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Why I left Google to join Grab

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Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#171

Post by sah2ed »

notyourday wrote: post #80
vageli wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by > ..a software industry ( which based on profit margins is a toddler ) I thought software has higher margins than most industries.

High profit margins imply very immature industry. As industries mature the profit margins drop.

Not always. High profits largely depends on the kind of competitive advantage (trade secrets, patents, market share etc) that can be deployed in one's sector, it is independent of industry.

A few counter-examples that illustrates my point:

1. Having a trade secret that allows only you to manufacture a good exclusively with high margins. The best known example is Coca Cola. They enjoy average gross margins of 60%.

https://ycharts.com/companies/KO/gross_profit_margin

2. Intel enjoys a near-monopoly in the hardware industry selling server CPUs. They enjoy 63% margins on ~$16b in quarterly revenue.

3. Professional services. I believe this one is self-evident because you can mostly get away with charging value-based prices instead of cost-based prices that is predominant in industries like manufacturing.

IBM Global Services contributes more than 60% of IBM's revenue which allows them to enjoy about 50% gross margins even though IBM GS has only been around since 1991. If industry maturity were truly a dominant factor, 26 years is more than enough time for their industry to "mature".

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#172

Post by sah2ed »

Luff wrote: post #110
altern8tif wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish more people would work on ideas that would impact the poorer half of the human race.

You can't earn money by making things for people that have no money. We need to solve that first.

Yes you can, by pricing according to their needs and not according to your costs.

It's easy to forget that poor people are still people -- they have base needs like the rest of us: they need food, drink, clothes and of course shelter regardless of their financial situation. Some are currently able to meet those basic needs by holding multiple jobs, taking out loans or putting up with someone else (relative, friend) that is economically well-off. Regardless of how they do it, these basic needs translate into economic activities for whoever is able to fulfil them at a price they can afford.

Of course to break even, your business model needs to factor in the fact that it will take longer than the average to see any return on invested capital.

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#173

Post by edanm »

ggggtez wrote: post #83
edanm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The only explanation is that if they really worked at Google for 13 years" Just FYI, he's a pretty famous blogger. He also accidentally posted a supposed-to-be-private rant about Google a few years ago, which became pretty famous too. So yes, he really did work at Google for 13 years.

That wasn't intended to be a comment of doubt, it was a logical implication, if P then Q. So in that case, I double down on saying he must just have no financial sense to think this idea is going to compete with every other copy cat.

I understand. It read like a statement of doubt, and since you also referred to him as "they", it sounded like you didn't know of him. Just wanted to point out that he's a pretty well known blogger, and in my opinion one of the best software developer bloggers, I highly recommend looking at this past work.

Which is not saying I disagree with you about this particular case, it sounds a bit overblown to me too.

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#174

Post by spaceflunky »

southphillyman wrote: post #101
sgift wrote: post #55

> When this idea inevitably takes off, people are going to be able to order take-out from their neighbors, from anyone in the city who wants to cook their family recipe. It will change cuisine forever. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. As if such things as hygiene regulations didn't exist and you can just open a restaurant by hanging a sign out and telling someone to deliver whatever you just produced in y…

I made a similar argument to a friend while eating at a small street food vendor in Bangkok a couple of months ago. I was turned off by the flies and the fact I was a couple of feet from a dirty alley. My friend, who likely grew up eating in similar shops in Nigeria, pointed out I was looking at it from a very Western pov. He argued that these kind of establishments were safe to eat at because their entire livelihood…

Or maybe if you ruin your street vendor reputation, you just move two blocks over, repaint your cart, and start over?

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#175

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

rmason wrote: post #166
sgift wrote: post #55

> When this idea inevitably takes off, people are going to be able to order take-out from their neighbors, from anyone in the city who wants to cook their family recipe. It will change cuisine forever. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. As if such things as hygiene regulations didn't exist and you can just open a restaurant by hanging a sign out and telling someone to deliver whatever you just produced in y…

What's to stop the WeWork of commercial kitchens from developing? I truly believe that it could, emphasize could result in a boom of small family restaurants. There was a startup in Britain that was killing it with mom cooking and Dad doing the deliveries. But health authorities cracked down and the company cratered. The customers loved the service but even with the help of an executive chef doing inspections the gov…

They already exist. They are called shared kitchen commisaries. Most places that use these are catering companies. The other majority is companies that need a HACCP approved kitchen for meeting safety standard, you'll also find companies that sell pre-made goods like baking cookies in bulk, or places that only make sauces.

Just think of a food truck business minus the food truck / cooking on sight, you deliver to parties and receptions instead with a-la-carte cooking ahead of time

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#176

Post by jaredklewis »

sgift wrote: post #55

> When this idea inevitably takes off, people are going to be able to order take-out from their neighbors, from anyone in the city who wants to cook their family recipe. It will change cuisine forever. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. As if such things as hygiene regulations didn't exist and you can just open a restaurant by hanging a sign out and telling someone to deliver whatever you just produced in y…

Despite the regulations, I’ve been food poisoned by restaurants around half a dozen times in my life.

And despite regulations to the contrary, for the entire 7 years I lived in Chicago, not a single cab driver ever accepted a credit card (this was a ways back).

Not to say that regulations are bad or that I’m against regulations. Just that they are not magic. Further, due to the centralized enforcement mechanism, most regulations are difficult and expensive to enforce. This can often result in being seldomly enforced.

If the uber-ization of food preparation comes with an uber like rating system, my guess is that the efficacy of that distributed rating system will rival or surpass centralized regulations in preventing food poisoning.

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#177

Post by balls187 »

jaredklewis wrote: post #176
sgift wrote: post #55

> When this idea inevitably takes off, people are going to be able to order take-out from their neighbors, from anyone in the city who wants to cook their family recipe. It will change cuisine forever. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. As if such things as hygiene regulations didn't exist and you can just open a restaurant by hanging a sign out and telling someone to deliver whatever you just produced in y…

Despite the regulations, I’ve been food poisoned by restaurants around half a dozen times in my life. And despite regulations to the contrary, for the entire 7 years I lived in Chicago, not a single cab driver ever accepted a credit card (this was a ways back). Not to say that regulations are bad or that I’m against regulations. Just that they are not magic. Further, due to the centralized enforcement mechanism, most…

> Despite the regulations, I’ve been food poisoned by restaurants around half a dozen times in my life.

Did you wash your hands before you ate?

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#178

Post by Santosh83 »

crispinb wrote: post #157
crispinb wrote: post #20

How depressing. Our living planet is collapsing at a dizzying and increasing pace, and not only do our 'best and brightest' (if that's what they are) work largely on trivia designed to accelerate the collapsing trend, they advertise their superficiality with this crude purported messianic zeal. Froth and bubble atop the dank turbid waters.

For the record, I slightly regret my tone here. I stand by an extremely negative opinion of hypergrowth ideology (and the role played in it by tech). But this needs to be seriously argued for (which can’t be done in a comment para or two), and personal attacks are only irrelevant and unpleasant noise. Not that Mr Yegge will know or have any reason to care, but it does pollute the atmosphere on HN.

No need to regret. As you said, the living planet is irreplaceable and infinitely more precious than artefacts of technology which can be built again and again, yet our thoughtless species largely pursues trivialities and in the process squanders what cannot be regained. But comments like these are not well received so I seldom say them out loud.

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#179

Post by Nomentatus »

drej wrote: post #41

Not sure I follow the logic. "[Google] stuck in me-too mode and have been for years. They simply don’t have innovation in their DNA any more. And it’s because their eyes are fixed on their competitors, not their customers." [...] "I just witnessed history in the making. (...) I have not seen a land rush this massive since the early days of the Web, and it just might be even bigger. So what is Grab? Well, the simple a…

I have to agree. However you characterize Grab, it seems he's gone there precisely because it isn't doing something unique; but because it's in an big, exciting and rather equal contest. Which is fine, but doesn't fit logically with the long reason for leaving Google. For all we know Grab is a well-funded me-too company. Maybe the real key is adrenaline, not benefits to society. He finds genuine, unique innovation exciting, but he also finds head-on fights exciting - either way he gets his adrenaline, his work seems to matter to somebody and the work can't be "mailed in." Google's "fault" is that it's been allowed to leverage a monopoly (patent, originally) and extend it in ways that used to be illegal, for decades, and now they have a rather massive series of moats. It's never really in emergency mode.

Re: Why I left Google to join Grab

#180

Post by vedloseper »

mywittyname wrote: post #87
notyourday wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I always find it funny when those who cut their teeth in a software industry ( which based on profit margins is a toddler ) think that their skills translate into well established industries such as restaurants.

We live in an era where every company is a software company.

Computers and telecommunications had quite the impact, but they warped the world much less than the perspectives of some people in it.
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