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A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

thehustle.co

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Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#441

Post by ansible »

TMWNN wrote: post #420
skrebbel wrote: post #400

I've always been amazed at how important it appears to be to lie about selling crap. I find that invariably, businesses who compete on price make it iff they say it's good stuff, even if everybody knows it isn't. Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equ…

>Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equally crappy shoes, and everybody knows it, but they are thriving, simply because the store feels like a proper high quality shoe store. Same in the US with Target and Walmart. They sell exactly the same discounte…

The Walmarts I've been in recently have improved considerably on the presentation front.

Shopping at a local Walmart 20 years ago was an unpleasant experience. Junk in the aisles, which were quite narrow, making it hard to maneuver past other shoppers. Insufficient fluorescent lighting. All kinds of things that spoke "cheap". Just overall bad.

Nowadays, there's little to distinguish Target from Walmart... aside from the red vs. blue color scheme.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#442

Post by sacado2 »

skrebbel wrote: post #400

I've always been amazed at how important it appears to be to lie about selling crap. I find that invariably, businesses who compete on price make it iff they say it's good stuff, even if everybody knows it isn't. Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equ…

I think it's Seth Godin who says (paraphrased): "people don't buy a product, they buy a story". You buy something because the story behind it is good, because it makes you feel good. And the story "you buy crap" does not make you feel good, while "best quality for the price" makes you feel like a clever money saver.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#443

Post by abstractbarista »

I guess I'm weird compared to most consumers or investors. I applaud and enjoy when company leaders call out their products or services as crap. Because frankly, they mostly are. Most business is partially a constant lie about how good, reliable, or worthwhile they are. This is constant across the global economy. So why not embrace it? We all know you get what you pay for...

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#444

Post by slau »

dhyft wrote: post #249
Angostura wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to use Ryanair... until I found out how they treated wheelchair users. I'm happy for myself to be treated like a piece of meat. Not other, more vulnerable users. Screw Ryanair.

They already know the deal when they buy.

When people die from the way they let people wait, you tend to have a different vision of the whole thing than “you get what you pay for”.

When you entrust care of people you love to a company, you tend to expect more than capitalism tuned to the extreme.

And before you ask, yes, that’s exactly what happened to a family member of mine. “Wheelchair assistance” never showed up.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#445

Post by skrebbel »

sacado2 wrote: post #442
skrebbel wrote: post #400

I've always been amazed at how important it appears to be to lie about selling crap. I find that invariably, businesses who compete on price make it iff they say it's good stuff, even if everybody knows it isn't. Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equ…

I think it's Seth Godin who says (paraphrased): "people don't buy a product, they buy a story". You buy something because the story behind it is good, because it makes you feel good. And the story "you buy crap" does not make you feel good, while "best quality for the price" makes you feel like a clever money saver.

I had read that quote before, but your comment made me understand it. This is exactly the reply I hoped for when I wrote my comment, thanks!

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#446

Post by lotsofpulp »

TMWNN wrote: post #420
skrebbel wrote: post #400

I've always been amazed at how important it appears to be to lie about selling crap. I find that invariably, businesses who compete on price make it iff they say it's good stuff, even if everybody knows it isn't. Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equ…

>Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equally crappy shoes, and everybody knows it, but they are thriving, simply because the store feels like a proper high quality shoe store. Same in the US with Target and Walmart. They sell exactly the same discounte…

I've always noticed Targets to be cleaner, better lit, and have more employees available to assist than Walmarts. I also have read many times that Walmart forces manufacturers to cut quality to meet certain price points for products sold in their stores, whereas I haven't heard anything like that about Target. This makes me trust Target more, plus their website doesn't allow resellers.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#447

Post by lotsofpulp »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #245
sudhirj wrote: post #8

This is really applicable to any products that are valued based on their marketing efforts instead of intrinsic value or utility. Costume jewellery, designer clothes, some kinds of art, all derive their value from the story the creators tell. The most expensive art seems to be that which has the most thoroughly verified, or at least the most believable story. I like to think I’d prefer Apple products over the competi…

> Costume jewellery, designer clothes, some kinds of art, all derive their value from the story the creators tell. As a young lady my GF used to sell her handmade costume Jewelry on the street in New York. She said the key to selling was a card with a story. That was the difference between selling a brooch made of glass, brass and random bits held together with glue for $10-20 and not selling at all. Things are diffe…

>I feel like that's Apple products too.

I don't buy Apple products for its story. I buy Apple products because I don't have to spend time doing tech support/dealing with malware for my parents and if something breaks I can go get a replacement at the Apple store immediately.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#448

Post by fortran77 »

trentnix wrote: post #281
mywittyname wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His comments weren't even controversial, as they echoed beliefs that are held by those in the fashion industry. Lots of clothing companies make it plainly obvious not everyone is supposed to buy their products.

He went into it in detail when he was interviewed by Guy Raz. Wilson defended himself by saying his comments had nothing to do with obesity, but rather material. He is a fabrics guy, and his clothes were being used to shape, a la Spanx, when they weren’t built to shape at all. It’s a fascinating interview and one of the best in the “How I Built This” series.

I heard a tape of the original interview, too, and I was shocked that certain people with an agenda used it to ruin him. He very gently suggested that wearing them very tight and using the garments as a "spanx"-type girdle to shape wasn't how they're supposed to be worn. Plus-size activists hit the roof, for unknown reasons.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#449

Post by noobermin »

NikkiA wrote: post #440
thaumasiotes wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it wasn't even the first time he had publicly made these sorts of jokes, in fact it wasn't even the first time they had been published in the papers. > This was entirely a newspaper driven downfall That first point is good evidence that the jokes weren't very responsible for what happened. But it seems like it's just as good evidence that newspaper coverage also wasn't very responsible. Why attribute it to the news…

It wasn't the newspapers, 1991 was the peak of the 1990 recession in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1990s_recession#Civil_un...

Either way, I guess it's just one of those stories people like to tell because it confirms their biases (always insert your elevator pitch into every conversation, always be super positive about your product, etc etc.)
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