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MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

nytimes.com

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Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#141

Post by westbywest »

avn2109 wrote: post #119
echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

The problem is that Atlanta's built environment is literally the textbook example of tastelessness and inefficiency. "City" is a loose term for a centerless amalgamation of car-centric sprawl.

As learned from relatives living there, Altanta's long-term water situation kinda frightens me. Their aquifer (aka Lake Lanier) can't sustain the anticipated population, and it looks like fights are brewing with downstream parties like Florida, who also have legal share of that water.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#142

Post by omarchowdhury »

lgleason wrote: post #79
verbify wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, it amazes me that WhatsApp, an instant messaging app, was founded in 2010.

The difference was that WhatsApp was about execution with a small team. The Atlanta way would have been to hire 2 engineers and then a army of marketing people to sell it. It's a shame because there is a lot of potential, but the leaders concentrate on the marketing of the community instead of actually developing a better community. Lots of cargo culting with incubators etc., but not a lot of large wins. There are po…

Who you know and your image... so basically every business community?

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#143

Post by ryguytilidie »

echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

I always see posts like this on HN. Whether its Portland, NYC, Chicago, Philly, Atlanta, Austin, etc etc etc. Why do people feel like they need to "convince" others else to move to the place they live or that the startup scene is "more real" than they currently believe?

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#144

Post by sndean »

irishloop wrote: post #44
echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

I used to work for a company based in Conyers, GA, and would hang out in Atlanta when I traveled there. It is a great city. However, there is a huge cultural shift outside of Atlanta for people used to Silicon Valley or NYC, because the rest of Georgia is definitely... different.

It's the same for Washington DC as well. You can easily drive 20 miles southwest and get stuck behind a tractor while driving past corn fields.

It's pretty similar for every city I've been to (including Atlanta). Drive an hour away and it's a completely different place.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#145

Post by piptastic »

SwellJoe wrote: post #117
echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

As a counterpoint: My family is in Atlanta (well, just outside of it), and it's probably my least favorite major American city. The traffic is out of control (and has possibly the rudest drivers in the whole country), McMansions and suburban sprawl are a way of life (my brother-in-law has an hour long commute to his near-downtown office, and keeps an office in his house so he doesn't have to drive down every day), an…

Agreed.

I have to fly into Atlanta from the West Coast 3-4 times a year and it is also my least favorite major American city.

There are nice places there (Top Golf, Bourbon Bar, tons of good restaurants)... But there are nice places everywhere and they certainly don't make up for Atlanta's other shortcomings. I can't articulate all the reasons for my distaste, but it just looks dirty and depressing. The traffic is horrible, the weather is usually bad. We refer to it as Shitlanta (which is an exaggeration, but not much of one).

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#146

Post by dcole2929 »

echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

I'm actually looking at moving to ATL soon for personal reasons (read GF). What are some of these tech companies with satellite offices there? I tried doing a search for up and coming startups and outside of a few names like Square and Mailchimp wasn't finding much

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#147

Post by barleymash »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #143
echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

I always see posts like this on HN. Whether its Portland, NYC, Chicago, Philly, Atlanta, Austin, etc etc etc. Why do people feel like they need to "convince" others else to move to the place they live or that the startup scene is "more real" than they currently believe?

Why can't it just be a friendly "looking out for others" type of thing? I definitely feel like there is a sense of camaraderie in the online communities that I frequent. I just took it as a tip to fellow HackerNews readers and engineers that Atlanta is a great opportunity for people in the tech industry. Why does there need to be any ulterior motive than that?

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#148

Post by criddell »

bildung wrote: post #51
Animats wrote: post #47

Spam is profitable. (And yes, Mailchimp is a spammer, based on the Spamhaus definition of spam.[1] It may be legal, but it's still spam.) [1] https://www.spamhaus.org/consumer/definition/

According to that definition, you're wrong: Mailchimp doesn't fulfill the first condition. In my experience, Mailchimps interface puts heavy emphasis on having opt-in proof for the addresses you use, having to include unsubscribe links and sender's postal addresses etc. Yes, they don't technically enforce it, but how could they do that without also preventing legitimate use cases like importing addresses from a compe…

There are some easy things they could to though.

Cory Doctorow had this exchange with them: https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/641660268720689152

I think Doctorow's request was entirely reasonable.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#149

Post by [deleted] »

lgleason wrote: post #79
verbify wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, it amazes me that WhatsApp, an instant messaging app, was founded in 2010.

The difference was that WhatsApp was about execution with a small team. The Atlanta way would have been to hire 2 engineers and then a army of marketing people to sell it. It's a shame because there is a lot of potential, but the leaders concentrate on the marketing of the community instead of actually developing a better community. Lots of cargo culting with incubators etc., but not a lot of large wins. There are po…

[deleted]

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#150

Post by lgleason »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #143
echelon wrote: post #37

The Atlanta tech scene is blossoming, just like our film industry. We have a couple of incubators, including a few that are funded/supported by Georgia Tech. The cost of living here is super cheap, and there are brilliant and talented people everywhere. We have satellite offices for tons of major tech companies, so there are traditional tech jobs too. Earning $200k here while the cost of living is so low is phenomina…

I always see posts like this on HN. Whether its Portland, NYC, Chicago, Philly, Atlanta, Austin, etc etc etc. Why do people feel like they need to "convince" others else to move to the place they live or that the startup scene is "more real" than they currently believe?

This is common with Atlanta (and I'm sure other cities). It is a big marketing town. Coke for example, which mastered the ability to sell overpriced sugar water, was started there. The old over-stating things....if you say it enough, maybe you and everyone else will believe it.
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