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Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

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Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#21

Post by personlurking »

terramauthe wrote: post #16
jackkinsella wrote: post #3

Small online business owner here, chiming in. I believe the overuse of the word startup comes from a certain kind of pretentiousness, a want to associate one's own small-business, small-market, technically trivial, mom-and-pop online business with world leaders like Facebook and Google. Making the linguistic link is good for the founder's ego, and even better for convincing naïve investors to fund barely viable visio…

As college student who grew up watching Zuck "get rich easy", I was easily taken in by the Hipster startup culture. Very unfortunately for me, I only found out about this fantastic site (Hacker News) about 5 months ago. By this time, the hipster ethos was rampant and I was swept up by it. My ego deeply resonated with their fancy promises and extravagant buzz words. However, there is a thread of hope. An undercurrent…

I work for a 4 yr old startup. I'm an ideas guy but I didn't have the idea for the startup I work for, I merely do administrative projects for it. Nonetheless, I have to be careful how I word things.

About a month ago, I was at a meetup which had nothing to do with technology or the internet but I ran into a guy who was throwing out some buzzwords. The point came early on when he asked me what I do, and I really didn't want to say I worked for a startup (because I sensed what was coming) but I did because I do. Then came the 20 minute monologue throwing out many more buzzwords and how he'd just moved to SV. He was going over how he was just pre-launch and outsourcing the coding, blah blah blah. He was very, very excited about his project (at least there's that). But then he told me what it was (I forget but it had to do with health, it might have been a lifestyle app) and I thought to myself, "but specifically what you're describing is not a startup, that's a small business that happens to be online."

He wanted to keep in touch, almost as if we were two kindred souls braving the unknown and at that point I gave him the (true) line that works really well in certain circumstances such as these. "I'm not searchable on Facebook, sorry, but you can send me an email." In casual settings, no one ever sends the email, by the way. It's FB or nothing.

Being that I have another regular job (that happens to be online), I now say I do that instead of "I work for a startup." Though, believe me, if I had one, I'd have zero shame in saying it.

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#23

Post by kvnn »

nirvana wrote: post #19

The silicon valley Startup Kool-aid has a false dichotomy: You're either patio11[1], a "nobody" building a "lifestyle business" or you're making the next Instagram. Consequently we have a cargo cult mentality that has evolved. Lets compare these two: Location: "Obviously you need to be in Silicon Valley. This is where all the wannabe startup hipsters move to!" I mean, you can't go to a coffeeshop without hearing a ha…

> [2] Here's a bonus: Why is google's monetezation strategy significantly better than twitter an facebooks?

Is that a question or a quiz? If a quiz, can I have the answer?

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#24

Post by nirvana »

kvnn wrote: post #23
nirvana wrote: post #19

The silicon valley Startup Kool-aid has a false dichotomy: You're either patio11[1], a "nobody" building a "lifestyle business" or you're making the next Instagram. Consequently we have a cargo cult mentality that has evolved. Lets compare these two: Location: "Obviously you need to be in Silicon Valley. This is where all the wannabe startup hipsters move to!" I mean, you can't go to a coffeeshop without hearing a ha…

> [2] Here's a bonus: Why is google's monetezation strategy significantly better than twitter an facebooks? Is that a question or a quiz? If a quiz, can I have the answer?

A lot of the traffic google gets is people looking to buy e.g.: "refrigerator reviews". Everyone going to google is looking for something, even if a lot of them aren't looking for a product, when they are looking for a product it is to buy it.

Facebook and Twitter, however, are sites people use for socializing, and if they're looking for something, its usually links to news.

Thus, google's traffic is more monetizable. This is not to say that Facebook and Twitter won't grow up to be big businesses with really lucerative monetization... its just that it isn't as clear. I think google found its strategy in adwords a lot faster (2000 is when it was launched) as a result, while facebook ads are there, they've not been as successful and facebook has been around a lot longer than google had when adwords came out.

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#25

Post by potatolicious »

alberich wrote: post #9
mindcrime wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to understand, before it was called "Hacker News", this was "Startup News". A heavy focus on startup culture and entrepreneurship is a part of the DNA of this site. I expect it will always be that way. Complaining about startup / entrepreneur articles here is almost akin to getting in the water and then complaining that you got wet.

Funny that a lot of articles here wouldn't really be categorized as "hacker" news :) Lately, everything is "hacking". Seems like the word lost its meaning.

It's been like that forever - "hack" has become a buzzwordy synonym for "clever trick".

Found a cool way to get the word out on your product? You've "hacked marketing". Have an increment improvement on an existing concept? You've "hacked" that vertical. Interesting new job posting system? "Hacked recruitment".

I'm pretty sick of this community/field forcibly inventing words for every old thing instead of just calling it like it is - and this includes all of the "growth hacker" crap over the last few days. We're doing the same shit everyone else has been doing for hundreds of years, except we've changed the context to involve technology. These buzzwordy exclusive words we use do not actually describe fundamentally different concepts, they're just opportunities to fall all over ourselves and fawn at ourselves in the mirror.

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#26

Post by aaronbrethorst »

nirvana wrote: post #24
kvnn wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [2] Here's a bonus: Why is google's monetezation strategy significantly better than twitter an facebooks? Is that a question or a quiz? If a quiz, can I have the answer?

A lot of the traffic google gets is people looking to buy e.g.: "refrigerator reviews". Everyone going to google is looking for something, even if a lot of them aren't looking for a product, when they are looking for a product it is to buy it. Facebook and Twitter, however, are sites people use for socializing, and if they're looking for something, its usually links to news. Thus, google's traffic is more monetizable…

I'm still waiting for Facebook to launch their competitor to AdSense. I think that'll be a pretty big deal when it happens. (it has to happen; it'd be incredibly dumb for them to not do this.)

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#27

Post by finnh »

personlurking wrote: post #21
terramauthe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As college student who grew up watching Zuck "get rich easy", I was easily taken in by the Hipster startup culture. Very unfortunately for me, I only found out about this fantastic site (Hacker News) about 5 months ago. By this time, the hipster ethos was rampant and I was swept up by it. My ego deeply resonated with their fancy promises and extravagant buzz words. However, there is a thread of hope. An undercurrent…

I work for a 4 yr old startup. I'm an ideas guy but I didn't have the idea for the startup I work for, I merely do administrative projects for it. Nonetheless, I have to be careful how I word things. About a month ago, I was at a meetup which had nothing to do with technology or the internet but I ran into a guy who was throwing out some buzzwords. The point came early on when he asked me what I do, and I really didn…

This will come across as rude, but I don't think there's such a thing as an "ideas guy". Every person I know who says that is covering for a lack of attention to detail and a general inability to get shit done.

Maybe there's a rarefied world of amazing CEOs who spin off amazing ideas every 10 minutes, and then legions of people go do them ... but I doubt it. And you're probably not going to get to that job without a lot of plain old execution first.

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#28

Post by mdees »

nihonjon wrote: post #5

Anyone else tired of all these entrepreneur/startup blogs and articles? It's a bubble in itself. Now I skip past them like I skip tabloid and gossip "articles".

Hacker News guideline clearly asks articles and comments to provide intellectual value, even if the subject isn't programming or hacking. Since most hackers ultimately want to get a sense of purpose out of their skill and want to create a business around their ideas and products, I guess articles on entrepreneurship are of value. Articles that are worthless fade out pretty fast anyway...

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#29

Post by personlurking »

finnh wrote: post #27
personlurking wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a 4 yr old startup. I'm an ideas guy but I didn't have the idea for the startup I work for, I merely do administrative projects for it. Nonetheless, I have to be careful how I word things. About a month ago, I was at a meetup which had nothing to do with technology or the internet but I ran into a guy who was throwing out some buzzwords. The point came early on when he asked me what I do, and I really didn…

This will come across as rude, but I don't think there's such a thing as an "ideas guy". Every person I know who says that is covering for a lack of attention to detail and a general inability to get shit done. Maybe there's a rarefied world of amazing CEOs who spin off amazing ideas every 10 minutes, and then legions of people go do them ... but I doubt it. And you're probably not going to get to that job without a…

Not rude at all.

I'd say I mean that in the sense that my mind always has put seemingly unrelated concepts together to form a new idea and that I have a daily habit (of at least 7 years) of reading tech news. Put the two together and it's not too difficult to imagine that a lot of my ideas would relate to the subject matter I consume regularly.

But as far as an "ideas guy" in a company whose purpose is just to have ideas, I agree with you.

Re: Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it

#30

Post by nirvana »

finnh wrote: post #27
personlurking wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a 4 yr old startup. I'm an ideas guy but I didn't have the idea for the startup I work for, I merely do administrative projects for it. Nonetheless, I have to be careful how I word things. About a month ago, I was at a meetup which had nothing to do with technology or the internet but I ran into a guy who was throwing out some buzzwords. The point came early on when he asked me what I do, and I really didn…

This will come across as rude, but I don't think there's such a thing as an "ideas guy". Every person I know who says that is covering for a lack of attention to detail and a general inability to get shit done. Maybe there's a rarefied world of amazing CEOs who spin off amazing ideas every 10 minutes, and then legions of people go do them ... but I doubt it. And you're probably not going to get to that job without a…

Or, put another way, I'm an ideas guy. So is my co-founder. Both of us have really good ideas, pretty regularly.

But that's not my job in our startup-- I'm in charge of engineering. My cofounder does design & marketing, and we split a lot of the CEO stuff.

People say ideas are worthless, but that's not always true- I've seen worthless ideas and really valuable ones both.

I think what you're reacting to, and what the parent is acknowledging in a humble way, is that some people have a lot of ideas but aren't yet ready to be "in charge of engineering" or whatever.

When I went to college, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I think ther are a lot of kids[1] today who have the idea they "want to work for a startup" or "found a startup"... but they still don't yet know what they really want to do with their life.

Some are foolish and think that being the "ideas guy" is valuable, some are not (and I think the parent is not.)

[1] in the sense of "younger person, cause I'm old", not in the pejorative sense.

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