WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#361

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 2:00 AM UTC

taormina wrote: post #333

xibalba wrote: post #167

Acton is being incredibly disingenuous and it is disappointing. When you sell your company to another for $19B, you should surely know that the expectations for monetization will be very heavy indeed. Well beyond Acton's suggested metered-user model. I'm certainly no great fan of Facebook, but anyone who thinks that they deserve to use a service free of charge and also avoid advertising is extremely entitled and disc…

Facebook could have tried innovating with new types of business models and set an example. Instead...

> Facebook could have tried innovating with new types of business models and set an example.

Such as? This kind of handwavy "they could have invented something else that no one else has managed to think of" ignores the possibility that perhaps that other business model doesn't exist.

Of course, they could have charged as Acton suggested, but there is no way that model would have supported their $19B purchase price.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#362

Post by breck » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 2:17 AM UTC

ex3xu wrote: post #360

intended wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s slightly ironic to have to state this point on HN; it was once considered the status quo which had to be disrupted.

I agree with this point, as I have a strong distaste for the premise the above poster used: "This is the way things have always been". Implying, why try to change them? Women regularly died in childbirth for thousands of years, but do we hear anyone complaining about knowledge of sterile fields and advances in modern medicine? If anyone is looking for data-driven cases on the scale and negative consequences of the in…

Thank you for the sources. I’ve read about the latter but not the others.

I don’t know if inequality can be reduced on a macro level, but I would not bet on it.

Some things can be changed and some can’t. Your example of maternal health is great—we should be focused more on those types of biological things we can change, imo. Who cares if someone is richer than you if you are healthy and happy?

But inequality seems to be something nature loves. The sun gets 99% of the matter in the solar system, for example. Humans decimated all other large predators—examples abound.

Concentrated freedom and decision making power (for which money is just a proxy), might be a necessary evil. I think barring a drastic black swan paradigm shift (world government, computer overlords, or maybe some undiscovered push to an equilibrium driven by globalization...), there’s not much that might change that.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#363

Post by askmike » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 2:48 AM UTC

breck wrote: post #320

josephjrobison wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True on the divide but at the same time the world has never been as rich, prosperous, or secure. https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Goalkeepers?WT.mc_id=... Obviously a very ironic source but the others were more political.

Also, the extreme divide between rich and poor has always existed. I’ve never seen a strong data-supported case that it’s any worse today than 100 or 1000 years ago.

The whole inequality discussion we've been a few years now all started with this book from Thomas Piketty (a statistical analysis). Maybe start with reading that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce...

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#364

Post by godzillabrennus » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 2:49 AM UTC

throwaway080383 wrote: post #140

godzillabrennus wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s clear from his testimony in front of Congress that dealing with people isn’t his fortay.

*Forte

Thanks! I’d blame autocorrect but this one is a layer 8 issue.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#365

Post by askmike » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 2:52 AM UTC

domador wrote: post #350

nashashmi wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an idiot who paid for it. twice (－‸ლ)

If you live in a wealthy country, you probably "lost" more money writing that comment than what you paid for WhatsApp, even paying twice.

Completely unrelated from anything. People don't come on HN to make or save money.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#366

Post by bad_user » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 3:04 AM UTC

verganileonardo wrote: post #241

mort96 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think demonizing the guys behind WhatsApp is entirely warranted. They built up a large userbase around promises of privacy and encryption, and then promptly sold those users to fucking Facebook. Whether they were just gullible and didn't do their due diligence, or if they were malignant, doesn't really make a big difference.

How many Whatsapp users care about privacy and encryption? How many chose Whatsapp because of that? I believe most users simply use it because it is the most used messaging app in their country

Well I do and I switched after they announced e2e encryption, otherwise I never would have used it.

Why does every thread on Hacker News have to ask this freaking question? It’s obvious that the general public is computer illiterate, Sherlock, just like it is obvious everybody knows someone “good with computers” that can tell them what to use and having lived the sunset if Yahoo Messenger in my country, Facebook should be scared as it happened practically overnight.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#367

Post by illteratedang » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 3:06 AM UTC

It seems WhatsApp founders plan to start a new company and that's why they are trying to win back people's trust.

With Jews controlling Facebook and anti-Semitic vibe in the air, it's very easy to paint Facebook as an evil empire which 'used' the guy who received billion dollar payout for his messaging app.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#368

Post by intended » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 3:32 AM UTC

breck wrote: post #362

ex3xu wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this point, as I have a strong distaste for the premise the above poster used: "This is the way things have always been". Implying, why try to change them? Women regularly died in childbirth for thousands of years, but do we hear anyone complaining about knowledge of sterile fields and advances in modern medicine? If anyone is looking for data-driven cases on the scale and negative consequences of the in…

Thank you for the sources. I’ve read about the latter but not the others. I don’t know if inequality can be reduced on a macro level, but I would not bet on it. Some things can be changed and some can’t. Your example of maternal health is great—we should be focused more on those types of biological things we can change, imo. Who cares if someone is richer than you if you are healthy and happy? But inequality seems to…

The difference is that wealth concentration is increasing, and that as a society we aim for what sort of reality we want to live in. Society is not a physics experiment so we try and influence it to suit us, instead of being a mirror of the natural world.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#369

Post by mycall » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 3:36 AM UTC

krrrh wrote: post #303

madrox wrote: post #163

I'm sure Acton and Koum told themselves they were also keeping the power to be in control. I'm sure they went into it thinking they could avoid this end. The brain is a powerful rationalizer when it sees generational wealth within reach. The indignant tone of the comments here make me laugh. There are very few things I can imagine readers of HN not doing for a billion dollars. People may say otherwise, but until they…

It’s pretty likely that Acton weighed what he could do with the money when it came to pursuing his values post-Facebook. His role in co-founding the Signal foundation and substantial donation to its existence is good evidence of this. A small portion of his fortune could pay for Signal to be free and continue to improve for decades if managed well.

How secure is Signal considered?

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#370

Post by blandinw » Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 3:46 AM UTC

sigmar wrote: post #359

lpolovets wrote: post #325

Here's an interesting post about the departure from the perspective of a Facebook exec: https://www.facebook.com/notes/david-marcus/the-other-side-o...

>"Don’t be passive-aggressive about it. And by the way the paid messaging that WhatsApp is rolling out now sounds pretty similar to metered messaging from my point of view..." Takes a certain type of person to add a passive aggressive dig after telling someone not to be passive aggressive.

Passive-aggressiveness implies avoiding direct conflict. The author of this post refers to Acton not speaking up or making a good argument one way or the other, letting things evolve while resisting passively.

Also, the author is being very direct about what he thinks of Acton's behavior, he's not being passive-aggressive.