This reminds me of a saying in field hockey.
'Don't run towards the ball, run towards where the ball will be'
The best founders are futurists
31–40 of 81 posts
Re: The best founders are futurists
#32This is a tautological claim. Of course with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the biggest successes were those significantly changed the world... No way!? That's why they're successes! Lots, and lots of examples of people who similarly dreamed of changing the world with BIG ideas that completely failed. The bigger idea, the lower your probability of success, but with a larger potential return (both personal…
The funny thing about this article is that it cites one of the biggest flops as a sign of success.
Dean Kamen might have said, if you live in the future, you won't drive short distances. He built Segway.
Re: The best founders are futurists
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's sum up this article. In order to be successful monetarily, you need to make something people want. This guy is a savant.
Great. More middlebrow dismissal. [1] Instead of just dismissing an article for the obvious points, try to identify at least one idea that could be considered novel or worthwhile. In this article, the suggestion of "X will inevitably be part of the future, so I will build it" is a novel idea, at least to me, and especially with the list of real-life examples he gave. That is completely different than building what pe…
I honestly think this article provides very little insight into anything. You don't have to agree.
Money in it's theoretical form is supposed to be value. To be a good founder you have to create value. Since this is a site dedicated to technology that inherently means we're dealing with ideas about what is coming next - not private equity firms who buy up paper product manufactures to corner the market.
So, to me, this article states only the obvious and has no value besides maybe a masturbatory experience. That's just me.
Re: The best founders are futurists
#34This is a tautological claim. Of course with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the biggest successes were those significantly changed the world... No way!? That's why they're successes! Lots, and lots of examples of people who similarly dreamed of changing the world with BIG ideas that completely failed. The bigger idea, the lower your probability of success, but with a larger potential return (both personal…
A corollary is that both these claims can simultaneously be true: 1) most successful founders are futurists; and 2) most futurists are cranks.
So, the successful founders are futurists that are not cranks.
And what would be the proportions of futurists that are not crank? That could be a good recipe to predict which founders will be successful...
Re: The best founders are futurists
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's sum up this article. In order to be successful monetarily, you need to make something people want. This guy is a savant.
Great. More middlebrow dismissal. [1] Instead of just dismissing an article for the obvious points, try to identify at least one idea that could be considered novel or worthwhile. In this article, the suggestion of "X will inevitably be part of the future, so I will build it" is a novel idea, at least to me, and especially with the list of real-life examples he gave. That is completely different than building what pe…
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Re: The best founders are futurists
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
> rather than having their allowable contributions restricted by an intermediary who will usually use that power for extortionist purposes and force the other person to serve his career goals What you're describing is a borderline sociopath, not a result of closed allocation. You make a lot of conjectures. Do you have any evidence or verifiable experience to back up these claims: > Employee and company actually have…
I don't know you or Michael, but just from this exchange, it looks like you are the one out of line here. Nothing you have written has contributed to the discussion. Sometimes people have obsessions. I will rant for days on how much Java sucks as a language, how 99% of American corporations have idiots running their supply chains, how energy storage is the singular important problem facing alternative energy, and how…
> but just from this exchange,
That's the problem -- it's not just from this exchange. It's the exact same theme in stories that are very, very tangentially related to Google, over many, many weeks on many, many stories.
I've been here for a while, and I can list the very few usernames that stick out to me in comment threads: tptacek, edw519, pg, matt_cutts, patio11, and michaelochurch. The others almost always add to the discussion in interesting ways. Michael, unfortunately, is a one-track record.
Re: The best founders are futurists
#37I find that this article is representative of much of the content of HN these days: provocative assertions made by relative nobodies with little supporting evidence save anecdote, but made with the full voice of authority. Found a middling startup or two, and you're suddenly an expert. Call me old fashioned, but I like to get my blanket generalizations only from those significantly richer, more powerful, happier, or more successful than I am.
Re: The best founders are futurists
#38This reminds me of a saying in field hockey. 'Don't run towards the ball, run towards where the ball will be'
Believe that's originally from Wayne Gretzky:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/waynegretz131510....
Re: The best founders are futurists
#39I find that this article is representative of much of the content of HN these days: provocative assertions made by relative nobodies with little supporting evidence save anecdote, but made with the full voice of authority. Found a middling startup or two, and you're suddenly an expert. Call me old fashioned, but I like to get my blanket generalizations only from those significantly richer, more powerful, happier, or…
"Things have now gotten to the stage where I flinch slightly as I click on the "comments" link, bracing myself for the dismissive comment I know will be waiting for me at the top of the page." - PG
Re: The best founders are futurists
#40I find that this article is representative of much of the content of HN these days: provocative assertions made by relative nobodies with little supporting evidence save anecdote, but made with the full voice of authority. Found a middling startup or two, and you're suddenly an expert. Call me old fashioned, but I like to get my blanket generalizations only from those significantly richer, more powerful, happier, or…
The irony is that HN upvotes light commentary with blanket generalizations to the front page and also upvotes cruel dismissive comments criticizing that sort of light commentary to the top comment.