefits scandal, Uber and Airbnb's disregard for regulation, etc. etc. etc. I dunno... like this story implies, it just seems totally ass-backwards to focus on growth before you're profitable, and pretty unhealthy to…

Post by sirkneeland » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 11:03 AM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #16

thanatropism wrote: post #10

This site first lets me read the article above the fold and then ambushes me with a "disable ad blocking or pay" screen. So I disable Adblocker and get the same message again. Fuck you, I'm not diabling Ghostery and letting you get to my social media information. The anti-adblocking movement is going too far.

And then if you do disable adblock, it's difficult to read the article because there's a never-ending stream of animated big macs and bank ads and crap pasted beside it, helpfully fixed position so you don't accidentally scroll it off the screen. I say as someone who makes his living largely from ads, if you have to force someone to view your ads, they're not going to click on them anyway ! What's the point? All you'…