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Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

blog.lawnstarter.com

51–60 of 97 posts

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#51
For me, it's not about ego. It's about practicality.

There are hundreds of places where I see inefficiencies and know I could make it better. It happens every day. But I'm also humble enough to know that superior capability does not mean that I'm guaranteed to make money doing it.

Two examples come to mind for me personally. First, venture capital. What they do (picking companies to fund) I could do better, guaranteed. I wouldn't fund zeroes like Lucas Duplan. I'd fund people with actual capability, not fuckups. However, VC is a business with a lot of variance and a lot of corruption (connections really matter) so, as to whether I'd actually make money, who knows? Given enough time and money for the noise variables to even out, I'd beat the leading players, but the world can stay random longer than one can stay solvent.

Second in that vein, games. Game quality is something at which the main players are failing miserably. I have no doubt that if I ran those studios, the games would be higher in quality. Would that automatically ensure more money? Fuck if I know. I don't know all the details of the business. I know that I'm better at one kinda narrow thing (technical excellence) but that doesn't mean I would run a more profitable enterprise. Maybe they produce shitty games because, guess what, shitty games make a lot of money for minimal effort.

Competence is only a small part of the equation. (If it weren't, then VCs all over the Valley would be calling me up every damn day to run their companies.) Connections and political leverage and just plain luck are also huge factors.

So, what people like me tend to end up doing (and this may be a bad strategy, but that's another discussion) is to try to stay fairly general in business scope while diving deep on a technical specialty. At this point, I'd rather climb the ladder at a boring company (and gain general technical skills and, more importantly, the relationships and credibility to advance later on) than start a potentially world-changing game company, knowing that the skills and credentials that come from the former are more transferrable. You can say that resume culture is the devil, and that it's making us all mediocre in our ambitions, and you'll be right... but I don't have the power to change it.

The real issue is that no one insures the careers of the people who start "real world" businesses. If fixing, say, the moving industry had the landing pad that being Staff Engineer at a Twitter did, then more people would do it.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#52
post #48

A quote I once heard from a very bright hedge-fund guy: "My gardener drives a Mercedes SUV. There is no one I can't learn something from."

I can see that happening, gardening is a beautiful profession. A friend told me a story about how his great uncle became rich: he was a piano player on cruise ships (thus not having a lot of expenses). Every now and then when he was on the shore he'd buy another house and rent it. By the end of his life he ended up owning most of the small English town he was from.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#53
post #21

I consider this post part of a nascent trend to de-bullshit the startup and technology scene. For years the narrative has been "we in the tech industry are standard bearers leading society into a bright new tomorrow." The recent protests around the Google buses, as well as John Oliver's takedown [1] of the tech industry seem to be striking a chord with the public, and there's a lesson to be drawn: we tech folks are n…

"Join us and help change change the world" - _every valley startup ever_

The world must be one hell of a shitty place if it needs to be changed so much every single time.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#54
post #48

A quote I once heard from a very bright hedge-fund guy: "My gardener drives a Mercedes SUV. There is no one I can't learn something from."

A quote I once heard from a very bright hedge-fund guy: "My gardener drives a Mercedes SUV. There is no one I can't learn something from."

That actually sounds crass and a bit stupid. Any idiot can buy an SUV on credit, and SUVs just show that one has shitty, suburban taste in vehicles.

I agree with the sentiment of, "Don't assume someone's an idiot because he does physical labor". But it shouldn't take a fucking ugly hunk of metal to make someone learn that. If you actually go out and talk to people who aren't like you, you learn that there are some extremely intelligent people in blue-collar labor by, I don't know, high school at the absolute latest.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#55
post #21

I consider this post part of a nascent trend to de-bullshit the startup and technology scene. For years the narrative has been "we in the tech industry are standard bearers leading society into a bright new tomorrow." The recent protests around the Google buses, as well as John Oliver's takedown [1] of the tech industry seem to be striking a chord with the public, and there's a lesson to be drawn: we tech folks are n…

"Join us and help change change the world" - _every valley startup ever_

"We're changing the world." This will be our excuse for low pay, crappy benefits, fast firing, and nonexistent career planning. We want you to think of yourself as a founder but you'll have employee-level equity and if you try to use our rising star to advance yourself (i.e. by acting like a founder in the public) we'll fire you.

Those companies are halfway houses for college kids who don't want to grow up, but they're actually more dangerous to one's career and income (short-term and long-term) than regular corporate jobs-- and the quality of work is often, ceteris paribus, worse in the goofy startups.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#56
People build products related to fields they are familiar with. The percentage of us that have experience with lawn care or some other specific industry is far less than the percentage that have experience with Facebook and the like. People are wary (and rightfully so) of building a startup to "disrupt" an industry that they have no experience.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Join us and help change change the world" - _every valley startup ever_

"We're changing the world." This will be our excuse for low pay, crappy benefits, fast firing, and nonexistent career planning. We want you to think of yourself as a founder but you'll have employee-level equity and if you try to use our rising star to advance yourself (i.e. by acting like a founder in the public) we'll fire you. Those companies are halfway houses for college kids who don't want to grow up, but they'…

If you truly are changing the world for the better, (eg. healthcare, energy, non-profit, science, etc.) that's awesome and you should totally flaunt it.

...but if you're building another rehash of some shitty social network that helps people "connect" at a more "intimate" and "personal" level please don't say that you're changing the world. You may very well be changing the world but it'll be a shittier place when you are done.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#58
post #18
post #15

While I assume this is really the intent of posting this - I did end up going to the main site. I'm missing how this is disruptive in any way. Maybe I'm totally not getting it.

Disruptive means potentially viable business. It used to mean something else, but it is not used that way anymore.

Well, uh, either definition would apply here.

Which isn't to say that any given lawn care service is not viable, but the whole "we're doing it differently" would indicate something more than, you know, setting it up online.

That's just me and I'm a cynic. But I feel like if you're going to take a stab at a paradigm shift in an industry, you should aim higher than this.

Keep in mind, this is precisely how I found and set up my lawn service, which is just two guys. :shrug:

[ And do keep in mind that I realize that self-promotion requires a healthy dose of hyperbole, but save it for the customers, not your peers ;) ]

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#59
post #48

A quote I once heard from a very bright hedge-fund guy: "My gardener drives a Mercedes SUV. There is no one I can't learn something from."

A quote I once heard from a very bright hedge-fund guy: "My gardener drives a Mercedes SUV. There is no one I can't learn something from." That actually sounds crass and a bit stupid. Any idiot can buy an SUV on credit, and SUVs just show that one has shitty, suburban taste in vehicles. I agree with the sentiment of, "Don't assume someone's an idiot because he does physical labor". But it shouldn't take a fucking ugl…

My step-dad didn't graduate high school. He was a mechanic since he was around fifteen and when it came to things mechanical in nature he was one of the smartest guys I've ever met.

Re: Drop the ego and prove "I could make that so much better"

#60
post #27

Loved this piece. > I got so caught up in this mentality that I was literally embarrassed to be working on a company that was making money in a less than sexy industry. Seems ass-backwards to me... Spot on! I wish you much success in your venture. Oh and in my opinion, a freshly cut baseball field is waaay sexier than any mobile app haha

I like that he had some personal revelation but he loses me when he assumes that everyone else working on "the next" Facebook or Snapchat is suffering from his same ego problems. There is a much more benign explanation for the glut in the consumer internet/app space; domain experience.
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