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I would add, make something YOU would actually use. Don't make something with the intent only on getting rich. That's how you're successful.
by overcast 10y ago
I would add, make something YOU would actually use. Don't make something with the intent only on getting rich. That's how you're successful.
- CPLX 10y agoWhile agree that there's some truth to this statement, a counter argument would be that this is exactly the reason there are so many trivial lifestyle related platforms and services that solve a problem that really only 20-30 something well off Bay Area software developer types tend to have.
- overcast 10y agoSo basically Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat? Not one of those interest me in my thirties. Obviously there has to be some substance to what you're creating, but you actually wanting to use it, is a big driving factor.
- athenot 10y agoThis may be one of those cases where living outside the Bay Area (and being in a different demographic) actually provides a competitive advantage.
- coldtea 10y agoBut, for god's sake, don't make the nth "skateboarding startup", "surfing startup", "t-shirt startup", "music startup", "Startup for enthusiast photographers", etc -- in other words, things that young developers, in the microcosm, believe everybody cares about, when not even a large percentage of the younger demographics gives a damn about such things...
- overcast 10y agoI wasn't aware of the huge skateboarding/surfing startup culture!
- coldtea 10y agoThere is -- just not on the unicorn level. But startups are not only those designed to be unicorns and be sold for $10 billion -- "lifestyle businesses" are also startups.
- overcast 10y agoIf it makes money, then it makes money. Let the market decide if it needs another one.
- coldtea 10y agoI don't believe that money is the ultimate justification for everything -- including running a business.
- overcast 10y agoActually that is the definition of a business. - the purchase and sale of goods in an attempt to make a profit.
- coldtea 10y ago>Actually that is the definition of a business. The definition of something is not its justification. There's a definition for murder too (including what is an effective murder, e.g. not getting caught, etc), doesn't mean it's ok to do it.
- overcast 10y agoI don't even know how to respond to someone comparing murder to running a business. So we'll end this discussion here.
- coldtea 10y agoProbably it's for the best, because I also don't know how to respond to someone feigning a moral outage because of a casual comparison meant to illustrate a point, and not to say that business = murder.
- tonyedgecombe 10y agoI write software that helps big companies solve issues with printing. My small software business doesn't have these issues because we print almost nothing. Does that mean I should ignore this market?