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So you "just need a hacker", huh?

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Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#51

Post by jmtulloss »

run4yourlives wrote: post #36
jmtulloss wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure I need a brilliant CEO, brilliant marketing guy, etc, etc. But first I need a great product. I'm going to make that, not the other guys.

You just might want to make sure you have some people interested in buying your "great product" too.

Why?

If a product is good and investors are convinced it has a market, they'll invest. Otherwise I'll need to move on to something more compelling. That's no reason not to try. Insisting on an identified market before starting on something would eradicate a whole lot of University research.

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#52

Post by admoin »

I think the author has a point, but I think hackers are guilty of similar behavior regarding legal and finance expertise, both of which are critically important in keeping and profiting (respectively) from your hacking. I think it's really just pretty self-evident that people will overvalue their own field of knowledge, and consider other fields to be less important/valuable than they actually are.

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#53

Post by davidw »

earle wrote: post #43
earle wrote: post #2

stubborn

the immediate downmods of my original comment of "stubborn" seems to be further testament to the overall quality in capacity for this site lately. the authors comments are emotionally loaded opinions that are quite frankly, a result of immaturity and frustration. so my original comment stands: stubborn.

It was not a great comment, but I'd also like to say that we've had, if not quite a tradition... many of us have encouraged people not to downvote beyond -1 or 0 for comments that are not "really bad" (racist, outright insults, spam, that kind of thing).

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#54

Post by joeter »

This sounds as hysterical as if someone told me, "If you don't know Mandarin, don't do any business with/in China!"

Delegation of responsibility is a concept of pivotal importance for any entrepreneur to grasp if they want to go very big. Isn't Richard Branson dyslexic?

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#55

Post by mixmax »

jmtulloss wrote: post #51
run4yourlives wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just might want to make sure you have some people interested in buying your "great product" too.

Why? If a product is good and investors are convinced it has a market, they'll invest. Otherwise I'll need to move on to something more compelling. That's no reason not to try. Insisting on an identified market before starting on something would eradicate a whole lot of University research.

"Why?"

Because a great product is not the same thing as a great company. Investors don't invest in a good product, they invest in great people. Look at any VC or angel webpage and you'll see what I mean. Here is a quote from YC: "The people in your group are what matter most to us"

And btw. University research is for finding out how the world works, business is about making money. There is a big difference between the two.

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#56

Post by wumi »

pg wrote: post #44

This would be better if the half that consists of mere insults was replaced with some ideas. There's a lot more you could say about this phenomenon, like why it happens, and what the solution might be. Once again the top story is an embarrassment to News.YC. And unfortunately it is mostly the recently arrived users who voted it up. Maybe it's inevitable that I'll have to turn on some form of vote weighting.

with the considerable amount of traffic that HN can drive to a link/ blog (and such a specific audience) any thought that the "recently arrived users" may be gaming HN?

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#57

Post by [deleted] »

pg wrote: post #44

This would be better if the half that consists of mere insults was replaced with some ideas. There's a lot more you could say about this phenomenon, like why it happens, and what the solution might be. Once again the top story is an embarrassment to News.YC. And unfortunately it is mostly the recently arrived users who voted it up. Maybe it's inevitable that I'll have to turn on some form of vote weighting.

[deleted]

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#58

Post by pg »

wumi wrote: post #56
pg wrote: post #44

This would be better if the half that consists of mere insults was replaced with some ideas. There's a lot more you could say about this phenomenon, like why it happens, and what the solution might be. Once again the top story is an embarrassment to News.YC. And unfortunately it is mostly the recently arrived users who voted it up. Maybe it's inevitable that I'll have to turn on some form of vote weighting.

with the considerable amount of traffic that HN can drive to a link/ blog (and such a specific audience) any thought that the "recently arrived users" may be gaming HN?

There has been an increase in spam lately, but there was no sign of that here. I wish...

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#59

Post by chaostheory »

pg wrote: post #44

This would be better if the half that consists of mere insults was replaced with some ideas. There's a lot more you could say about this phenomenon, like why it happens, and what the solution might be. Once again the top story is an embarrassment to News.YC. And unfortunately it is mostly the recently arrived users who voted it up. Maybe it's inevitable that I'll have to turn on some form of vote weighting.

The link itself maybe an embarrassment, but the discussions surrounding it on YC are somewhat less emotional and pretty interesting; and they do touch upon the reasons why it happens (particularly the thread started by mixmax)

Re: So you "just need a hacker", huh?

#60

Post by tptacek »

daniel-cussen wrote: post #35
tptacek wrote: post #32

Commenters here talk as if no successful business was ever started by a sharp businessperson who hired software developers. Clearly, many such businesses exist.

I know of businesses who look like they were started by businesspeople who hired hackers because the hackers were later ousted (like digg). The businessperson displaced the hacker after the fact. Can you think of any businesses were there where this clearly didn't happen? Can you think you any successful software company started by a businessperson who paid consulting fees to thoughtworks or IBM, set up a booth at a…

Amazon.
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