Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

dylanhuang.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 284 posts

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#251

Post by robertlagrant »

hnben wrote: post #208
robertlagrant wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless large companies can intercept cash before it's paid to you and take some of it, they are only getting value from providing value.

I am sure you yourself can think of some specific examples, where companies earn money without providing value. Or are you suggesting, that every single cent that every single company earns, comes from something that actually provides value to someone (excluding shareholders)?

I'm not saying every cent; who knows? But companies can't take your money on pain of throwing you in jail. They're not tax systems. They get money when people buy their stuff, and, pretty much universally, people buy stuff they think is worth the price.

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#252

Post by robertlagrant »

realce wrote: post #209
robertlagrant wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To me, it seems exactly like the point of view that someone who wins the 100m would have. That's just your own assumption. Who cares what any of us imagines anyone else thinks? It's not really relevant.

> Who cares what any of us imagines anyone else thinks? Since you're responding and we're having a conversation about each other's opinions, I'd say it actually is relevant.

I'm not imagining what you think; I'm just responding to what you write.

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#253

Post by slowmovintarget »

NoGravitas wrote: post #232
slowmovintarget wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My opinion: In software, the best use of AI is to create a do-what-I-mean UI. That is so-called AI (more to the point, use of LLMs and vision, speech, and audio processing) can allow new modes of interface that help a user operate the computer and achieve something that was nearly impossible with the user at the raw controls. This will not produce superior work to someone who knows what they're doing at the controls.…

As long as the consequences of then producing something which was not-quite-what-they-mean but them being unable to recognize that are not too high.

Agreed. It moves the interaction to something like you'd have with contractors or service staff. Request, receive, review, accept or send for revision.

One of the keys there will be providing a way to nail down the parts that are correct, hold them constant somehow, and "in-paint" the bits that are wrong. For images, we have this figured out, but for larger works, we'll have to think through the equivalents.

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#254

Post by robertlagrant »

meiraleal wrote: post #242
robertlagrant wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your statement seems to assume that non-US startups are intrinsically worse than US ones. Why is that?

Money from customers of all non-US countries is the biggest reason. Where US tech companies can't grow, local alternatives grow to the same level (China, Russia).

Why should the presence of US tech companies mean local tech companies can't compete? What's special about US companies?

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#255

Post by zarzavat »

jefftk wrote: post #219
zarzavat wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about wages compared to house prices?

Some things in the "basket of goods" we use to compute inflation have gone up more than others, and housing is definitely one of them. You can compute exactly how much by dividing https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA646N by https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS Here's a sheet where I've done this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14NVqsKXnswG27TiwENpi... But note that some of the change here is peopl…

For many people housing isn't part of a basket, it is the basket.

If food prices go up, it hurts psychologically but it's not the end of the world. I can buy cheaper food, I can buy less food, I can eat out less. Most people in the developed world are very far from food price-induced famine. I can buy a year's worth of sustenance for a thousand dollars, it might not be healthy but I'm not going to die.

Housing is qualitatively different. Many renters are only a few steps away from homelessness, and more people rent nowadays because they cannot afford to buy. It's hard to adjust for increases in housing costs by buying cheaper housing, your housing is linked to your income.

I complain about but don't ever worry about food prices, yet the roof over my head is a real cause for concern.

For my parents' generation it was the opposite, being overweight was more uncommon, housing was dirt cheap, people worried about getting enough calories rather than too many. Indexing wages to inflation is an anachronism that we have taken into this new world.

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#256

Post by meiraleal »

robertlagrant wrote: post #254
meiraleal wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money from customers of all non-US countries is the biggest reason. Where US tech companies can't grow, local alternatives grow to the same level (China, Russia).

Why should the presence of US tech companies mean local tech companies can't compete? What's special about US companies?

> Why should the presence of US tech companies mean local tech companies can't compete?

That's not the right question. The correct question is:

Why DOES the presence of US tech companies mean local tech companies can't compete?

And that's the beginning of the discussion. If there is no money to be made, no market will be developed. Block US companies and in a few years you have a booming ecosystem.

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#257

Post by geo88 »

samiv wrote: post #227
sfjailbird wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's gotta be a name for this fallacy. "This enterprise software sucks and is extremely expensive, so we will build something that is actually good and become billionaires!" This is the graveyard of engineer driven startups in the enterprise space, who make the mistake of thinking that software quality matters. The fact is it is not a top priority, if it is even a priority at all. In the enterprise space, if you'r…

Exactly. Only engineer and product oriented types think that quality has any actual value. Unfortunately it does not, even less so if your only USP is "quality". If your products only differentiator is that it's technically better than the competitor it really needs to be 100x better in order to sway anyone's interest. If your maximum work/effort you can put into any project is 100% which you have to allocate into fr…

Isn't that going into the other extreme though?

You can get very far with just sales and marketing, but if the quality isn't there, reputationally, that's going to catch up with you over time, same if you have dodgy business practices (i.e.: predatory pricing practices for existing customers, impossible cancellations etc.).

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#258

Post by chrisandchris »

ozim wrote: post #144
Hendrikto wrote: post #118

> While we gained some traction with some startups, we ultimately weren't able to build a hyper-growth business. […] We then decided to pivot into a vertical B2B SaaS AI product […, but] we haven't been able to find enough traction to make us believe that we were on the right track to build a huge business. American startup culture is so weird. Not everything needs to be a hyper-scaler, not everything needs to be hug…

I am in Europe and I work for a company that has exactly the same struggles. Sales cycles for B2B for big players are insane - price points to offer our stuff to small/medium businesses are not enough. Even if we provide value and save time for customers it still is hard work all the times to explain the value. Well the grass is greener on the other side - but I can see how having B2B business where for years you hav…

I agree with you, but look at it this way: Life is hard, and most of us need to work hard to keep it going. It's never going the other way for most of us. Some minority will have it easy/have luck. Many will fail.

Sure I want to win the big prize, that's why I'm playing the lottery from time to time. But in my $dayjob, it is and it will stay hard work.

If it actually would be easy, everyone would do it.

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#259

Post by geo88 »

gizmo wrote: post #146
sfjailbird wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's gotta be a name for this fallacy. "This enterprise software sucks and is extremely expensive, so we will build something that is actually good and become billionaires!" This is the graveyard of engineer driven startups in the enterprise space, who make the mistake of thinking that software quality matters. The fact is it is not a top priority, if it is even a priority at all. In the enterprise space, if you'r…

The world has changed. Today you can sell software for $5000 or $10000 without any sales process. Not always of course, you have to find the right niche.

Curious to learn more about this, re pricing limits in today's corporate world.

What do most managers have access to on their corp card in terms of spend limits, without needing to get VP/finance approval for their purchase?

In my mind, I had the limit as $500/month (potentially from some old readings on the subject).

Re: After 3 Years, I Failed. Here's All My Startup's Code

#260

Post by [deleted] »

result2vino wrote: post #156
danjac wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that once you take the VC coin, you are pushed towards hyper-scale. If you don't take the VC coin it's a much harder and longer path to self-sustainability, unless you have some way to fund yourself e.g. consulting. 37 Signals is the model here, but they are super-exceptional (they created Rails, after all). Then having got there, a VC-funded competitor will just roll over you as they'll have better co…

[flagged]

[deleted]
Post reply on HN