Question: is zapier.com profitable?
(I'm asking because if zapier is profitable then blog post has some merit. If not then... oh well)
You Are the Exception to the Rule
21–30 of 52 posts
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#22This type of saccharine feel-good prose irritates to no end. No, chances are you're not the exception to the rule of mediocrity; that's just a matter of statistics. Believing so in absence of hard evidence to the contrary is delusional and won't make things better. Entrepeneurs fail every day. Hundreds, maybe thousands. Don't fall for the cheap words of encouragement. [ADDENDUM: I still don't trust the "Most coders c…
There are several orders of magnitude between getting famous and founding a sustainable business.
Actually founding a sustainable business is much harder than getting famous.
Getting famous (at least for hackers) requires that your are very good at one thing and you publish that on github or something. Hard but achievable.
Founding a sustainable business requires that you know customer acquisition, marketing, management, etc.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yea but if I am the exception then you may have discouraged and prevented me from succeeding. If not, not much harm done right? All for what, so you can say I told you so 99% of the time?
If a comment like that can discourage you, you are not ready. It's like starting to train for a marathon and quickly forgetting the idea because you don't like your shoes, or something equally trivial. If you think I exaggerate, try staying focused on your startup after months of investor rejection (which is the norm, by the way).
Yes it can discourage someone, especially if it adds up. My point is that it doesn't really help anyone. You're not doing anyone any favors letting them know a couple months ahead of time their chances are slim. They'll find out themselves if they're the 1% or 99%.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#24Bullshit.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#25As developers we often have the mistaken belief that "anyone else could do what I can do, would rather do it themselves and won't pay for anyone else to do it for them".
This comes from a mindset that because I can do something, would rather than do it myself and wouldn't pay for someone else to do it for me means that no one else would either.
Just because you can solve a problem yourself, would take the time to do so and wouldn't pay someone else to do it instead doesn't mean the rest of the world thinks like that.
For most people, they can't do what you do and/or wouldn't take the time to do it and/or would rather pay someone else to do it for them. That's the rule to which you're an exception.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#26This type of saccharine feel-good prose irritates to no end. No, chances are you're not the exception to the rule of mediocrity; that's just a matter of statistics. Believing so in absence of hard evidence to the contrary is delusional and won't make things better. Entrepeneurs fail every day. Hundreds, maybe thousands. Don't fall for the cheap words of encouragement. [ADDENDUM: I still don't trust the "Most coders c…
I agree that it makes no sense to say "you are the exception to the rule" when there is not exclusivity...this is a public article on the internet after all.
Just because an article goes a bit over the line in making a case does NOT invalidate the main point. The main point, as I hear it, is that Silicon Valley and tech are a giant echo chamber, and unless you're actively involved in marketing and/or managing product development you and your friends may have a VERY distorted picture of market needs, niches, opportunities. It is worth meditating on the fact that business development / marketing is a highly creative endeavor. It is a career, and successful companies pay smart people lots of $$$ to do it well.
So the message I get is, "when you tell your friend about your idea, and you friend says, 'I would never pay for that', don't lose hope because your friend may not be in your market'.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#27if you search around the internet you'll find dozens of products that aren't complicated, but make stacks of Benjamin Franklins for the developers of those products
I think this is particularly true if you can target a point of friction in the sales process, e.g. real-estate. I have had agents tell me that if they think something will make them one extra sale a year they won't even hesitate to spend a couple of hundred dollars on it.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#28This type of saccharine feel-good prose irritates to no end. No, chances are you're not the exception to the rule of mediocrity; that's just a matter of statistics. Believing so in absence of hard evidence to the contrary is delusional and won't make things better. Entrepeneurs fail every day. Hundreds, maybe thousands. Don't fall for the cheap words of encouragement. [ADDENDUM: I still don't trust the "Most coders c…
> There's tons of decent programmers out there, and 99% of them won't get famous or found a sustainable business.
I think we read this article differently. His point is that, programming-wise, it doesn't take a lot to make a successful business. He's saying that being mediocre is good enough.
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#29This type of saccharine feel-good prose irritates to no end. No, chances are you're not the exception to the rule of mediocrity; that's just a matter of statistics. Believing so in absence of hard evidence to the contrary is delusional and won't make things better. Entrepeneurs fail every day. Hundreds, maybe thousands. Don't fall for the cheap words of encouragement. [ADDENDUM: I still don't trust the "Most coders c…
Conversely, I see zero value in this kind of reactionarily pessimistic you're-average-at-everything-and-even-if-you're-good-you'll-probably-fail-anyway stuff that always turns up on any encouraging article. You get zero points for being able to say "See, I was right" when someone fails. Completely aside from that, it's factually wrong; people on this site are quite likely to have skills and resources that the average…
I like to think:
"I am not a special snowflake, the sun does not shine out of my ass. But, if I work hard and apply my skills creatively in areas where others aren't it doing it as much, I may well have a shot at something cool. At least, a better shot than if I did nothing today"
Re: You Are the Exception to the Rule
#30This type of saccharine feel-good prose irritates to no end. No, chances are you're not the exception to the rule of mediocrity; that's just a matter of statistics. Believing so in absence of hard evidence to the contrary is delusional and won't make things better. Entrepeneurs fail every day. Hundreds, maybe thousands. Don't fall for the cheap words of encouragement. [ADDENDUM: I still don't trust the "Most coders c…
Please re-read the article--the author is absolutely not making the point you think he is. All he is saying is that hackers are less likely to be willing to pay for software than most people, so the fact that the typical hacker news reader is unwilling to pay for something doesn't mean that it isn't a viable product. It's a shame that the top comment on this article is attacking a straw-man argument.