MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs • Hacker News Board

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#251

Post by shardinator » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 3:45 PM UTC

ccostes wrote: post #188

SwellJoe wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Also please don't paint an entire city (let alone one with Atlanta's demographics) as full of "casual racism." C'mon." It's the only major city I've been to where a white person dropping the word "nigger" (and used in a clearly negative way) not only happens in conversation, but it doesn't elicit gasps or any negative response. To be fair, it's also among the more diverse major cities, with tons of black-owned busin…

> It's the only major city I've been to where a white person dropping the word "nigger" (and used in a clearly negative way) not only happens in conversation, but it doesn't elicit gasps or any negative response. As a counterexample, I have lived in Atlanta for the past 7 years and never once heard anything like this. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it feels like you're painting the city with an overly broad br…

May I ask a very honest and innocent question? Are you African American?

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#252

Post by pc86 » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 4:34 PM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #168

michaelcampbell wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and has possibly the rudest drivers in the whole country) There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles: 1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places. 2. Wherever you are, people think the weather changes more frequently there than other places. I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (…

"There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles: 1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places." I have lived in an RV and traveled full-time for six of the past seven years. I've driven a bus-sized house through more cities than most folks have visited. I feel like I could write a (very boring)…

> But, there are differences in the character of drivers and traffic in various cities.

I've driven in Manhattan before and it's not that bad. Nobody will let you in but nobody will actively try to prevent you from merging either. You have room or you don't, figure it out. Driving in south Jersey is like driving in a maze of cars who are actively trying to prevent you from changing lanes or getting where you want to go. Between the Crown Vic going 10 under the limit or the WRX going 110, it's a wonder anything lives past the first six months driving in the Cherry Hill area. Orlando was the same way but the places I was in it just wasn't crowded enough to be that much an issue.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#253

Post by dodders » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 5:25 PM UTC

s_baby wrote: post #74

hehheh wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How's the political climate? It doesn't look so great from my initial Googling: Georgia is one of the states suing over the transgender bathroom issue. Per Wikipedia Georgia doesn't include sexual orientation in their laws against employer discrimination. Anything else folks from SF might be concerned about?

Atlanta has the 3rd largest LGBT population behind SF/Seattle and is pretty diverse in general. It's the other parts of Georgia that can seem backwards. Same goes for North Carolina. A person from SF would feel at home in Asheville or Raleigh despite everything going on in the news.

Do you have a source for that?

From wikipedia [1] Atlanta has the 3rd largest percentage, but it's 11th for total population. Admittedly those figures are for 2005, but I wouldn't expect Atlanta to make up that much on the top 3 in the last 10 years?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_demographics_of_the_Unite...

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#254

Post by defen » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 7:57 PM UTC

michaelcampbell wrote: post #230

defen wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm wondering if you've ever been to south Jersey or Boston, if you think Atlanta drivers are rude. I spent the first 24 years of my life in south Jersey and never perceived the drivers as particularly rude, especially compared to Boston ... can I ask where specifically?

Hoboken, Jersey City, EWR. I think there is a cultural bias at work here somewhat, too. Wherever you learned to drive seems normal, even if it is way different than other places. I think this is why Orlando and Atlanta are perceived as the wild west of driving; very few people are FROM there. Everyone brings their driving norms from wherever they learned, and they don't often mix well.

Those are all north Jersey :)

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#255

Post by SwellJoe » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 9:49 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #195

michaelcampbell wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and has possibly the rudest drivers in the whole country) There are 2 truths I've found, having lived outside Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta (in 3 different areas), Orlando, Tampa, and Los Angeles: 1. Wherever you are, people think the drivers there are worse than other places. 2. Wherever you are, people think the weather changes more frequently there than other places. I have NEVER lived, and rarely visited places (…

Grew up in Boston, moved to the Bay Area, and I think Boston drivers are worse. Sister lives in Houston, and I think that Houston drivers are even worse. At least in most of the country, they won't fire a shotgun at you because you cut them off in traffic. Also, I don't know anyone in the South Bay (SF is different) who thinks the weather changes more frequently than other places. Here the joke is "Walk outside. It's…

I spent several years in Houston, and the drivers there are polite to a fault (four way stops are hilarious in Houston). But, if you aren't driving at least 10 MPH, 20+ on highways and toll roads, over the speed limit, you're gonna have a bad time. Houston traffic is the most insistently/dangerously fast traffic I've experienced.

There have also been more shootings on the road in Houston than anywhere else I've lived. So, yeah, that seems scary, but it's not something I worried about when I lived there. In the instances where someone got shot that I know of, the person was kinda asking for it (they initiated violence and the person they were beating on happened to have a gun under the seat or in the glove box).

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#256

Post by SwellJoe » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 10:01 PM UTC

michaelcampbell wrote: post #230

defen wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm wondering if you've ever been to south Jersey or Boston, if you think Atlanta drivers are rude. I spent the first 24 years of my life in south Jersey and never perceived the drivers as particularly rude, especially compared to Boston ... can I ask where specifically?

Hoboken, Jersey City, EWR. I think there is a cultural bias at work here somewhat, too. Wherever you learned to drive seems normal, even if it is way different than other places. I think this is why Orlando and Atlanta are perceived as the wild west of driving; very few people are FROM there. Everyone brings their driving norms from wherever they learned, and they don't often mix well.

Jersey City was very scary in my motorhome, and I'm unlikely to go back in a big vehicle...but it was because of how dense everything is and how small and busy the roads are. I didn't actually find the drivers all that rude. They were kinda pushy about merging and such, but I didn't feel targeted the way I feel when driving in Atlanta.

That whole region, in general, has nicer people than their reputation would indicate, in my experience. New Yorkers and New Jerseyans (is that the right word?) were all pretty nice and helpful. I spent a month parked in Ridgewood, NJ (it was the closest I could park the RV to NYC for that long), and was struck by how friendly folks were across the whole area, given the reputation for rudeness. Riding the train was fun, asking for directions was rarely problematic, etc. Driving the house around sucked, but the people were fine.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#257

Post by spitfire » Thu, Oct 06, 2016, 11:42 PM UTC

_pmf_ wrote: post #34

jasode wrote: post #22

>In fact, it’s possible to create a huge tech company without taking venture capital, and without spending far beyond your means. It’s possible, in other words, to start a tech company that runs more like a normal business than a debt-fueled rocket ship careening out of control. The author, Farhad Manjoo, is romanticizing a bootstrapped business as "good" and (via his prosaic examples of restaurants and dog walking)…

> It should be obvious that a bootstrapped business can also be dysfunctional But it cannot continue to be so for half a decade.

Oh yes they can!

I have met absolutely incompetent business owners who just happened to stumble into goldmines and through their own incompetence have locked in customers.

Start looking at software for an unsavoury infrastructure industry and you'll find this stuff abounds. Particularly in industries that were early adopters of computerized databases.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#258

Post by kartickv » Fri, Oct 07, 2016, 3:31 AM UTC

jasode wrote: post #22

>In fact, it’s possible to create a huge tech company without taking venture capital, and without spending far beyond your means. It’s possible, in other words, to start a tech company that runs more like a normal business than a debt-fueled rocket ship careening out of control. The author, Farhad Manjoo, is romanticizing a bootstrapped business as "good" and (via his prosaic examples of restaurants and dog walking)…

Great point. But, if a startup doesn't benefit from network effects (like an email or camera app), do you think VC money has more benefits than costs?

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#259

Post by kartickv » Fri, Oct 07, 2016, 4:57 AM UTC

mazeway wrote: post #40

jasode wrote: post #22

>In fact, it’s possible to create a huge tech company without taking venture capital, and without spending far beyond your means. It’s possible, in other words, to start a tech company that runs more like a normal business than a debt-fueled rocket ship careening out of control. The author, Farhad Manjoo, is romanticizing a bootstrapped business as "good" and (via his prosaic examples of restaurants and dog walking)…

But it then bears the question that if the so called "network effect" companies has any real value (that is to generate profit in the future) or are manifestations of a bubble?

I think any network with tons of users has some value. Whether that value is what founders or investors hoped it would be is a different question.

Re: MailChimp’s founders built the company slowly by anticipating customers’ needs

#260

Post by _pmf_ » Fri, Oct 07, 2016, 7:30 AM UTC

spitfire wrote: post #257

_pmf_ wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It should be obvious that a bootstrapped business can also be dysfunctional But it cannot continue to be so for half a decade.

Oh yes they can! I have met absolutely incompetent business owners who just happened to stumble into goldmines and through their own incompetence have locked in customers. Start looking at software for an unsavoury infrastructure industry and you'll find this stuff abounds. Particularly in industries that were early adopters of computerized databases.

But at one point in time, they actually met customer demands.