Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#1

Post by kunle » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 4:04 AM UTC

Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper
techcrunch.com

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#2

Post by naeem » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 7:45 AM UTC

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees.

It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#3

Post by saraid216 » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 7:58 AM UTC

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

> Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees.

The article cites several examples of CEOs with similar "zeal", none of whom are dead, and none of whom are known for being unbearable dicks.

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#4

Post by kqr2 » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 9:48 AM UTC

saraid216 wrote: post #3

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

> Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. The article cites several examples of CEOs with similar "zeal", none of whom are dead, and none of whom are known for being unbearable dicks.

I think he is referring to Steve Jobs.

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#5

Post by bryanlarsen » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 9:50 AM UTC

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

We judge an entrepreneur by what he has built. You can get rich by "extracting rents" or you can get rich by building something that makes the world so much better that people fall all over themselves trying to give you money for it.

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#6

Post by dasil003 » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 10:12 AM UTC

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

It's a big can of worms to judge anyone for any reason. However I am comfortable judging Pincus because I think Zynga is a flaming pile of shit that feeds off human weakness and is a blight on humanity. The fact that he would try to steal back shares from his employees is just the cherry on top.

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#7

Post by jfaucett » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 10:19 AM UTC

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

really "a can of worms to judge by anything but success"? What about the Samwer brothers or some of gates dubious tactics? The Samwers just rip ideas to get rich, and I think we can agree there is a bit of a difference in an entrepreneur like Jobs who was innovative and pushed his field to new levels and one like gates who built a monopoly by rather unethical means...

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#8

Post by thenomad » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 11:35 AM UTC

"A great poker player demonstrates commitment by going “All In”."

This is a minor point, but given I live with a very serious poker player, I've started to twitch about poker misunderstandings.

Going all-in is not a rare event - at least not in no-limit Holdem, which is the game most people think of as "poker". Nor is it limited to the "great" poker players - in fact, it's one of the more basic and more common strategies, otherwise known as "shoving", to intimidate others out of a pot or for half a dozen reasons.

I know there are probably a lot of people on HN with more poker knowledge than me, so I'll shut up now (and wait for the inevitable discovery, possibly from my SO, that I've got the entire concept backward) - but it just irked me.

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#9

Post by joelrunyon » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 11:50 AM UTC

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

You're also assuming the metric for success = money, which while that may be your barometer for success, you should be wary about assuming that's other people's metrics as well.

Re: Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper

#10

Post by michaelochurch » Sun, Aug 12, 2012, 12:07 PM UTC

naeem wrote: post #2

And yet Mark Pincus is a multi-millionaire and a massive Valley success story. Not to mention the last guy that had Zuckerbeg's "zeal" and lived in a humble house died recently, and was known for being an unbearable dick to his employees. It's usually a big can of worms to judge an entrepreneur by anything other than his success. Besides -- what is so wrong about Pincus wanting to get rich?

Q: What's better than being a multimillionaire?

A: Not being Mark Pincus.