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We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

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Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#21

Post by calinet6 »

rmrfrmrf wrote: post #15

This is the kind of post that happens when someone gets so wrapped up in startup land that they lose all context of the "real world." These "first world problem"-solving companies he's talking about are really just B2B companies made to help the ACTUAL, real-world problem solving companies do their jobs more easily. No customer cares about MailChimp. No consumer thinks about Twilio. They're not solving first-world pr…

This is all well and good, but I think the point is that there is an imbalance, and very few tech startups are going after the big problems these days.

There are some notable ones, but it seems to be the road less traveled.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#22

Post by gmu3 »

lmm wrote: post #11

Are porn sites really that easy to make money from? The impression I've had from here is that while there's lots of money to be made, there's also lots of competition and the business relationships you need can be difficult to obtain and keep.

And obviously most advertisers don't want to be associated with inappropriate content. I remember in moot's TED talk he briefly alluded to the problem.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#23

Post by jzellis »

gmu3 wrote: post #14

I feel like the author somewhat contradicts himself when he implies the poor ghetto types will never be innovators but says the rest of us are all blinded from the "very real problems that the rest of humanity faces." If you really felt that way, wouldn't the ghetto types have a big advantage if they can get over their resource problems.

I apologize if I implied that poor people will never be innovators, that wasn't my intention. I meant to suggest that those of us who already have these skills share them with people who don't...including, I probably should have explicitly said, teaching them those skills.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#24

Post by cllns »

calinet6 wrote: post #18
cllns wrote: post #10

> A few months ago, a startup developer friend said to me "I don't understand why poor kids, ghetto kids, don't do startups to get out of poverty." I've got just about zero tolerance left for people who don't acknowledge their privilege.

Correction: zero tolerance for a system they've spent their entire lives within that never taught them the right way to think about their position in society.

Maybe. This is a tough point. The 'system' obviously sucks but I don't want to skirt personal responsibility.

It's the upper-middle class straight white cisgendered male's fault if he doesn't take the time to learn about his privilege. He has the resources, but chooses to ignore it.

(Note: I'm not saying the person from the article necessarily fits this description; I'm speaking more generally)

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#25

Post by squozzer »

>But technologists used to work on big problems. Not First World problems, but whole world problems -- sending humans to the moon, ending poverty, ending disease.

Sending humans to the Moon was (and apparently still is) a First World problem, unless you intend to terraform and colonize it with a social cross-section of humanity.

Smart people are still working on the other big problems, but they require a lot of time and resources -- heavily concentrated in a relatively small number of organizations I might add -- while the rest of us have to satisfy ourselves with making money and a life relatively free of heroic deeds.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#26

Post by criley »

calinet6 wrote: post #18
cllns wrote: post #10

> A few months ago, a startup developer friend said to me "I don't understand why poor kids, ghetto kids, don't do startups to get out of poverty." I've got just about zero tolerance left for people who don't acknowledge their privilege.

Correction: zero tolerance for a system they've spent their entire lives within that never taught them the right way to think about their position in society.

Correction: zero tolerance for parents who raise children and do not teach them the right way to think about their position in society.

Not that I necessarily agree with my correction, but I found yours to be a bit... politically myopic.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#27

Post by Ixiaus »

I agree with the sentiment of the article, Steve Blank gave a somewhat more enlightening talk about this topic at SXSW (I can't remember what it was titled, but here's the slides from the talk - it's all I could find: http://www.slideshare.net/500startups/steve-blank-stanford-s...)

"Porn" was a terrible example, btw. I imagine Porn is more difficult to get rich at then by copy-pasting and iterating on an idea in a space where VC funding is flying and it's the "popular" thing to do.

Porn, I'm sure, is extremely difficult to raise funding for and I'll bet licensing from the actual producers of porn is costly. What about user generated porn sites? I'll bet their revenue models are even more scary and only a few actually make it by pushing camsite adverts on you.

[EDIT] To finish what I was saying, I believe as a programmer, not porn but HFT or working for finance/quant firms would be a good parallel for "getting rich".

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#28

Post by lubujackson »

The innovator-iterator argument seems to be a red herring. The real issue here is building bullshit apps vs. helpful apps. I think focusing on making helpful apps is a more important message to developers than trying to "fix poverty in Africa" which is a nice goal but not something any web developer is likely going to impact.

The reality is no one is going to come up with an idea like mFarm without REALLY understanding that audience. You won't understand an entire ecosystem just by sitting on the corner. If you want to help Kenyans, instead find some promising Kenyan entrepreneurs and offer to be their code monkey, review their code or host their website. I think humility is crucial if you want to contribute to a market you don't fully understand.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#29

Post by jwoah12 »

> But technologists used to work on big problems. Not First World problems, but whole world problems -- sending humans to the moon, ending poverty, ending disease

I see this sentiment a lot these days, and I can't help but wonder if this is a case of looking into the past through rose-tinted glasses. Just like how people always talk about the "good ole' days" while selectively forgetting about everything that was wrong during that time. Could this all be selection bias? Decades ago, the barrier to entry to become a technologist and start a tech company was a lot higher. Writing software was harder, more expensive, and fewer people were trained to do it. Therefore those people had to be especially passionate and skilled at the craft. I think this subset of technologists still exists and is probably even larger than it was "back then," but since there are so many more developers out there today, they make up a smaller percentage.

Re: We call ourselves innovators, but most of us are really just iterators

#30

Post by theorique »

calinet6 wrote: post #18
cllns wrote: post #10

> A few months ago, a startup developer friend said to me "I don't understand why poor kids, ghetto kids, don't do startups to get out of poverty." I've got just about zero tolerance left for people who don't acknowledge their privilege.

Correction: zero tolerance for a system they've spent their entire lives within that never taught them the right way to think about their position in society.

the right way to think about their position in society.

What is "the right way" for a person to think about his position in society? Is there only one correct point of view?

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