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Kevin Rose Will Join Google

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Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#211

Post by dennisgorelik »

lrobb wrote: post #180
jayliew wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a hits driven business. How many people do you see with a string of successes and zero failures? Kevin has had a few ventures, with varying degree of "success", which is more than most people can say. Consider the statistically typical case: it's complete failure and lost of time, money, and sweat. If you even break even, you're already way above average. So having even just a series of small wins is a big de…

Wow... A hits driven business? I had never thought of it like that before, but it makes so much sense and explains so many things... Like why google is willing to pay 1-2 million per developer... But half of the bay area companies on careers.stackoverflow don't offer relocation.

One of the reasons why companies do not offer relocation is that if person can be lured to move into Bay Area then the same person can be lured to move out of Bay Area.

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#212

Post by winterchil »

secretasiandan wrote: post #153
jayliew wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To quote pg: "A hacker who has learned what to make, and not just how to make, is extraordinarily powerful." As a developer, it is frustrating to see fellow developers place too much importance on being able to code as a necessary ingredient for startup success. As a hacker, I'd say that most hackers know how to make, but don't know what to make. That is to say, most startups from these type of hackers with the "if I…

I think you've entirely missed his point. Note that he says: "It doesn't matter if they understand how to code or not." His main point? "Once they have that reputation as being awesome it will stick around no matter how badly they perform after their initial success" And I totally agree. In fact, after a success the odds are more in your favor. So if you can't succeed again, it calls into question your 'true' level o…

There's actually a good reason that you get credit for a long time and that is successes are so rare and valuable that you deserve credit for a long time.

The vast majority of these silicon-valley companies are built with investors' money (typically from Venture Capital firms). The VC business model generates outsized returns on a few successful companies which pay for all the failures. Careers and entire funds can swing to success based on the outcome of one company so if you're a founder you deserve that credit. It also means you've returned tons of extra money to investors that pays for all your subsequent losses.

Kevin Rose specifically is an interesting case because Digg was not a success for his investors, but her personally did well.

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#213

Post by Steko »

joelmaat wrote: post #208
Steko wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've deluded yourself into thinking you can read minds. Vic knows better then you or any of us exactly how much G+ is getting it's ass handed to it and not just by FB. http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=Google%20Plus%2CRed... He still has a job to spin it in the most positive way and anyone else in his position would be forced to say the same things.

What does my comment have to do with reading minds? And it "doesn't matter now, but if it keeps up.."

"He's starting to believe..."

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#214

Post by gnaritas »

beatle wrote: post #189
untog wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* if the "ideas guy" doesn't have the skills to implement his ideas, he can hire/partner with someone who can.* Right. A developer.

Right. He can partner with or hire one of the thousands of developers available out there.

They're all inundated with offers from the millions of "idea guys" out there. Idea guys a dime a kilo.

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#215

Post by sanderjd »

beatle wrote: post #189
untog wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* if the "ideas guy" doesn't have the skills to implement his ideas, he can hire/partner with someone who can.* Right. A developer.

Right. He can partner with or hire one of the thousands of developers available out there.

Not sure I see your point - one of those thousands of developers out there can partner with or hire one of those thousands of him out there as well. There are lots of people who can program and lots of people who have ideas, and not so many people who can work together to technically execute ideas into profitable technology. Which is kind of the point the people you have been arguing with have been trying to make.

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#216

Post by gnaritas »

Drbble wrote: post #209
ootachi wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developers are unimportant. I'd rather hire bad developers than good ones as long as they're cheap; product quality rarely matters if you have the right market fit.

Name a successful product made by bad developers. I have a relatively who consults for a big publisher on these offshored educational software products. None of them sell.

> Name a successful product made by bad developers.

Wordpress and nearly every PHP app you can find.

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#217

Post by paulhauggis »

wavephorm wrote: post #150
bentlegen wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought success was measured in dollars, not a shuttered web service.

That's exactly the issue, Kevin Rose is getting dollars for shuttering an unsuccessful web service. Why does Kevin Rose get to cash out for being a failure, simply because his name is Kevin Rose, while all the hardworking nobody engineers slave away to build successful companies without any help or millions of dollars splashing down on them for their supposed greatness which is unsupported by evidence?

It's not for you to decide. Why do NBA stars get millions of dollars for being able to throw a ball in a hoop really well?

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#218

Post by a15i »

xpose2000 wrote: post #16

Sorry if this sounds harsh, and I know he has a lot of fans out there. But this guy struck gold 5 years ago with Digg. Sure, he deserves props for this. However, he's not a developer. He's an "ideas guy" as far as I can tell. As a developer, I hate these kinds of people because more often than not their ideas suck. In any case, what I am saying is that it seems like people in the industry get by based on one previous…

agreed. another good example s sean parker. sean who? oh the guy that created napster 2 decades ago.

Re: Kevin Rose Will Join Google

#219

Post by sanderjd »

jayliew wrote: post #53
xpose2000 wrote: post #16

Sorry if this sounds harsh, and I know he has a lot of fans out there. But this guy struck gold 5 years ago with Digg. Sure, he deserves props for this. However, he's not a developer. He's an "ideas guy" as far as I can tell. As a developer, I hate these kinds of people because more often than not their ideas suck. In any case, what I am saying is that it seems like people in the industry get by based on one previous…

To quote pg: "A hacker who has learned what to make, and not just how to make, is extraordinarily powerful." As a developer, it is frustrating to see fellow developers place too much importance on being able to code as a necessary ingredient for startup success. As a hacker, I'd say that most hackers know how to make, but don't know what to make. That is to say, most startups from these type of hackers with the "if I…

Here's an idea from a non-idea-guy: do for those of us who have no clue how to approach your list of non-technical skills what Codecademy has done for those with no idea how to approach programming. Start us slow, treat us like we know nothing, but give us the chance to prove otherwise. Allow us to work on our own time, and charge us orders of magnitude less than an MBA costs. I would pay for that.
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