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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

#161

Post by s_baby »

gnufied wrote: post #128
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…

State of Georgia mandates 0 day paid maternity leave. Was quite shocking for me in this day and age - having moved from London. Also although I like Atlanta, the casual racism comment is not unfounded. For example, we have bunch of white only elementary schools and then we have some with black majority ones. Also putting my son through this system convinced me schools like to keep this segregation.

>For example, we have bunch of white only elementary schools and then we have some with black majority ones. Also putting my son through this system convinced me schools like to keep this segregation.

Does London not have school districts? If you have a neighborhood that is predominantly black then that's going to be represented in school demographics. I believe that's how it works everywhere in US.

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

#162

Post by lgleason »

zeendo wrote: post #153
lgleason wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One or two companies out of a city of 5+ million does not make a startup ecosystem.

It's (a little) more meaningful than your example-free claim. Your description of the startup scene here is literally the startup scene everywhere.

Not from what I've observed with Atlanta having been involved deeply in the Atlanta community for a number of years while also being involved in other communities. But everyone is welcome to have their own opinion.

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

#163

Post by 0xffff2 »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #152
SwellJoe wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> and has possibly the rudest drivers in the whole country) There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles: 1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places. 2. Wherever you are, people think the weather changes more frequently there than other places. I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (…

>I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (including Europe), where someone hasn't used the "if you don't like the weather, wait an hour" joke, non-ironically.

That can't possibly have been a common occurrence in LA... Our weather changes about half a dozen times a year.

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

#164

Post by jessaustin »

adekok wrote: post #69
ohnoesmyscv wrote: post #36

Depends on what you mean by 'making it' as a startup - is it the revenue growth? burn rate? profit growth? Number of users? Number of employees? A SF office? How well funded you are? It's hard to grow a business without going the conventional SV route and getting VC funding. Unless you have a revolutionary product, the bigger competition will likely stomp over you unless you have resources to grow your team and produ…

> Unless you have a revolutionary product, the bigger competition will likely stomp over you unless you have resources to grow your team and product and marketing. Or if you are comfortable with a small market share but a profitable one. Case in point, me. I started FreeRADIUS in 1999. Started making money in 2007. Incorporated in 2008. I now have multiple offices, multiple employees, and good growth. No investment.…

I have made that same "enterprise grade DB" argument at numerous places. Telcos just love Oracle salesdudes, even if that's less true than it used to be. Congratulations on your success.

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

#165

Post by pbz »

cglace wrote: post #155
piptastic wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ho…

Dirty? What parts of Atlanta? One of my favorite things about Atlanta is how green it is. After living on the west coast for awhile it felt amazing to come back and actually see something green.

ATL is green, has lots of trees, it's beautiful, but the trash on the side of the roads is ridiculous (I'm talking 285, 400, 75, 85) and seems to be getting worse. It's especially bad around the airport; so much for first impressions. If you go outside of ATL (or even inside) the situation improves a lot.

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

#166

Post by adekok »

chatmasta wrote: post #102
adekok wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unless you have a revolutionary product, the bigger competition will likely stomp over you unless you have resources to grow your team and product and marketing. Or if you are comfortable with a small market share but a profitable one. Case in point, me. I started FreeRADIUS in 1999. Started making money in 2007. Incorporated in 2008. I now have multiple offices, multiple employees, and good growth. No investment.…

Great product! Do you make money selling consulting services for FreeRADIUS or do you license the software?

The software is Open Source, and 100% GPL. We do custom installations and support. Load-balancing, fail-over, replication, high performance, new features, etc.

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

#167

Post by wickawic »

0xffff2 wrote: post #163
michaelcampbell wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and has possibly the rudest drivers in the whole country) There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles: 1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places. 2. Wherever you are, people think the weather changes more frequently there than other places. I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (…

>I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (including Europe), where someone hasn't used the "if you don't like the weather, wait an hour" joke, non-ironically. That can't possibly have been a common occurrence in LA... Our weather changes about half a dozen times a year.

Same with Seattle, which I have heard compared to Groundhog Day

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

#168

Post by SwellJoe »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #152
SwellJoe wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> and has possibly the rudest drivers in the whole country) There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles: 1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places. 2. Wherever you are, people think the weather changes more frequently there than other places. I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (…

"There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles:

1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places."

I have lived in an RV and traveled full-time for six of the past seven years. I've driven a bus-sized house through more cities than most folks have visited. I feel like I could write a (very boring) book about traffic. I agree that everyone complains about traffic, and everyone does say the same tired old line about the weather changing. But, there are differences in the character of drivers and traffic in various cities.

I will agree with you about Orlando (and Florida, in general); those are some shitty drivers, too. But, Atlanta really takes the cake. I was on the road for seven months in the RV before going to visit my folks for the first time (the first time in the RV, not the first time ever). I got cut off more, and had more people ignore my turn signals, in the hour it took me to drive across Atlanta than I had in the entire seven months prior in dozens of other cities, including Los Angeles (which has surprisingly polite drivers, given its reputation). I really don't get road ragey...except in Atlanta.

I have driven in both Boston and New Jersey. While they are crowded and the drivers (particularly cabs and buses) can be somewhat aggressive, and there are some ridiculous behaviors you wouldn't see in most other places (double-parking delivery trucks, honking and even yelling a lot more than you see in most places) I wouldn't categorize them in the same league of hatefulness as Atlanta drivers. Driving in Atlanta felt downright dangerous because of how aggressive drivers are.

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

#169

Post by SwellJoe »

ledbettj wrote: post #124
SwellJoe wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I used to feel the same way you do; I grew up here, moved away, and eventually came back. Atlanta is a much different place now. I wouldn't choose to live "just outside" of Atlanta either, for all the terrible traffic/commute reasons you mentioned -- I live ITP and a 5 minute walk from a train station with a 10-minute hassle-free commute. Somehow I can survive here as part of a one-car household. Also please don't pa…

"Also please don't paint an entire city (let alone one with Atlanta's demographics) as full of "casual racism." C'mon."

It's the only major city I've been to where a white person dropping the word "nigger" (and used in a clearly negative way) not only happens in conversation, but it doesn't elicit gasps or any negative response. To be fair, it's also among the more diverse major cities, with tons of black-owned businesses, and that's awesome. So, it may be the clash of cultures (shitty old poor white southerners surrounded by successful black folks leading to resentment) rather than Atlanta being more racist. But, the south, in general, has such a long history of segregation, red-lining, private clubs that mysteriously have no black members, neighborhoods with no black residents, etc.

So, I'm probably being overly harsh based on surface level stuff. Opportunity is an important part of the power of racism, and Atlanta seems to have shown itself capable of providing opportunity to black folks; at least enough to lead to lots of black folks choosing to live there. Cities like Austin, Portland, San Francisco, etc. may actually be more harmful (or at least less welcoming) to people of color than Atlanta, without any overt signals of racism.

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

#170

Post by awinder »

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?

It's a reaction to being told countless times that the only way to "make it for reals" is to uproot your life and move to the SF area. Which is an incredibly common occurrence for those of us not in the valley.
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