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You only compete with one thing

world.hey.com

1–10 of 20 posts

Re: You only compete with one thing

#3
This is similar to a comment I made recently. Somehow the last decade of business media riled up by VC money has focused on disruption, us vs them, go big or go home, growth at all costs etc.

I firmly feel this does not make for a healthier society.

Re: You only compete with one thing

#4
The universal rule, for business and personal affairs: earn more than you spend.

However, in business the general consensus is you need to spend money to make money. That is why you have starting capital. With oodles of VC funds, it is tempting to spend without keeping the ROI in mind. Accurately forecasting revenue and achieving it are an enduring challenge.

Re: You only compete with one thing

#5

This is similar to a comment I made recently. Somehow the last decade of business media riled up by VC money has focused on disruption, us vs them, go big or go home, growth at all costs etc. I firmly feel this does not make for a healthier society.

VCs have to swing for the fences and hit out of the ball park. Typically half of their investments tank. So the occasional big hits have to pay for all the failures too. Otherwise their investors will just take the safe option with mutual funds, bonds, treasuries, etc.

Re: You only compete with one thing

#6
It would be true if customer would be 100% loyal. Taxi businesses in my town have been profitable for years until uber-unprofitable companies decided to take their place. Put their logos in airports. now taxi businesses are dying. I have respect to 37signals and they are more successful than any of my endeavours, but in my opinion it's always about eating your own milking cow and building internally killers of your own product. Complete with your own product.

Re: You only compete with one thing

#7

This is similar to a comment I made recently. Somehow the last decade of business media riled up by VC money has focused on disruption, us vs them, go big or go home, growth at all costs etc. I firmly feel this does not make for a healthier society.

VCs have to swing for the fences and hit out of the ball park. Typically half of their investments tank. So the occasional big hits have to pay for all the failures too. Otherwise their investors will just take the safe option with mutual funds, bonds, treasuries, etc.

They could always try to get better at picking winners

Re: You only compete with one thing

#9
post #6

It would be true if customer would be 100% loyal. Taxi businesses in my town have been profitable for years until uber-unprofitable companies decided to take their place. Put their logos in airports. now taxi businesses are dying. I have respect to 37signals and they are more successful than any of my endeavours, but in my opinion it's always about eating your own milking cow and building internally killers of your o…

It's not the unprofit, it's the fact that Uber's app, where you knew the price up front, it wasn't renegotiated at the destination, you could pay safely on your phone, you knew where your driver was, etc etc was all a million miles ahead of the awful experience of taking a taxi before Uber.

Re: You only compete with one thing

#10
Unless it’s a race to own a winner take all market position.

In which case it’s worth spending the money in the short term to win in the long term.

But 37 signals always likes to present a contrarian black and white “I’m right, they’re wrong” position, so we shall let them be right.

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