The little things I learned in the valley • Hacker News Board

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#21

Post by beat » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:40 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #6

"Quite a few companies are built by people who have no passion for that business. They are in the axis mundi to strike gold. It makes me sad." Worked or is working for Tony Hsieh @Zappos who couldn't give a crap about shoes. I realize the author is actually talking about start-up founders and not CEO's of successful corporations, but we should be weary of the advice that you must be passionate about your market/produ…

You don't need to be passionate about the product of your business. Tony Hsieh may not care that much about shoes, but he cares tremendously about customer service and employee satisfaction. He's not making happy shoes, he's making happy customers and happy employees.

Frankly, lots of businesses don't require "passion" in the eros sense about the product. One doesn't become passionate about dry cleaning, or transmission overhauls, or phlebotomy. The vast majority of jobs pay because they're necessary but not interesting. Products that inspire deep passion, like music or farming, rarely pay well, because passion is its own reward.

If you want to make money, become really good at doing something that doesn't inspire passion, preferably something that most people really hate or fear. Get rewarded with pride in quality work, and the pay that comes with doing something that sucks for people who need it done.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#22

Post by dntrkv » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #3

There is hope on the streets. The cogs of the American economy seem like moving. [...] A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this.

Are you implying that the two are mutually exclusive? Solving homelessness is not an economic problem. There are so many factors involved, that you can have a great economy with low unemployment but tons of homeless people.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#23

Post by beat » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

supahfly_remix wrote: post #4

> A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this. Does he mean a startup to help him avoid streets with homeless, or a startup to solve the homeless problem?

"A startup to solve the homeless problem" is the Golden Hammer Antipattern in action.

"We have software startups and they're amazing, so they can solve any problem".

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#24

Post by orky56 » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:45 PM UTC

legohead wrote: post #17

My first impressions of San Francisco were quite opposite of yours -- it was ugly, dirty, smelly and scary. I went for a conference and was in a nice hotel downtown. I went out to grab some dinner at night and couldn't wait to get back, lots of weirdos out on the street. I've been to cities all over the world and never felt as uncomfortable as I did in SF. Maybe I just got unlucky that night...

Union Square is one of the most touristy parts yet with a couple wrong turns you're in some very sketchy areas.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#25

Post by untog » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:46 PM UTC

throwaway13qf85 wrote: post #12

cryoshon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like he's missed the elephant in the room. The tech sector's cogs are moving at an increasingly rapid pace whereas nearly everyone else has been jammed to a standstill or losing ground since 2008. The proliterian hatred of the tech sector is based on jealousy and misplaced blame for the fallout caused by gentrification which follows higher incomes. The homeless are the most blatant casualties of a depressed eco…

I don't think you understand what the phrase "elephant in the room" means. If lots of people are talking about something (and certainly, a lot of people are talking about the tech sector vs the rest of the economy) then it's not the elephant in the room.

(and certainly, a lot of people are talking about the tech sector vs the rest of the economy)

I'm not sure they're talking about it in the tech sector, though.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#26

Post by untog » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:47 PM UTC

dntrkv wrote: post #22

untog wrote: post #3

There is hope on the streets. The cogs of the American economy seem like moving. [...] A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this.

Are you implying that the two are mutually exclusive? Solving homelessness is not an economic problem. There are so many factors involved, that you can have a great economy with low unemployment but tons of homeless people.

Getting to 0% homelessness would require more than just economic action, but homelessness is still an economic issue.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#27

Post by icebraining » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:49 PM UTC

beat wrote: post #23

supahfly_remix wrote: post #4

> A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this. Does he mean a startup to help him avoid streets with homeless, or a startup to solve the homeless problem?

"A startup to solve the homeless problem" is the Golden Hammer Antipattern in action. "We have software startups and they're amazing, so they can solve any problem".

Being surprised it doesn't exist is not the same as having faith that they could definitively solve it.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#28

Post by ethomson » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

legohead wrote: post #17

My first impressions of San Francisco were quite opposite of yours -- it was ugly, dirty, smelly and scary. I went for a conference and was in a nice hotel downtown. I went out to grab some dinner at night and couldn't wait to get back, lots of weirdos out on the street. I've been to cities all over the world and never felt as uncomfortable as I did in SF. Maybe I just got unlucky that night...

You did not get unlucky. The Tenderloin is (rightly) considered the worst part of San Francisco, but this spills out quickly into Union Square and Downtown. I've witnessed homeless guys beating each other with brooms in front of a nice restaurant downtown. I've witnessed the sous chef from a Union Square restaurant getting into a fistfight with a guy on the street who was trying to lift some produce that was getting loaded into his kitchen. You have to be careful not to step on needles in Yerba Buena gardens.

The only reedeming quality about the Tenderloin is that you expect it to be sketchy and disgusting. When one pays out the nose to be at a giant tech conference at Moscone, or spends hundreds of dollars a night on a hotel room in Union Square, one is very surprised how disgusting that part of the city is.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#29

Post by the_af » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:51 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #8

supahfly_remix wrote: post #4

> A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this. Does he mean a startup to help him avoid streets with homeless, or a startup to solve the homeless problem?

I certainly hope we wasn't referring to a startup to help you avoid the homeless. Taken in context, I believe he's referring to the widening income gap and would therefore not be advocating simply avoiding them. A startup to fix the homeless problem? Good luck.

Agreed about the "good luck" thing. I wonder if this is a common reality disconnect thing going on in the SF startup world.

Homelessness and poverty aren't entrepreneurial problems to be solved by a startup. They are profound socioeconomic and mental health problems that require a big change beyond what's possible with a new social app thingy or an iOS gadget or an agile web framework or whatever. It probably requires country-wide or world-wide political and economic policy change. It's also something that has been going on for centuries, and I doubt this was because there weren't enough enthusiastic startup entrepreneurs in the world.

That I have to even say this makes me wonder if the startup guys in SF are actually Martians experimenting on us Earthlings.

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#30

Post by dllthomas » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:52 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #25

throwaway13qf85 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you understand what the phrase "elephant in the room" means. If lots of people are talking about something (and certainly, a lot of people are talking about the tech sector vs the rest of the economy) then it's not the elephant in the room.

(and certainly, a lot of people are talking about the tech sector vs the rest of the economy) I'm not sure they're talking about it in the tech sector , though.

Sure they are. Whether arguing for or against it, they're talking about it. Not everyone, certainly, but enough that "elephant in the room" seems an inappropriate description.