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Be Good

paulgraham.com

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Re: Be Good

#2

Post by webwright »

Regarding Microsoft... it really struck me when I watched Steve Ballmer talk with Guy Kawasaki ( http://visitmix.com/blogs/News/Watch-Steve-Ballmer-and-Guy-K... ) that Steve over and over again touted that it was important for them to get big into online advertising. Not once did he frame a single Microsoft goal in the form of how it was going to help a customer.

Re: Be Good

#3

Post by alextp »

It's scary how good the prose of some lispers is. I wonder what made Peter Norvig and Paul Graham write this well. "I am not claiming to be good. At best I speak good as a second language." is just brilliant.

Re: Be Good

#4

Post by zkinion »

This article is nice, and I agree with the part about momentum gained by holding to greater values than simply building a successful company.

However, PG doesn't mention the incredibly successful startups that start out with evil/crime and then later go good: ones that start with spammy & unethical means to get initial users and pirated content startups.

I think most people strive to do good, but the world itself is a very evil place that sometimes needs adapting to.

Re: Be Good

#5

Post by gruseom »

The business literature of previous generations often talked about "service to mankind" as an ingredient of success. This essay sheds some light on what they might have meant by that.

Re: Be Good

#6

Post by eb »

zkinion wrote: post #4

This article is nice, and I agree with the part about momentum gained by holding to greater values than simply building a successful company. However, PG doesn't mention the incredibly successful startups that start out with evil/crime and then later go good: ones that start with spammy & unethical means to get initial users and pirated content startups. I think most people strive to do good, but the world itself is…

Can you provide some examples?

Re: Be Good

#8

Post by steveblgh »

eb wrote: post #6
zkinion wrote: post #4

This article is nice, and I agree with the part about momentum gained by holding to greater values than simply building a successful company. However, PG doesn't mention the incredibly successful startups that start out with evil/crime and then later go good: ones that start with spammy & unethical means to get initial users and pirated content startups. I think most people strive to do good, but the world itself is…

Can you provide some examples?

I think even YouTube/FaceBook/Flickr started along those lines. Hell, even Jimmy Wales was running a porn website ring before focusing on Wikipedia full time.

Re: Be Good

#9

Post by vesterr »

eb wrote: post #6
zkinion wrote: post #4

This article is nice, and I agree with the part about momentum gained by holding to greater values than simply building a successful company. However, PG doesn't mention the incredibly successful startups that start out with evil/crime and then later go good: ones that start with spammy & unethical means to get initial users and pirated content startups. I think most people strive to do good, but the world itself is…

Can you provide some examples?

Facebook.

But they haven't switched to doing good.

Re: Be Good

#10

Post by eb »

steveblgh wrote: post #8
eb wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide some examples?

I think even YouTube/FaceBook/Flickr started along those lines. Hell, even Jimmy Wales was running a porn website ring before focusing on Wikipedia full time.

I don't think that's true. Those sites grew mostly through word of mouth. I don't consider that to be devious.

What's wrong with Jimmy Wales operating a porn site? I don't see how that's related to Wikipedia.

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