Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you provide some examples?
Facebook. But they haven't switched to doing good.
What has Facebook done that's particularly evil?
Be Good
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Re: Be Good
#12I've heard something similar before:
"Why did Greg and I do something so ludicrous as sneaking into an eight-billion-dollar corporation to do volunteer work? Apple was having financial troubles then, so we joked that we were volunteering for a nonprofit organization." -- http://www.pacifict.com/Story/
Re: Be Good
#13Re: Be Good
#14The contrast between this and DHH's talk is worth mentioning.
So mention it. :D
Re: Be Good
#15pg writes that "starting an organic farm, though it's at least straightforwardly benevolent, doesn't help people on the scale that Google does".
Although I agree with pg's main point about scale and about trustafarians, an organic farmer seems to resemble a founder of a tech company more than he or she resembles a founder of an ineffectual or parasitic charity, foundation or NGO: a friend of mine knows countercultural types who dropped out of the rat race in the 1970s to start organic farms in Mendocino[1] for reasons other than financial, and she says they all seem to have become millionaires. (If there is interest I could ask this friend exactly how many people she knows who started organic farms.)
[1]: Mendocino County is the closest place to San Francisco that in the 1970s had aesthetically pleasing terrain and cheap farm land.
Re: Be Good
#16I agree that being benevolent and not focusing on profits in the early days is a good strategy for Internet businesses. Success on the Internet is all about scale. Growing faster than your competitors is key because your product can iterate faster and achieve a dominant position. Giving it away for free and being benevolent helps spur growth and is thus a very important strategy.
But I'm not sure that this holds outside the Internet realm. In other industries, you cannot be too benevolent and non-profit-like. I can't think of many examples that have succeeded via this route. I'm not sure I agree with your idea that Microsoft started out as benevolent. I think the profit motive was there from day one. To back this up, look at this letter written in 1976 by BillG:
"As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software...The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software...Most directly, the thing you do is theft...I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up."
(http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine.html)
So acting like a non-profit is important in the Internet world where scale is key, but I think in other industries the non-profit strategies should be left to the non-profits.
Re: Be Good
#17This isn't a new idea at all; in fact it's as old as capitalism itself. Adam Smith was one of the first to recognize that capitalism helps align the self-interest of the entrepreneur (selfishness) with the general interest of others (charity): "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages."
Re: Be Good
#18Excellent stuff. A manifesto for change.
Re: Be Good
#19I have no idea how Digi-Key is interacting with Octopart, but I have been buying parts from them for a long time and have nothing but good things to say about them. I like the company so much that I called to see if they were public so that I could buy stock; they're not.
Although Octopart and its investors may be frustrated, it does Digi-Key a disservice to characterize it as "evil", not "good" or a company that isn't concerned with its customers - it is extremely concerned with customer satisfaction and I have been very pleased with every interaction I have had with it.
Sure it would be great if Digi-Key facilitated Octopart's objective, but that doesn't justify conflating it with the all-star "evil" hall-of-famers.
Re: Be Good
#20I've heard something similar before: "Why did Greg and I do something so ludicrous as sneaking into an eight-billion-dollar corporation to do volunteer work? Apple was having financial troubles then, so we joked that we were volunteering for a nonprofit organization." -- http://www.pacifict.com/Story/
Amazing story. Please post it?