Revenue is easy, profit is harder • Hacker News Board

Re: Revenue is easy, profit is harder

#171

Post by majani » Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 10:07 PM UTC

whiplash451 wrote: post #108

codegeek wrote: post #23

I would nitpick the title a bit. Revenue is never easy. I think they should rephrase as "Revenue is relatively easier than profit especially if you have PMF". Once you hit PMF (which is where most startups fail), you can just pour money into growth and that's when revenue generation becomes relatively easier.

Can you elaborate on why most startups fail when they hit PMF?

Usually bad unit economics. The whole "make losses now to jack up prices later" thing does not work in reality. Usually the whole market just gets poisoned and the only way out is to leave richer investors holding the bag

Re: Revenue is easy, profit is harder

#172

Post by blobbers » Wed, Feb 22, 2023, 8:11 PM UTC

hef19898 wrote: post #160

blobbers wrote: post #71

GAAP accounting is for stable cash flows in well understood businesses. Bootstrapping (funding growth with revenue) isn't the silicon valley way; the silicon valley method is as follows: 1. get funding 2. grow team/build product 3. raise more funding and find product market fit 4. seize control of market / make large top line moneys 5. repeat 3/4 a as necessary. 6. acquisition/IPO, shareholders payout.

As soon as a company IPOs, or uses a SPAC, it is either GAAP or IRSF accounting. And it doesn't matter what the comoany might think about that.

No, they'll run GAAP statements but everything they report in their earnings calls will be non-GAAP.

Re: Revenue is easy, profit is harder

#173

Post by whitemary » Thu, Feb 23, 2023, 3:10 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #170

whitemary wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It teaches how capitalism obviates monopolies.

Capitalism without appropriate regulation always degenerates into monopoly.

And "appropriate regulation" is always unsustainable under capitalism.

Re: Revenue is easy, profit is harder

#174

Post by smeej » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 2:17 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #141

smeej wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one monopoly that matters in Monopoly: the houses themselves. The game only has 32 houses. If you get two 3-property monopolies and build four houses on each one, forgoing hotels, you have 24 houses and everyone else is fighting over the remaining 8. If you get max out houses on two 3-property monopolies and a 2-property one, the game is yours regardless of what anyone else has.

That’s also part of the logic of locking down Baltic and Mediterranean. It’s cheaper to get the set, it’s cheaper to get the houses. You’re not going to make a ton of money off them but now at least 25% of the houses in the game are friendly. I usually did better playing this strategy. Even though winning with houses on park Place is more fun, houses on Mediterranean ave are more certain.

They also make it harder for your opponents to keep their $200 when they pass Go, especially when you throw in the income tax space. Anyone who's on the ropes has a harder time coming off of them this way.

Re: Revenue is easy, profit is harder

#175

Post by smeej » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 2:19 AM UTC

kjkjadksj wrote: post #131

smeej wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one monopoly that matters in Monopoly: the houses themselves. The game only has 32 houses. If you get two 3-property monopolies and build four houses on each one, forgoing hotels, you have 24 houses and everyone else is fighting over the remaining 8. If you get max out houses on two 3-property monopolies and a 2-property one, the game is yours regardless of what anyone else has.

Wow I never knew the houses were finite! That really changes things

That, and if they're all built and someone has to sell one, it gets auctioned off. If you're building on green where houses are $200 anyway, you're willing to pay more for them than someone building on light blue where they're normally $50.