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Yeah. It's kind of embarrassing how wrong I proved myself to be about business. But... on the other hand, one thing I am still certain of... 90% of business a

• logicallee 11y ago
  no, what I'm saying is that contrary to the point I was disagreeing with, Jeff Bezos didn't know anything about bookstores. This is a direct refutation of "live in that world". the fact that you didn't personally succeed in online bookselling actually doesn't mean that to succeed in online bookselling, you first have to understand bookselling. You don't!
  • lsc 11y ago
    Right. I'm mostly in agreement. I did live in that world and still failed miserably, in part because I was spending a lot of the effort I should have been spending programming on, you know, selling books. I just find this apparent truth to be deeply unsatisfying, that's all, and "live in that world" is a good example of business advice that sounds really good, really true, and really satisfying, but that doesn't seem to hold up when you subject it to the harsh tests of reality. That, and I don't think I'd believe anything written by a successful businessman like Bezos. Who knows what he actually knew, who he talked to, who helped him or what his intent was at the time. now he's going to tell the best story he can, because that's what a competent businessperson would do. Because of this, I think reading advice or stories of success from proven masters is way less useful than it sounds.