Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the correct term for those people are "douchebags"...not "MBAs".
A = douchebags B = MBAs B ⊆ A
Quite the startling fallacy there, even if disguised in symbols.
How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
151–160 of 171 posts
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well...I can't speak from an "MBA's" perspective, because there isn't 1 MBA perspective. In terms of the way the world works, I can say that politicians are not in the business of running the world the way it should be run - they are in the business of politicking. It has become fanciful in the last decade or so, to blame bankers, wall street, the 1%, capitalism, etc. for all the worlds ills - but that's just not the…
Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds. That mindset could change quickly if market conditions change. It was not that long…
> Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future.
I never said markets predict the future.
I said they are a good forward looking indicator. Major difference ;)
> The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds.
Well....implicit in my example was that what people tend to do is to complain about America's debt-to-GDP and then suggest some other asset class that investors should be putting their money in - like gold or w/e. Given the large gold sell off a few days ago, I am sure many of those guys are pissed.
Either way, my point was simply that as a general rule, the sovereign bond markets are usually good, forward looking indicators about the health of the economy of a country (relative to others). That's all I was saying - which is contrary to what politicians tell the people. But because they don't know any better, they accept what they hear as gospel because it fits a narrative in their head - bankers are stealing the wealth of the world.
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#153There is a certain STIGMA against MBAs in the valley. Some of it well-found, some of it completely out of context and ridiculous.
I have an MBA, and my sense is that part of the blame has to be on MBA education itself.
MBA programs teach everything but the "Two skills absolutely necessary" as an entrepreneur: 1) ability sale (your idea, vision, team, product, etc.) and 2) ability to execute.
Luckily, I had one professor who focused on execution part of the experience by creating a class that simulated what happens when you start a company.
I remember what she always said: "If you give me a great idea, I'll give a $1 as thats all they are worth. Real value comes from executing it the right away."
Just my $0.02.
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds. That mindset could change quickly if market conditions change. It was not that long…
> Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. I never said markets predict the future. I said they are a good forward looking indicator. Major difference ;) > The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put…
I agree with you on the relative long-term safety of U.S. debt instruments, especially compared to a volatile commodity like gold.
I still disagree that bond prices are good forward looking indicators about the health of a national economy. From January to September 2009, yields on Greek bonds actually fell almost a point--by your criteria, seeming to indicate strengthening future prospects for the Greek economy. Instead we all know what happened next.
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#155Wow! Very inspiring story! I'm glad to hear you stuck to your strengths and didn't desperately force a non-programmer to learn programming. It was a critical part of your business but your full-time employees focusing on their expertise worked out for the best.
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#156I love this story. This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company. I never understood this. For a group of people (programmers) that presumably have been ostracized, shunned, and picked on in their formative years, why do so many in the valley do this to 'MBAs'. It's ignorant at best. The fact is, as has been shown time a…
"This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company." "I wish we all, on HN (at the very least), would stop painting with a broad brush and bashing large swathes of people." Pretty conflicting statements. Asking HN not to disparage people while disparaging people in Silicon valley himself. If a non-technical founder wants to…
I don't understand how a photo-shapring app would require more technical knowledge than MyClean.
The point is still valid though. People sit here acting as if moan-technical people can't understand what is fundamental a people problem (is there a market for this)?
A lot of startups might spend all the time in the world making the most elegant software in the world, but if nobody wants to use it it's game over.
Bad execution doesn't matter if the problem is important enough to them(think of all the people running around still doing things in buggy DOS software from 1996). But if I don't want to use your social network for cats, it's a lot harder to get people to care about your website than it is to hire motivated people to make your site better.
Craigslist is a great example of using (relatively) low-tech means to get things done. It used to be a mailing list. Shady download websites with 10000 popups and buggy captchas and timers also show that it's about the demand.
Of course if someone else is competing in the same domain as you, the best differentiator (after previous mind-share) is a good UX (lot easier to make with good software).
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. I never said markets predict the future. I said they are a good forward looking indicator. Major difference ;) > The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put…
I agree with you on the relative long-term safety of U.S. debt instruments, especially compared to a volatile commodity like gold. I still disagree that bond prices are good forward looking indicators about the health of a national economy. From January to September 2009, yields on Greek bonds actually fell almost a point--by your criteria, seeming to indicate strengthening future prospects for the Greek economy. Ins…
> I still disagree that bond prices are good forward looking indicators about the health of a national economy. From January to September 2009, yields on Greek bonds actually fell almost a point--by your criteria, seeming to indicate strengthening future prospects for the Greek economy. Instead we all know what happened next.
I would definitely not say that low eurobond yields on Greek debt is related to strengthening prospects in Greece. But rather an expected likelihood that Germany and the ECB would bailout Greece at terms favorable to bondholders.
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#158Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#159I love this story. This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company. I never understood this. For a group of people (programmers) that presumably have been ostracized, shunned, and picked on in their formative years, why do so many in the valley do this to 'MBAs'. It's ignorant at best. The fact is, as has been shown time a…
"This is also why I bristle when many in the Valley - PG included - keep disparaging non-technical people when they want to start a tech company." I realize this is probably just semantics but I want to chime in on one little tidbit here. These guys didn't start a technology company in the sense that they needed technology innovation to succeed. They started an innovative cleaning business that uses some technology.…
This equally true for a bunch of YC companies, like AirBnB and Dropbox, where the technical challenge is in dealing with scaling, but the actual innovation is in the product.
Re: How We Bootstrapped a $20K Website into a $4M/year Business
#160I'm not convinced the web site drives the revenue. Alexa rank of 1 million. That means there's probably less than 30,000 visitors per month. I bet the company does most of their marketing offline, and the site is more of a brochure. So it's a bit misleading to say that a $20k bootstrapped web site led to all the growth in this business.
Yes it will be a lot less than 30k unique visitors but don't take the 1 million+ alexa rank too seriously. In this case it probably just means that a lot of their traffic are non-technical users that don't use the Alexa plugin. Just installing the alexa plugin in their own browsers could get their alexa rank to 700,000. Just speculation from my experience.