Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps • Hacker News Board

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#21

Post by jexe » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:13 PM UTC

Taken on its face, this is pretty bad advice, especially for technologists. Do you really wish you were still writing DOS bookkeeping apps in Pascal, because that's what you were good at?

Think hard about the things that actually make you excel at what you do, it's probably much less concrete. Richard Branson started several totally different businesses - but he's sticking to his core competencies of being a ridiculously good showman and businessman, and being able to get shit done.

I'd figure a good gigolo might be good at understanding how to give people what they want.. which translates pretty well to anything.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#22

Post by pavel_lishin » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:15 PM UTC

retube wrote: post #19

What about Richard Branson? He's done _exactly_ that. Throughout his career he has frequently started new businesses in totally new markets. Now his empire includes trains, planes, spaceships(!), record shops, music publishing, banking, telecommunications etc etc. In fact I would argue that people that have that business "spark" could pretty much make a success of any market if they were minded to. Whilst of course i…

But how many other people have done that? Just because something is possible doesn't mean it's probable.

And I think a guy that figured out how to make $100,000 a year is a pretty good source of business advice.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#23

Post by retube » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:19 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #22

retube wrote: post #19

What about Richard Branson? He's done _exactly_ that. Throughout his career he has frequently started new businesses in totally new markets. Now his empire includes trains, planes, spaceships(!), record shops, music publishing, banking, telecommunications etc etc. In fact I would argue that people that have that business "spark" could pretty much make a success of any market if they were minded to. Whilst of course i…

But how many other people have done that? Just because something is possible doesn't mean it's probable. And I think a guy that figured out how to make $100,000 a year is a pretty good source of business advice.

Sure - it's anecdotal. But right off the top of head, how about Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Alan Sugar.

> And I think a guy that figured out how to make $100,000 a year is a pretty good source of business advice.

It wasn't a 100k/year. It was a 100 total, over several years, and that's only his word for it. These things tend to be exaggerated. But anyway, so what if he did? I could probably make a 100k a year selling my body, but I'd rather not.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#24

Post by maxklein » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:22 PM UTC

pdx wrote: post #20

As somebody who is attempting to transition from my old industry into web development, I am biased, but I disagree. I was a good ranch hand before I was a good fine dining waiter. I then proceeded to become a good engineer, and now I am proceeding to try to be a good web developer. My life would have been a lot more boring, had a stayed a ranch hand, or a waiter, or an engineer. In calculus, you learn about local max…

So you're going back to the beginning every time. If you had stayed with your first profession, who is not to say you could now be owning a series of ranches around your area?

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#25

Post by maxklein » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:24 PM UTC

retube wrote: post #19

What about Richard Branson? He's done _exactly_ that. Throughout his career he has frequently started new businesses in totally new markets. Now his empire includes trains, planes, spaceships(!), record shops, music publishing, banking, telecommunications etc etc. In fact I would argue that people that have that business "spark" could pretty much make a success of any market if they were minded to. Whilst of course i…

There are very few Richard Bransons. But there are lots of millionaires who just did one thing and kept expanding in the field and growing bigger and bigger in related fields.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#26

Post by stevenwei » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:25 PM UTC

The biggest flaw I see is his argument is that five years ago, there were basically no mobile app developers. So these folks (even the very successful ones) all had to start somewhere, likely with little to no mobile experience, and they learned along the way. When you're working in new markets with new tech which requires new skillets, sometimes that's what you need to do.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#27

Post by retube » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:31 PM UTC

maxklein wrote: post #25

retube wrote: post #19

What about Richard Branson? He's done _exactly_ that. Throughout his career he has frequently started new businesses in totally new markets. Now his empire includes trains, planes, spaceships(!), record shops, music publishing, banking, telecommunications etc etc. In fact I would argue that people that have that business "spark" could pretty much make a success of any market if they were minded to. Whilst of course i…

There are very few Richard Bransons. But there are lots of millionaires who just did one thing and kept expanding in the field and growing bigger and bigger in related fields.

Sure I know it's one example, and I have no idea how the numbers would stack up if some kind of research was done on this. All I'm saying is that this is not necessarily good advice, and from a learning perspective potentially counter-productive.

But look, let's keep this in perspective. This is a blog post by an entrepreneur with a new start-up. This is nothing more than press, publicity, visibility, mind-share, whatever, designed to get people talking, discussing, linking. So to be taken with a pinch of salt at best.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#28

Post by pdx » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 6:32 PM UTC

maxklein wrote: post #24

pdx wrote: post #20

As somebody who is attempting to transition from my old industry into web development, I am biased, but I disagree. I was a good ranch hand before I was a good fine dining waiter. I then proceeded to become a good engineer, and now I am proceeding to try to be a good web developer. My life would have been a lot more boring, had a stayed a ranch hand, or a waiter, or an engineer. In calculus, you learn about local max…

So you're going back to the beginning every time. If you had stayed with your first profession, who is not to say you could now be owning a series of ranches around your area?

Indeed. Who's to say I won't win the lottery tomorrow? We only have experience and statistics. If you're willing to throw those out and just say "who's to say this can't happen!", than you are not in control of your life, you're just blowing in the wind and hoping.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#29

Post by philwelch » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 7:36 PM UTC

retube wrote: post #19

What about Richard Branson? He's done _exactly_ that. Throughout his career he has frequently started new businesses in totally new markets. Now his empire includes trains, planes, spaceships(!), record shops, music publishing, banking, telecommunications etc etc. In fact I would argue that people that have that business "spark" could pretty much make a success of any market if they were minded to. Whilst of course i…

His expertise is marketing and branding. Until he starts a business that doesn't sell to consumers (even very rich ones who pay for spaceship rides) and isn't branded "Virgin", he's still parlaying off of what he knows how to do.

The very fact that people know the name "Richard Branson" and that he's personally involved in all these ventures is a big part of it.

Edit: It's not a criticism--it's hard to succeed in different fields--but the basic idea of the OP, which is to expand your business ventures along the lines of what you know how to do, still applies to Branson a lot more than he's a counterexample of it.

Re: Drug dealers shouldn't make iPhone apps

#30

Post by sperry » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 8:02 PM UTC

Bullshit.

I used to be on one of the biggest drug dealers on my side of the city and I now make iPhone apps (among other ventures).

I worked my way up to selling about 2 kilos of crack a week, starting from "20-pieces" (little rocks that weight 0.2 grams, sold for $20).

I'm definitely not proud of myself for doing so, but those few years have taught a me a lot about running a business (including money management, cultivating relationships, "hiring" personnel, and the economics of supply and demand) and gave me much of my entrepreneurial spirit.