Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

vanityfair.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–148 of 148 posts

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#141

Post by Skibb »

subsystem wrote: post #72
kmfrk wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vapid is too strong a word, but it nothing but glorifies successful start-ups, and provides no caution for people who'd like to learn something from this. The only conflict described is agonizing over which multi-gazillion offer to take(!). It's also fairly thin on new insights into the history and acquisition.

I think it has to do with the intended audience and the format of the publication, more than anything else.

Also, vapid according to dictionary: Offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging. Guess you're right. It was challenging to read the whole thing till the end.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#142

Post by Skibb »

pathy wrote: post #63
Skibb wrote: post #38

Ugh this is linkbait and upvote-bait if I ever saw one. The whole tone of the article is so contrived and fake-mysterious that it's kind of digusting. Basically the whole thing can be tracked down to a rich privileged white kid doing what rich privileged kids do. NOTHING worth reading about here. And the shitty app could maybe start about thinking of getting some cash flow.

You appear to be very jealous of their success. This is Hacker News, we should celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and look at the lessons that can be learned from success stories like this. If I could build Instagram and sell it for $1b I sure as hell would. Might not be saving the world but people appear enjoy using it so who cares. They did manage to sell a company for $1b, a feat which practically all of us neve…

I don't understand the line of thinking that strong opposing opinion = jealousy. Why are you trying to project your own thinking patterns onto me? I have nothing to be jealous about. Not everything in life is about getting a billion of $. My strong feelings are sparked by the fact that the article and some individual place so much importance in selling a company for $1bn, for the very small reason (at least!) that 99% of you won't even get a chance to do it. Entreprenurial spirit is a reward in itself! And Instagram lacks it through the very fact that it was established without so much as a vision of creating any cash-flow. Which in turn just makes its glorification a target for scoffing.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#143

Post by marknutter »

thecage411 wrote: post #131
marknutter wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. No, I'm sorry, but TMND explains very clearly, backed by solid statistics, how people become rich, and it doesn't have anything to do with luck. In fact, the process of becoming a millionnaire is quite boring and unglamorous; invest prudently, cut expenses, don't buy new cars, have a modest mortgage, etc. Very few of the millionnaires interviewed in the book "got rich quick". The vast majority of millionnaires i…

It's been awhile since I read Fooled by Randomness but I think Taleb's point was that TMND only looks at those who became rich, it doesn't look at those who didn't get rich following the same strategy. I haven't read TMND so I can't say if that's true, but your post doesn't refute his point.

I see what you're getting at, but the key point to understand is that the authors of TMND were able to find a pattern among the millionnaires they interviewed. If these successes were primarily based on chance you wouldn't be able to discern a pattern of behavior because the paths they took to becoming millionaire would be wildly different. They weren't, though. There's the old saying "luck favors the prepared". These folks all probably had their ups and downs in life, but because of their frugality and fiscal responsibility they were able to smooth out the valleys and maximize the hills.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#144

Post by jmh42 »

jacquesm wrote: post #122
jeremymcanally wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you've just stated is, essentially, the business equivalent of the lottery. You could almost replace any reference to business terms in your post with "lottery" and have the same amount of truth applied. The whole point of a "model" is that it's repeatable and definable. "Getting acquired because they fear us" isn't a business model.

> "Getting acquired because they fear us" isn't a business model. No, but it is one of the best reasons to be acquired, far far above 'they acquired the team for the talent, and shut down the project' and 'they acquired us to get our customers (aka buying growth)'.

I think there is an elephant in the room here. (Sorry if this stings anyone)

The collective We have been led to believe that we must make something original to be great. Don't make another social network, too tough. Don't do what Instagram did, it's too (pick your reason) risky / saturated / lucky / etc.

The thing is, entrepreneurs have no reason not to shoot for the moon, recreate everything. Why do we resist? The big name funds probably won't invest for fear of cannibalizing their current holdings. Think about that next time you hear a VC or read their commentary (or any commentary for that matter).

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#145

Post by [deleted] »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #116
logicallee wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The portion you refer to is pocket change - it would not retain these employees outside Silicon Valley, where such caliber of employees are willing to give great weight to equity. Read http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2127882/Meet-OTHER-n... and it becomes clear that the 18 employees were recruited mostly with equity. Hiring the quality of talent that we're talking about, in will1000's market, just doesn't hap…

You are an incredibly lucky person if living for 18 months with no salary is plausible for you. Either that or you've already worked somewhere for a large salary. You shouldn't talk down to people because they haven't experienced the same luck as you. Instagram was an exception to just about every rule, and I don't think it's a bad thing that a majority of the world would laugh at anybody trying to sell them the idea…

[deleted]

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#146

Post by crimsonzagar »

dualogy wrote: post #10
crimsonzagar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direct answer: no. Indirect answer: no. The probability is low because guys outside of bay area don't build app to dent anything. They don't aim to build an app that is cool: to them, their friends, their investors, their users, and ultimately their suitors and acquirer. They build it to mint money, which is why this story inspires them too.

Suuure, everyone outside the valley builds apps only for "money minting", not for "cool to everyone". Nice Cali bubble you live in ;D

Even if an individual tries to do it for coolness, and is passionate about it, the rest of the guys around him are not. And that can be a significant cultural influence.

You're living in a bubble, if you can't see that.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#147

Post by masomenos »

marknutter wrote: post #143
thecage411 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been awhile since I read Fooled by Randomness but I think Taleb's point was that TMND only looks at those who became rich, it doesn't look at those who didn't get rich following the same strategy. I haven't read TMND so I can't say if that's true, but your post doesn't refute his point.

I see what you're getting at, but the key point to understand is that the authors of TMND were able to find a pattern among the millionnaires they interviewed. If these successes were primarily based on chance you wouldn't be able to discern a pattern of behavior because the paths they took to becoming millionaire would be wildly different. They weren't, though. There's the old saying "luck favors the prepared". Thes…

This is the line of reasoning Taleb criticizes. I haven't digested his criticism fully enough to fairly summarize it, but I think it's worth a look.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#148

Post by Skibb »

nhangen wrote: post #57
Skibb wrote: post #38

Ugh this is linkbait and upvote-bait if I ever saw one. The whole tone of the article is so contrived and fake-mysterious that it's kind of digusting. Basically the whole thing can be tracked down to a rich privileged white kid doing what rich privileged kids do. NOTHING worth reading about here. And the shitty app could maybe start about thinking of getting some cash flow.

What does being white have to do with it?

Only everything?
Post reply on HN