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What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

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Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#91

Post by jbattle »

gramsey wrote: post #71
pathy wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You appear to be very jealous of their success. This is Hacker News, we should celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and look at the lessons that can be learned from success stories like this. If I could build Instagram and sell it for $1b I sure as hell would. Might not be saving the world but people appear enjoy using it so who cares. They did manage to sell a company for $1b, a feat which practically all of us neve…

Oh please. Spare us the jealousy insinuations, and stop perpetuating the myth that if entrepreneurs are actually worth anything and work hard, it is guaranteed that they will swiftly become inundated with success. Sometimes there are no "lessons that can be learned from success stories like this". Believe it or not, for every Instagram, there's a hundred startups with founders that are just as smart and try just as h…

> Do the founders of Instagram deserve their success?

no! good for them - but I don't see any way they 'deserved' it

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#92

Post by alan_cx »

[deleted] wrote: post #77

[deleted]

The reason people think the American Dream is as you state, is because the get rich quick people made it up to justify their exploitative wealth (I think slavery counts as exploitation), and need the common man to be educated and work hard for them, while spending all their earnings making the get rich quick people richer.

In short, the American Dream is a fraud. Capitalism means a huge chunk of people literally have to be poor, other wise costs rise, inflation goes mental and capitalism fails. Dunno if any one has noticed, but, er recession? People wanted the trappings of the American Dream, they couldn't afford it so they borrowed, couldn't pay it back and the whole thing came crashing down, and the only people bailed out were... guess who..... yeah, the get rich quick paddlers of the American Dream.

This is why we get boom and bust cycles. It happens when poor people trying to pretend to be rich begin to struggle to pay debt, and stop spending elsewhere. Its quite simple.

Not to slag off the US, the whole of western capitalism did this. The only difference is that the US lie of the American Dream is engrained in to American culture, so much that Americans, well, none Americans too, really believe it to be true. Its not, and never will be, because it actually makes no sense. You cant be right with out poor people to make it happen. Most of us will struggle for literally nothing more than mere survival, then die.

The real kick in the guts is that there is no known better system. Might be able to manage it better, but in the end, the masses will remain pretty poor, while the very few will be able to be filthy rich. I see no way out.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#93

Post by raldi »

gramsey wrote: post #71
pathy wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You appear to be very jealous of their success. This is Hacker News, we should celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and look at the lessons that can be learned from success stories like this. If I could build Instagram and sell it for $1b I sure as hell would. Might not be saving the world but people appear enjoy using it so who cares. They did manage to sell a company for $1b, a feat which practically all of us neve…

Oh please. Spare us the jealousy insinuations, and stop perpetuating the myth that if entrepreneurs are actually worth anything and work hard, it is guaranteed that they will swiftly become inundated with success. Sometimes there are no "lessons that can be learned from success stories like this". Believe it or not, for every Instagram, there's a hundred startups with founders that are just as smart and try just as h…

>> If I could build Instagram and sell it for $1b

>> I sure as hell would

> Bullshit. Maybe you could!

You need to read up on how the word "if" works.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#94

Post by joonix »

SandB0x wrote: post #31

You may as well be reading about a rock band here. This story does not and will not apply to you. This is the one in a thousand/million fairy-tale of the frivolous app dreamed up in coffee shops, fuelled by rapid investment and sold for vast sums to a tech giant without so much as a whiff of a business model.

In addition there aren't many lessons to be gleaned from the story. It might be entertaining to read but in the end it's as if you just wasted 20 minutes playing Solitaire.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#95

Post by joonix »

mailshanx wrote: post #24
pathy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess would be that it is harder, especially to get connections like Zuckerberg, if nothing else because he, and others like him, are now quite hard to reach. That said, getting to know the up-and-coming Valley entrepreneurs should be doable. It is not as easy as getting to know them while you are in college but go to conventions, go to coffee shops, bars. If that is not your thing, start conversations on HN, Twit…

But doesn't a huge part of the problem stem from geography? Like you, i'm finishing up my Masters in Singapore - that is pretty much on the opposite side of the globe as SV. Surely i can't afford to go flying around to SV conferences as a student. I'll be speaking at a few conferences in Europe this summer, but still, i feel that if you are not located at least in the USA, you are missing out on a huge piece of start…

Stay in Singapore. Build something for an Asian, or African, market.

Am I the only one who cringes when reading stories like this about the Valley? I do not want to be in a bubble. I do not want to take part in gossip or the popularity contest. I would much rather stay under the radar, out of the sights of competition, in an underserved market.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#96

Post by muglug »

logicallee wrote: post #67
SandB0x wrote: post #31

You may as well be reading about a rock band here. This story does not and will not apply to you. This is the one in a thousand/million fairy-tale of the frivolous app dreamed up in coffee shops, fuelled by rapid investment and sold for vast sums to a tech giant without so much as a whiff of a business model.

I see. Let's say I see a big incumbent who's UNIQUE selling point is 'we have everyone's private photos. people have to come to us if they want to see their friend's photos.' I start threatening them. They pay and buy us. I get rich. The incumbent gets to keep everyone's photos. At what point in the above do we not have a business model? Oh, you mean it can't possibly WORK! Except that it just did. Well, I'm sorry, b…

I'm fairly confident this is Path's ultimate business model.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#97

Post by marknutter »

alan_cx wrote: post #92
[deleted] wrote: post #77

[deleted]

The reason people think the American Dream is as you state, is because the get rich quick people made it up to justify their exploitative wealth (I think slavery counts as exploitation), and need the common man to be educated and work hard for them, while spending all their earnings making the get rich quick people richer. In short, the American Dream is a fraud. Capitalism means a huge chunk of people literally have…

You need to read a book called The Millionnaire Next Door. The "American Dream" is very much a real thing and it rarely involves luck or exploitation. At the time of the book's writing, 80% of millionnaires in the US were first generation millionnaires and a large part of them first generation American immigrants.

> Capitalism means a huge chunk of people literally have to be poor, other wise costs rise, inflation goes mental and capitalism fails.

Of course "poor" is a relative term and the standard of living for the poor continues to rise as new innovations, efficiencies, and wealth enter the market. A poor person can walk into any supermarket and buy food that would have been considered and absurd and extravagant luxury 100 years ago. They can buy cell phones that let them communicate with anybody in the world instantly. But yes, there will always be someone who has less than somebody else, but what does it really matter if everyone's standard of living is rising?

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#98

Post by logicallee »

jacquesm wrote: post #81
logicallee wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only terrible thing about the misunderstanding that VC's are uniform herd animals who all act the same way, have the saem ideas of what's good and what they'd rather pass on, is that it's true! Terrible but true. You will literally see vc look at the other VC and do exactly what they're doing. You can literally create your own VC market by making VC A think that VC B is interested, which is true, because VC B is…

Some questions for you: Do you run your own company? Do you have employees? Co-founders? Have you ever received funding from a VC? Have you ever solicited funding? Were you accepted? Rejected?

all of the above (yes to all seven question marks) except for number four receiving funding (from a vc), as in check clears, no that hasn't happened yet.

going through this process now - and I can tell you, if I fucked up with one VC I would fuck up with them all. everyone talks.

On the flip side, when you're hot everyone wants you, you don't have enough equity to sell to everyone!

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#99

Post by marknutter »

oinksoft wrote: post #79
[deleted] wrote: post #77

[deleted]

The country was practically founded on "get filthy rich quick," and the idea has never really gone out of vogue, for better or worse.

I disagree. Those are the stories you hear about, but the silent majority of successful businesses out there do it the old fashioned way by slowly growing a profitable, modest business into a larger and larger concern over time. Don't get wrapped up in all the hype.

Re: What Really Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

#100

Post by mcherm »

xyproto wrote: post #9

Pivoting is an integral part of the iterations of a lean startup and not "screwing up" as written in the clueless article.

I prefer to think that pivoting (as opposed to minor tweaks to business plan) is indeed, "screwing up", but that making mistakes is not a bad thing... as long as you can learn from it and move on to do better. Failing to screw up ever means you're not taking enough risks.
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