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Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

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Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#51

Post by pg »

ytadesse wrote: post #48
pg wrote: post #40

I'm going to kill this article as a dupe. It's just other articles rewritten in more colorful language. But it's giving this thing too much credit even to call it a dupe, because in the process of making the language more colorful, he's now describing something that is definitely not the case. The other articles are talking about a trend that's happening as slowly as global warming. No door has suddenly crashed down,…

With all due respect PG, I'm not sure there's precedence for you "killing" articles like this but I don't think that's a good idea. This article has a lot of people talking and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

For cases like this where the article is fluff but the comments are substantial, we have a way of killing articles that doesn't turn off new comments, and that is what I used.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#52

Post by bdcravens »

danielweber wrote: post #17
ryanisinallofus wrote: post #5

I really don't understand the hate with which Dan Lyons is speaking. Startups are crazy, sometimes hugely profitable companies that sometimes start up with the same money it takes to start a restaurant or less. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail, sometimes they are a complete joke. It's intense and awesome and that's why we are all drawn to it: huge potential. VCs are a part of it and without them this marke…

I can appreciate the fact that "mobile social" is sucking the oxygen out of the room for more standard start-ups, but I, too, found his hate too overwhelming. There are real people behind all those "crappy" companies.

There's also real people behind shows like Jerry Springer and Honey Boo Boo. Doesn't man they're not crappy.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#53

Post by bicknergseng »

potatolicious wrote: post #10

Seems like a touch too much schadenfreude. I've seen some genuinely awful ideas in startupland, but one has to remember that predicting success is really hard , especially the big types of success like Facebook or Google. Google itself started as a product with no revenue stream, only a highly ephemeral "well we could sell ads?" one that almost didn't pan out . Facebook in its early form seemed like a website for Ivy…

Agreed. I was wondering how the post would change if it was emotionally neutral and took a serious, objective look at the subject rather than the "these people are dumb and should feel dumb" attitude.

Criticism is necessary, but I think this kind of cynicism is mostly counterproductive. I think it takes more courage and intelligence to figure out how to make a blogger-turned-vc effective or find that diamond in the rough that no one expected to go anywhere than it does to say they're stupid.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#54

Post by bicknergseng »

pg wrote: post #40

I'm going to kill this article as a dupe. It's just other articles rewritten in more colorful language. But it's giving this thing too much credit even to call it a dupe, because in the process of making the language more colorful, he's now describing something that is definitely not the case. The other articles are talking about a trend that's happening as slowly as global warming. No door has suddenly crashed down,…

You need the smell of rotten eggs to know there's a gas leak.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#55

Post by bdcravens »

pg wrote: post #40

I'm going to kill this article as a dupe. It's just other articles rewritten in more colorful language. But it's giving this thing too much credit even to call it a dupe, because in the process of making the language more colorful, he's now describing something that is definitely not the case. The other articles are talking about a trend that's happening as slowly as global warming. No door has suddenly crashed down,…

The day Steve Jobs passed the entire front page was filled with dupes.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#56

Post by pg »

rexreed wrote: post #49
pg wrote: post #40

I'm going to kill this article as a dupe. It's just other articles rewritten in more colorful language. But it's giving this thing too much credit even to call it a dupe, because in the process of making the language more colorful, he's now describing something that is definitely not the case. The other articles are talking about a trend that's happening as slowly as global warming. No door has suddenly crashed down,…

While I don't want to second-guess your judgement, I've seen many other articles that are just as much rehashes and not shut down as dupes. Why does this article deserve the axe so quickly? Indeed, if it is saying something different from the other articles (as odious as it might be), wouldn't that indicate it is not a dupe?

This article is dupe + linkbait. Most mere dupes don't get upvoted, so there's no need to kill them.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#57

Post by potatolicious »

rexreed wrote: post #33
potatolicious wrote: post #10

Seems like a touch too much schadenfreude. I've seen some genuinely awful ideas in startupland, but one has to remember that predicting success is really hard , especially the big types of success like Facebook or Google. Google itself started as a product with no revenue stream, only a highly ephemeral "well we could sell ads?" one that almost didn't pan out . Facebook in its early form seemed like a website for Ivy…

Selecting the outliers as exemplars of what is typical doesn't make much sense. What about the 100,000+ non-Googles and non-Facebooks that very much fit into what the author is stating here? Poor businesses funded by poor investors supported by a poor media is the problem here and all that the "Series A Crunch" will do is "expose those who were swimming naked" as so eloquently stated by Warren Buffet [1]. Companies w…

The entirety of the startup "industry" is about exemplars and outliers. If we went by the typical outcome of a startup (or any new business, tech or otherwise) we'd never start anything.

Everyone is in it to try and become an outlier.

The theory is that we would be willing to invest in 1000 non-Googles and non-Facebooks if it means we can have a shot at having a single Google or Facebook. The "crunch", as it were, seems to be arising from the fact that there seem to be a lot more than 1000 non-Googles for every Google, and even the successful don't seem to be as successful as tech companies in previous generations - which leads to an adjustment in the ratio of failures/successes that you're willing to accept.

That in and of itself is unsurprising, but the natural concern is whether or not we've figured out, even roughly, what predicts success, and if the "crunch" correctly targets clearly bullshit companies, or if it's a general contraction that will eliminate good companies as well as bad.

I don't think anyone is lamenting the loss of bullshit businesses with no plan. The more concerning question is: are we any better at determining future success, on day 1, than we used to be?

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#59

Post by bryze »

tptacek wrote: post #19

This piece is unbelievably lazy. It is the easiest thing in the world to have written --- Lyons is, what, the 93rd person to hop on board this trend story? --- and yet the analysis in it crumbles to dust and floats away the moment you try to pick it up to look at it more closely. Go to medical school? Make real tech products? Don't build apps in a weekend? Avoid bus rides with Scoble? Not one person in the universe i…

Amen. About the only thing I learned is that if I want to read flamboyant editorial I'll go to Dan Lyons.

Re: Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money

#60

Post by tptacek »

pg wrote: post #51
ytadesse wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect PG, I'm not sure there's precedence for you "killing" articles like this but I don't think that's a good idea. This article has a lot of people talking and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

For cases like this where the article is fluff but the comments are substantial, we have a way of killing articles that doesn't turn off new comments, and that is what I used.

I wish you'd kill articles for reasons like this more often.
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