On Starting a Startup
luigimontanez.com
On Starting a Startup
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: On Starting a Startup
#2This article should be renamed to "On Starting a Project". You built something using some cool technology, bought some Facebook ads because some of your friends had some luck, now you have to get paying customers.
Until then, it's all just a (side) project, not a startup.
Re: On Starting a Startup
#3> they call themselves “domain investors” and believe that they’re a legitimate market force. But all they’re doing is stifling innovation
You can't get the domain name you want for the price you want to pay.
Boo-hoo.
I can't get tons of things for the price I want to pay.
That's life.
You've got no moral claim on a domain name that someone else already owns.
If you're use of that domain name is going to generate a ton of value, you'd find a way to get the money and buy the domain.
In fact, you don't do this. The market is working properly: you're not prepared to demonstrate with cold hard cash that you're the best use for the name, therefore you probably are NOT the best use for the domain.
* UPDATE *
Just noticed this:
> when multiple people register a backorder on the acquiring backorder service, there’s an auction held for a few days and the domain goes to the highest bidder. It’s capitalism at its not-so-finest.
What alternative do you propose? The person who really really wants it bad gets it?
Isn't that what's already happening?
Re: On Starting a Startup
#4> Until I started at Upworthy, I didn’t appreciate how nearly everyone is on Facebook. Normal people.
I wouldn't call it nearly everyone when there are 7 billion people in the world and only 1 billion of those are on Facebook.
Re: On Starting a Startup
#5This article should be renamed to "On Starting a Project". You built something using some cool technology, bought some Facebook ads because some of your friends had some luck, now you have to get paying customers. Until then, it's all just a (side) project, not a startup.
We do have paying customers.
Re: On Starting a Startup
#6> they call themselves “domain investors” and believe that they’re a legitimate market force. But all they’re doing is stifling innovation You can't get the domain name you want for the price you want to pay. Boo-hoo. I can't get tons of things for the price I want to pay. That's life. You've got no moral claim on a domain name that someone else already owns. If you're use of that domain name is going to generate a t…
Without saying whether it's a good solution or not, in the real world "properties" (as some people have taken to calling web sites) get taxed. Amongst other things, this encourages the property owners to "shit or get off the pot" in terms of utilizing the property: if you are not making anything off of it, you will actually lose money because of the taxes, so you're encouraged to sell it, or dedicate some time and effort to fix it up to a point where you can rent it out or otherwise gainfully employ it.
With domain names, there is a fixed yearly "tax" of something like $10.
There are a lot of things to dislike about property taxes on domain names, but it would be one way of encouraging people to either do something or let them go, which hopefully would encourage them to end up where they are most 'productively' employed.
Re: On Starting a Startup
#7> they call themselves “domain investors” and believe that they’re a legitimate market force. But all they’re doing is stifling innovation You can't get the domain name you want for the price you want to pay. Boo-hoo. I can't get tons of things for the price I want to pay. That's life. You've got no moral claim on a domain name that someone else already owns. If you're use of that domain name is going to generate a t…
Without saying whether it's a good solution or not, in the real world "properties" (as some people have taken to calling web sites) get taxed. Amongst other things, this encourages the property owners to "shit or get off the pot" in terms of utilizing the property: if you are not making anything off of it, you will actually lose money because of the taxes, so you're encouraged to sell it, or dedicate some time and ef…
if you are not making anything off of it, you will actually lose money because of the taxes, so you're encouraged to sell it, or dedicate some time and effort to fix it up to a point where you can rent it out or otherwise gainfully employ it.
This sounds like an argument for ending property tax, not an argument for adding a "web property tax."
Re: On Starting a Startup
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without saying whether it's a good solution or not, in the real world "properties" (as some people have taken to calling web sites) get taxed. Amongst other things, this encourages the property owners to "shit or get off the pot" in terms of utilizing the property: if you are not making anything off of it, you will actually lose money because of the taxes, so you're encouraged to sell it, or dedicate some time and ef…
if you are not making anything off of it, you will actually lose money because of the taxes, so you're encouraged to sell it, or dedicate some time and effort to fix it up to a point where you can rent it out or otherwise gainfully employ it. This sounds like an argument for ending property tax, not an argument for adding a "web property tax."
Property is a scarce resource. It's not nice if someone has a huge building downtown and just lets it rot, because that has negative externalities for other people in the area.
To me, encouraging property - especially the commercial sort - to go to its most productive use (or at least some productive use) makes sense. Whether property taxes are the most efficient mechanism is a pretty broad and complex debate; I was just suggesting one idea that may or may not work. Personally, I think I'd be against a web-domain tax, but it bears thinking about.
Re: On Starting a Startup
#9This article should be renamed to "On Starting a Project". You built something using some cool technology, bought some Facebook ads because some of your friends had some luck, now you have to get paying customers. Until then, it's all just a (side) project, not a startup.
We do have paying customers.
Care to explain?
You don't have a clear strategy for "pro accounts" on your site, you don't have a pricing page--there's no indication that there's even anything for sale on your site.
Re: On Starting a Startup
#10> Until I started at Upworthy, I didn’t appreciate how nearly everyone is on Facebook. Normal people. I wouldn't call it nearly everyone when there are 7 billion people in the world and only 1 billion of those are on Facebook.
That number seems a bit much. Aside from even teenagers with multiple accounts, pets, and such.. let's not forget spammers. They'll create accounts as fast as they can.
Just google search for buying facebook accounts, and you'll find a simple paypal transaction will get you thousands of phone verified accounts.
Even if facebook can claim 500 million active users, I would question how many of them are actual people.