11–20 of 135 posts
If someone can find a vertical where they can penetrate and provide real business value, they'll do well.
For instance, the cost of an endpoint CPU and memory is a 1000x cheaper than the cost of CPU and memory in the server. [1] What do they mean? How was that calculated? It sounds completely wrong. [1] http://a16z.com/2015/01/22/cloud-client-computing/
Enterprise software is definitely an area where there is plenty of opportunity. They're aching for good software; they pay exorbitant amounts for software that just isn't very good. If someone can find a vertical where they can penetrate and provide real business value, they'll do well.
As an example, according to a software engineer's review on Glassdoor, Concur's web app is about a million lines of classic ASP (and as a user of it, I can vouch for how crappy it is)... yet their mobile app is really slick and user-friendly. Netsuite is another company gaining momentum, with their premise essentially being that companies want an ERP that doesn't require the infrastructure or overhead that Oracle or SAP do. Netsuite, however, doesn't do the same kind of "consulting" as the big guys and you basically get what you get.
Big companies tend to be risk averse, and taking a risk on good software that can't be molded to existing business processes can sometimes mean it's not actually good software for that company ... or so the perception goes.
Enterprise software is definitely an area where there is plenty of opportunity. They're aching for good software; they pay exorbitant amounts for software that just isn't very good. If someone can find a vertical where they can penetrate and provide real business value, they'll do well.
Those reasons have also been widely known for many years. They boil down that enterprise software companies optimize for their ability to sell to decision makers who never actually use the software. See https://www.mail-archive.com/kragen-tol@canonical.org/msg001... for a detailed description. See http://futureofwork.glider.com/why-enterprise-software-sucks... for verification that this is not simply an isolated disgruntled developer's opinion.
This could be great news for social media consultants who have seen their wells run dry. Now these consultants can set their sights on convincing companies to add We Accept Bitcoin buttons to their websites.
But I believe a16z is thinking too small. Companies need to look beyond Bitcoin. Personally, I'm tired of the Benjamin Franklin branding on the $100 bill. Bring on the modern brands. I for one am looking forward to the day when I can convert all of my hard-earned money into LouisVuittonCoin and PepsiCoin.
Loved the 'Failure'
For instance, the cost of an endpoint CPU and memory is a 1000x cheaper than the cost of CPU and memory in the server. [1] What do they mean? How was that calculated? It sounds completely wrong. [1] http://a16z.com/2015/01/22/cloud-client-computing/
From later in the post: "The key is nobody has to cool these devices, so it’s almost like free computing at the endpoint." Also, you don't have to buy it! (the user bought their phone/computer and pays for the power) I agree its a bit handwavy. I suppose the remaining cost is the cost of transmitting more data? But regardless, it is a good point - we are absolutely crazy to not be taking advantage of all the free com…
In the 'Online Video' section he calls out podcasts as an emerging/trending medium. I'd love to hear more about where people in HN community feel it's moving. Of course there's the obvious Serial momentum, and as a passionate consumer of podcasts I'd love to think through with you guys a little more where we think it'll go. For example a YouTube-like podcast portal seems like a potential option (i.e. moving away from…
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/commonplace-books/welcome-to...
Personally as a huge consumer of podcasts, the only thing I've been curious about is if they could do custom ads. So say you click play on your favorite player, it would stich a relevant ad immediately during that play.
In the 'Online Video' section he calls out podcasts as an emerging/trending medium. I'd love to hear more about where people in HN community feel it's moving. Of course there's the obvious Serial momentum, and as a passionate consumer of podcasts I'd love to think through with you guys a little more where we think it'll go. For example a YouTube-like podcast portal seems like a potential option (i.e. moving away from…
In the 'Online Video' section he calls out podcasts as an emerging/trending medium. I'd love to hear more about where people in HN community feel it's moving. Of course there's the obvious Serial momentum, and as a passionate consumer of podcasts I'd love to think through with you guys a little more where we think it'll go. For example a YouTube-like podcast portal seems like a potential option (i.e. moving away from…
I wonder if soundcloud will become a major player in this space since a lot of the podcasts I listen to end up being hosted by them.