As long as all the parties profit from this kind of business there is nothing wrong with it. See for example Android. Whoever thought it would be what it is for Google today for Google?
Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
81–90 of 121 posts
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#82Is this the real story (and motivation) behind IndexTank?
Even if it is inspired on IndexTank the difference is that IndexTank was a very valuable service and ended being an open source project. We can think of IndexTank as a kickstarter project now!
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#83This is easily one of the most honest and true posts I've read about Valley culture in a long, long time. Having been through this exact process, I can assure you that this is how it really works.
Would be interested in hearing about your process if you'd care to tell us.
> Having been through this exact process, I can assure you that this is how it really works.
Read OA.
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm continually reminded of Neal Stephensons remark "I saw the best minds of my generation... writing spam filters." He talks a lot lately about how we've stopped trying to solve the really hard problems and instead are continually trying to sell digital "sugar water." *Source: https://plus.google.com/116416314233992548280/posts/NxCMjiQX... )
Wait a second. Isn't Neil working on a realistic sword fighting video game? Kind of hypocritical, don't you think?
Making a realistic sword fighting game would be quite the feat for the advancement of human creativity and virtual entertainment.
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to live like a 20-something for the rest of your life, sure. Your cost structure changes as you get older and have things like houses, spouses, cars, and children.
Bullshit. I live on roughly $18k a year net. buy a house, maybe doubles or PERHAPS triples my housing allowance. Have a wife and kids and things, in total, probably triple. I don't think people understand how to not waste money any more.
Where do you live? This is HUGELY dependent on geography. $18k a month in NYC, Seattle, SF, etc., is pretty painful. Add two kids, private school (unless you live in a great district), college educations, saving for retirement, summer camp, braces, health care for 4, housing for 4 in a good neighborhood, helping out your retired parents who might not have saved enough, etc., it stacks up pretty fast.
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#86Sometimes someone says something true.
When that happens, it has to be veiled in the appearance of a satire because no one wants to admit the world really works that way.
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bullshit. I live on roughly $18k a year net. buy a house, maybe doubles or PERHAPS triples my housing allowance. Have a wife and kids and things, in total, probably triple. I don't think people understand how to not waste money any more.
Where do you live? This is HUGELY dependent on geography. $18k a month in NYC, Seattle, SF, etc., is pretty painful. Add two kids, private school (unless you live in a great district), college educations, saving for retirement, summer camp, braces, health care for 4, housing for 4 in a good neighborhood, helping out your retired parents who might not have saved enough, etc., it stacks up pretty fast.
$18k/yr in NYC or SFBA with a mortgage and a family is untenable.
$18k/yr in most major US cities probably implies:
* Subsistence diet
* Dependence on small selection of rental properties
* Extremely poor access to health care
* Dependence on informal "gratis" child care
* Near perfect job attendance
I call these out not to make the boring "gnash our teeth about the lives of the poor" case, but rather the suggest that your ability to care for a family on 18k/yr in a US metro is counterfeit: you can do it until you:
* Are ever hospitalized
* Lose your free child care
* &c ...
... at which point bang you're bankrupt. I think a lot of people who think they are getting by with low incomes are actually playing a kind of sick inverted Martingale betting strategy against life.
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#88I nearly burst out laughing when I read "Hacker Noise".
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait a second. Isn't Neil working on a realistic sword fighting video game? Kind of hypocritical, don't you think?
Making a realistic sword fighting game would be quite the feat for the advancement of human creativity and virtual entertainment.
Not exactly spaceships, fusion, and feeding Africa, though.
Re: Exploiting Silicon Valley For Profit (and Maybe Fun)
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course it's awesome to work on those problems. The point I was trying to make is that in this case the company has to choose between innovating for the long term, and solving urgent problems that mean lots of $ in the short term. Internal venture projects tend to be put on the back burner when your best engineers could save 50M by optimizing the hell out of your backend.
I'm continually reminded of Neal Stephensons remark "I saw the best minds of my generation... writing spam filters." He talks a lot lately about how we've stopped trying to solve the really hard problems and instead are continually trying to sell digital "sugar water." *Source: https://plus.google.com/116416314233992548280/posts/NxCMjiQX... )
Allow me to quote myself:
In the '60s, the best and the brightest were being lured by NASA, to put a man on the Moon. 50 years later, the best and the brightest are being lured by the Silicon Valley, to sell ads on social media. Biggest anticlimax ever.