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Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

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Re: Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

#31

Post by fhd2 »

jacknews wrote: post #20
fhd2 wrote: post #14

I see the same in the consulting space - people who've barely ever talked to a prospect let alone had an actual customer (I happen to know from talking to folks like that) have a shiny website with pricing packages talking about "their team" and what not. Feels like pure hustle culture. I started my business a year ago, and there is no "we". There's me and (at this point) enough clients for comfortable living. I went…

For the time being, I, Firstname Surname, am the main product; love it all the stock websites with photos of suited 'professionals' (usually just models) are a real turn-off, unless they show the actual team; customers want to know who they're dealing with.

Thanks :) I got plenty of advice to not write something like that, but it's just how it is.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

#35

Post by stavros »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #34
stavros wrote: post #30

All the low-hanging fruit has been picked. You can't start with just a crappy app that solves a problem, you have to get all the packaging around it right too.

That’s what Alexander said

I have to trust his judgment then.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

#37

Post by Aeolun »

fhd2 wrote: post #14

I see the same in the consulting space - people who've barely ever talked to a prospect let alone had an actual customer (I happen to know from talking to folks like that) have a shiny website with pricing packages talking about "their team" and what not. Feels like pure hustle culture. I started my business a year ago, and there is no "we". There's me and (at this point) enough clients for comfortable living. I went…

> my answer is usually that I refuse to chose just one

Refuse to choose. Not sure if spelling mistake or typo, but since everyone is doing feedback, thought I’d point it out.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

#38

Post by [deleted] »

shafyy wrote: post #10
Ekaros wrote: post #4

Because that visual is easy nowadays. Just take something ready made, slap logo, stock photos. Search replace company name and done.

I agree. Also bothers me that everything looks the same. People are afraid to try something new or go with their own style.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

#39

Post by tjpnz »

shafyy wrote: post #10
Ekaros wrote: post #4

Because that visual is easy nowadays. Just take something ready made, slap logo, stock photos. Search replace company name and done.

I agree. Also bothers me that everything looks the same. People are afraid to try something new or go with their own style.

For big tech products the "style" is dictated by at most one to two hundred people, living in the same place whose formal education involved the same dozen or so people. Those decisions then get bundled into one of several design systems which are filtered down to the rest of us. That's one of the big reasons why there's so little diversity in thought.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to startups, why is everything so polished?

#40

Post by Draiken »

The key is that it's not polish, it's simply because the baseline level increased.

Now it's easy as hell to get something that looks polished, but that's all it is: visually polished.

If you talk about actual functionality, I don't think I've ever seen so much half-baked shit being sold as a product as in this day and age. Every startup I see is taking the "fake until you make it" a bit too literally. It's basically only the fake part.

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