I made $100K from a dick joke • Hacker News Board

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#51

Post by IAmGraydon » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 3:57 PM UTC

oaththrowaway wrote: post #22

probably_wrong wrote: post #21

I don't have a great opinion of marketing in general and therefore I'm often unconvinced with arguments like "marketing is about fulfilling a customer's needs" or "adding efficiency to the market". Therefore I feel vindicated when a moderately-upvoted post says the quiet part out loud, namely, "Yeah, we made a fake post and just lied to everyone on the internet. I'm not sorry, because not only was it popular - it bec…

Just makes me more cynical about everything I see posted. Marketers ruin everything eventually

>Marketers ruin everything eventually

You need to follow that chain of thought a little further. The unfortunate weak spot in a capitalist economy is that it's basically a Darwinistic system where the fittest survive, and "fit" means willing to do anything to make a dollar. Morals therefore become a weakness, and those who are guided by morals will be stomped out by those who don't really care. The guardrails are made of laws, not morals, and those who make the laws are often benefiting from the status quo. Like it or not, this is the jungle we find ourselves in.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#52

Post by alexey-salmin » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:02 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #37

anonu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cant believe ebay hasnt been disrupted yet...

eBay is interesting. It has consistently high profit margins, but no upward movement in revenue or profit, which peaked over a decade ago, and its returns heavily lag SP500. I’m guessing investors don’t see much opportunity for growth in the online auction business to make it worth dumping a bunch of money just to take market share from eBay.

> online auction business

Do they even do it nowadays? I was under impression it turned into an ordinary marketplace, probably with a bit more focus towards small/private sellers.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#53

Post by gcr » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:04 PM UTC

probably_wrong wrote: post #21

I don't have a great opinion of marketing in general and therefore I'm often unconvinced with arguments like "marketing is about fulfilling a customer's needs" or "adding efficiency to the market". Therefore I feel vindicated when a moderately-upvoted post says the quiet part out loud, namely, "Yeah, we made a fake post and just lied to everyone on the internet. I'm not sorry, because not only was it popular - it bec…

It looks like the author was eventually able to fulfill the orders in the end. What does the “lying” refer to?

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#54

Post by rcpt » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:11 PM UTC

kgilpin wrote: post #39

anonu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cant believe ebay hasnt been disrupted yet...

In my kids’ generation (college aged) they all use Facebook Marketplace.

Local classifieds are great if you live in a dense area. But I've tried using them when visiting rural family and there's absolutely nothing for sale.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#55

Post by TexanFeller » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:14 PM UTC

Haliey Welch showed us there's profit to be had. VCs funding genitalia joke cryptocurrencies and ecommerce sites is my prediction for 2025.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#56

Post by vachina » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:18 PM UTC

_1tem wrote: post #9

Sometimes I think about the years of hard work that I put into building a SaaS business and wondered whether I should've just done something silly like this instead.

There’s only so many low hanging fruits to exploit (by a LUCKY few). Keep working on your business.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#57

Post by TexanFeller » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:20 PM UTC

acer4666 wrote: post #30

jcpham2 wrote: post #13

I feel like the origin of this joke is a Louis CK stand up routine IIRC but I’m unable to locate the source.

The routine is here https://youtu.be/jgcGEIfE9kE but I don't think that's the origin of the phrase and doesn't mention mailing candy ones to people

I'm pretty sure I head that phrase sometime in the 90s, maybe early 2000s. It's been around a while.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#58

Post by stef25 » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:21 PM UTC

dakiol wrote: post #12

Perhaps I missed it, but at what point the author sets an LLC or something similar? For me, that’s the main blocker: in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale. Also, for selling online you kinda have to show in your website your “business id” (or tax id or similar)… otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m no…

Not sure if it's still the case now but you could perfectly open a Stripe account in the EU without the need for any business documents.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#59

Post by phyzix5761 » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:30 PM UTC

_1tem wrote: post #9

Sometimes I think about the years of hard work that I put into building a SaaS business and wondered whether I should've just done something silly like this instead.

OPs story is like winning the lottery. The rest of us have to get up and work 80 hour weeks building our business. The latter is more fulfilling and longer lived in my opinion.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#60

Post by chmod775 » Sun, Jan 05, 2025, 4:32 PM UTC

dakiol wrote: post #12

Perhaps I missed it, but at what point the author sets an LLC or something similar? For me, that’s the main blocker: in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale. Also, for selling online you kinda have to show in your website your “business id” (or tax id or similar)… otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m no…

I had to fill in like 5 fields (who, what, bank account) in a 2-page form to start a basic business in Germany of all places - and was legally allowed to start operating the moment I submitted that. It cost nothing and I received a tax ID a short time later. Wasn't an LLC, but you don't need that for every little temporary thing you set up.

Setting up an LLC is not a big deal either, even if the process could be quicker. People who think that too complicated aren't competent to run a lasting business anyways. If that is hard, how are you not gonna fuck up accounting and your other legal obligations?