91–100 of 234 posts
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I like Steve Blank's definition of a Startup -- it's an enterprise set up to search for a profitable business model. 37signals is long past that.
It was never that to begin with. Fried wasn't trying to create an enterprise. He just wanted to own a small business. That's what he has.
Some enterprises are fictional starships.
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Well it's pretty clear what he means, if you ask me: someone's true potential is only reached when a guy named Acne_Researcher says it is.
I felt that with their ideas, talent, and overall ability, they could have been a company useful to society as Google. Instead, they have focused on their niche and done very well. It was their choice to stay small and avoid greatness, and I don't criticize them for it, but I think that bragging about it all over the place is a little tasteless.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well it's pretty clear what he means, if you ask me: someone's true potential is only reached when a guy named Acne_Researcher says it is.
I felt that with their ideas, talent, and overall ability, they could have been a company useful to society as Google. Instead, they have focused on their niche and done very well. It was their choice to stay small and avoid greatness, and I don't criticize them for it, but I think that bragging about it all over the place is a little tasteless.
Do you have logic? Data? A Delphic oracle? Perspectives into a parallel universe where they hired a sales team? Something more substantial than feelings?
"I won’t name names. I used to name names. But I think all you have to do is read TechCrunch. Look at what the top stories are, and they’re all about raising money, how many employees they have, and these are metrics that don’t matter. What matters is: Are you profitable? Are you building something great? Are you taking care of your people? Are you treating your customers well? In the coverage of our industry as a wh…
He seems to forget that he's not in the same business as startups are; he's viewing startups through a small business lens. see the sickness in our industry He's not in "our" industry. He runs a small business that makes good money, and it happens to use technology. Not the same thing. Are you profitable? Are you building something great? These are not always relevant questions for a startup, depending on what phase…
> He's not in "our" industry. He runs a small business that makes good money, and it happens to use technology. Not the same thing.
I presume you're defining "our" industry as consumer focused Internet services that plan to IPO or get acquired? Not sure everyone would agree with you, I don't.
Your comment actually reiterates what he's talking about. The mentality of what a "startup" is and how you go about building it is (in his opinion) a bit toxic.
To tell you the truth, the longer I live in Silicon Valley the more I agree with his point of view.
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??? Customers won't give you, hapless employee, job security if your employers can easily replace you with someone cheaper because you have a flimsy (or no!) contract, nor will customers help you with disputes with management, or wrongful termination, or promotion from within, or even the too-little-emphasized increased potential for synergy between the ranks that unions afford, or any of the many other things that u…
You shouldn't need a contract if you're adding value to the organization. If you can get replaced by someone cheaper, then you weren't worth what you were getting. Why the heck should a business pay more for the same outputs? If you're adding more value than you cost, your job is always safe. The union mentality is exactly the reason American manufacturing has left for cheaper pastures. Union employees aren't about a…
Wonderful! There you are, being a positive influence on your organization, knowing that you shouldn't need a contract. But! Suppose some manager doesn't recognize that you're being a positive influence? Or just wants to throw his weight around? Certainly, a person in a position of power who wants to throw his weight around shouldn't target someone who's a benefit to his organization. But perhaps he's perverse, or doesn't care, or views you as a threat, or (again) has made a mistake in his estimation of who's "adding value" and who isn't. You shouldn't need a contract in part because your superiors shouldn't do that kind of thing. But hey! They might do it anyway! The wonderful thing about being contract-free, or in an at-will employment state (i.e. almost any state) is that there's no such thing as wrongful termination and you have no recourse if you're fired---"but I was adding value!", in particular, is not going to be effective. In this sublunary world, you'd have to be delusional to maintain that if you're adding value, you don't need a contract.
Actually, I can't resist; let's look at the rest of the first paragraph in this light. How do you know that union employees in, say, Flint, were uninterested in "adding value" to the manufacturers who shut down the factories? People working manufacturing jobs---a skilled trade, you know---take pride in their work and I'm willing to assert, just as blithely as you were willing to assert the opposite, that they'd be plenty willing to try to improve the product, improve processes, etc., if they were but asked (and lots of improvements can, indeed, come from the rank-and-file in that way). It's true, of course, that when residents of Michigan are asked to add value to the company by accepting wages no greater than those commanded in Mexico, they are likely to balk.
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I once got to see Jack Welch give a talk and he basically said the same, but about American labor unions. He said if you want job security, the answer is "customers". There is no other shortcut in business.
??? Customers won't give you, hapless employee, job security if your employers can easily replace you with someone cheaper because you have a flimsy (or no!) contract, nor will customers help you with disputes with management, or wrongful termination, or promotion from within, or even the too-little-emphasized increased potential for synergy between the ranks that unions afford, or any of the many other things that u…
> Actually, my cleaning lady, for example, she’s great. There's something a bit... I don't know quite how to put it. Let's just say that I bet she'd willingly trade places with him, cash out, and go enjoy herself instead of cleaning up after other people day in and day out. ( Edit to change the wording just a bit) > The other interesting thing about restaurants is you could have a dozen Italian restaurants in the cit…
> There's something a bit... I don't know quite how to put it. Let's just say that I bet she'd willingly trade places with him, cash out, and go enjoy herself instead of cleaning up after other people day in and day out. See, the typical problem with claims like Fried made is that they're idealizing lives they don't know much about. But Fried didn't walk into that trap. He doesn't remark on her home life. He doesn't…
37signals used to be in that business, but moved towards providing products, rather than services. Presumably because it scales better and makes more money, even though doing design/programming/sites certainly makes good money in a sustainable way.
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??? Customers won't give you, hapless employee, job security if your employers can easily replace you with someone cheaper because you have a flimsy (or no!) contract, nor will customers help you with disputes with management, or wrongful termination, or promotion from within, or even the too-little-emphasized increased potential for synergy between the ranks that unions afford, or any of the many other things that u…
If your employer has been infested by unions and there is a competitor, customers will rush to the competitor and your union will be of no help. Even if your union has managed to infest all your competitors in the same country, imports will ruin you all.
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> There's something a bit... I don't know quite how to put it. Let's just say that I bet she'd willingly trade places with him, cash out, and go enjoy herself instead of cleaning up other people's crap day in and day out. My mother isn't a cleaner (she's a nurse) but I talked with her before about whether or not if she had the chance she would quit her job and sit on the beach all day doing whatever she wanted and sh…
I can't stand going to the beach myself, and if I were wealthy, would see myself continuing to work on things. I'd probably have more 'projects' though, things where there might not be any way of making money off it. And I sure as hell would be spending a lot more time riding my bicycle instead of getting fat sitting at a desk. To each his own, but would someone really want to keep cleaning professionally even if the…
I felt the same way until I actually met a wealthy cleaner. All I can say is never underestimate the power of habit and the difficulty of breaking routines.
I used to intern at a small investment manager years ago where one of the clients was a cleaning lady. Every couple weeks she would come into the office to deposit a portion of her modest housecleaning income into her investment account. I didn't think much of it until I found out she was actually a multi-millionaire. This cleaner had been investing with the investment manager for years and (at ~20% annual returns) her small contributions compounded into millions of dollars. It was pretty mind blowing. Why didn't she just retire!? She just loved her job and the routine...
Anyway, the best part is she refers her high net worth customers all the time to the fund and they all sheepishly try to explain how they heard about the fund from their cleaning lady. Little did they know that their house cleaner was actually richer than them.