GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016 • Hacker News Board

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#151

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:10 PM UTC

munchor wrote: post #93

Fiahil wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe gitlab's UI has gotten better lastly. Nevertheless, if 99% of the value provided by github comes from their interface, should we remember how much time they needed to implement the "+1" counters on messages?

Their UI/UX is still nowhere comparable to GitHub's. GitHub is so much simpler to use that GitLab and everyone I talk to seems to have the same opinion. GitLab is still lagging far behind when it comes to user experience, it's just not easy to find stuff.

[deleted]

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#152

Post by stuartaxelowen » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:11 PM UTC

mark242 wrote: post #125

danmaz74 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or an IDE I think JetBrains is doing fine...

Didn't they switch to the subscription model because people weren't upgrading enough to sustain the business?

And it worked.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#153

Post by OJFord » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:12 PM UTC

st3v3r wrote: post #143

Longhanks wrote: post #47

That and their open racism (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11049067 ). Hopefully, they wake up soon enough and stop this bs .

I'm not seeing a shred of racism there. I'm seeing a white, straight male not being treated like he's special, and interpreting that as racism.

> I'm not seeing a shred of racism there.

How about:

> it is very hard to even interview people who are 'white' which makes things challenging,

> Some of the biggest barriers to progress are white women

> This is not work for white folks to lead

I think maybe you read only the comment, and not the article it was commenting on: http://uk.businessinsider.com/github-the-full-inside-story-2...

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#154

Post by connorshea » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:13 PM UTC

rajathagasthya wrote: post #107

ocschwar wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate how GitHub's software platform makes migration elsewhere much easier, making me less leveraged by GitHub the company. That, ironically, makes me REALLY not want them to go under: they don't deserve to.

Isn't the migration easier because it's just a git repo? I'm curious how GitHub's software platform specifically facilitates easy migration.

The comprehensive API helps, though that can theoretically be limited if a ton of people try to migrate.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#155

Post by kristopolous » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:13 PM UTC

Staying in an annual budget of $98 million sounds feasible for a place like github. That's an $8.1m/month burn. Just be a little less elaborate, I'm sure this is doable.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#156

Post by josho » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:13 PM UTC

yesimahuman wrote: post #127

josho wrote: post #102

This is an example of how VCs distort the market for other businesses. I had a recent conversation with a prospect and they took issue with the price of our software. Our app is in a specialized industry (ie. a smaller market). We charge a per use fee of $35. This fee enables our customer to immediately earn nearly $200 (a 5x return with no risk to them). Despite the significant benefit and profitability of using the…

Well my company is paying GitHub a lot of money right now so I'm not sure this really applies to customers that are real businesses.

Agreed. B2B still knows what software and support really cost, and they are willing to pay when it solves their needs. But, at the individual level people just don't realize it. Heck, look at all the free software your new Mac comes with.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#157

Post by dsacco » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:14 PM UTC

josho wrote: post #102

This is an example of how VCs distort the market for other businesses. I had a recent conversation with a prospect and they took issue with the price of our software. Our app is in a specialized industry (ie. a smaller market). We charge a per use fee of $35. This fee enables our customer to immediately earn nearly $200 (a 5x return with no risk to them). Despite the significant benefit and profitability of using the…

I agree with the idea that venture capitalists alter ("distort" is a loaded term) the market in their favor. That's part of the natural process of systems commoditizing their complements. But I really think that you characterize this in an uncharitable way with your example, which I have difficulty believing as it was stated.

If your lead really understood that they would "immediately earn a 5x return with no risk", and that was the truth, they would be cartoonishly foolish to not take that offer. Furthermore, wouldn't that mean your company could be printing money with its results? It's hard for me to believe a rational customer wouldn't take that deal, so either they didn't understand or believe that would be the result, or you're exaggerating here for the benefit of your point.

I know it's easy to think I'm just griefing you over this, but I'm trying to make a point in good faith. There are certainly legitimate reasons to dislike the profit incentives that venture capitalists encourage, but I think you portray their impact on small companies as unrealistically bad (and perhaps your product in a more favorable light than is warranted), to the detriment of a discussion about it.

None of this is personal, mind you. Just a comment.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#158

Post by woodruffw » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:14 PM UTC

ZenoArrow wrote: post #22

mmastrac wrote: post #3

The thought of losing Github to the startup graveyard is kind of scary. It was bad enough to lose Google Code and when SourceForge had their "great purge" of inactive projects.

On the other hand, as Git is a DVCS even if GitHub went down the repos still live on local developer machines, so it'd be easy enough to move to a different Git hosting provider.

It's worth nothing that GitHub isn't just a pretty Git frontend anymore. It's also a de-facto CDN and host for projects (Homebrew, CocoaPods come to mind), as well as a blogging and demonstration platform (GitHub pages).

In these roles, GitHub is of tremendous value and not immediately replaceable.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#159

Post by maxxxxx » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:14 PM UTC

josho wrote: post #102

This is an example of how VCs distort the market for other businesses. I had a recent conversation with a prospect and they took issue with the price of our software. Our app is in a specialized industry (ie. a smaller market). We charge a per use fee of $35. This fee enables our customer to immediately earn nearly $200 (a 5x return with no risk to them). Despite the significant benefit and profitability of using the…

That's true. VC companies are killing a lot of otherwise viable businesses because they can undercut prices. Also, it seems that a lot of VC companies these days are not even trying to be real businesses as in taking in more money than they spend.

Re: GitHub lost $66M in nine months of 2016

#160

Post by connorshea » Thu, Dec 15, 2016, 11:15 PM UTC

fbnlsr wrote: post #115

drspacemonkey wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Gitlab's interface is better. Especially the issue board. Throw in their fully-integrated CI platform and container registry basically makes Gitlab a winner.

I'm using both Gitlab and Github for different projects, and I just can't stand Gitlab's interface. Informations are scattered all around the place and there's no distinctive way of finding the information you want. Plus it's slow as hell. Github's UI makes sense. I can find anything in the blink of an eye and it's blazing fast. The team I'm currently working with is completely fed up with Gitlab.

Are you using GitLab.com or hosting it yourself? We're working on improving GitLab.com, but self-hosting GitLab should be pretty fast in most circumstances.

As for the interface, we're working on improving the design of the product and have just hired a UX Researcher to help with that. Would be happy to hear any specifics you have to offer.