7 ms·

Interesting points to think about: - It's just a wordpress website. You don't need nothing fancy to be successful. - Unknown niche market instead of 'going wi

Interesting points to think about: - It's just a wordpress website. You don't need nothing fancy to be successful. - Unknown niche market instead of 'going with the flow'. - A 16 year old is capable of making a 'good enough' algorithm for a new market. - Her (amateur?) pricing strategy/conversion funnel seems more balanced than some made by professionals.

mobiuscog 10y ago
She has a wealthy (famous) family, very used to publicity and marketing, and one of their businesses is involved with China.
- galfarragem 10y ago
  It's more productive to think that she used her advantages in a positive way instead of wasting them.
  - mobiuscog 10y ago
    Absolutely - but it should be portrayed in that context.
- mpeg 10y ago
  That most definitely helped her get early clients and commercial success, but I think it's still very cool that a young girl was able to plan, build and execute a business idea. Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn.
  - vtlynch 10y ago
    >Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn. Because most 16 year olds dont come from a family with such a wealthy (both in money and opportunities) background.
    - hnal943 10y ago
      Still, she's leveraging those opportunities when the alternative is a life of leisure.
  - ryanlol 10y ago
    >Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn. And most people waste their lives away in 9-5 jobs. It's not an age thing.
- taneq 10y ago
  People always state things like this to imply "it's not what you know, it's who you know." I think it's quite the opposite - she grew up in a family environment where the fundamentals of business were part of the culture, as much as literacy and education. If a kid grows up understanding finance, business development, how to pitch an idea to investors etc. they're going to be lightyears ahead of some kid who grew up being taught to 'do well in school so you can earn a good hourly wage'.
  - c12 10y ago
    You mean like the rest of us "wage slaves"?
  - michaelscott 10y ago
    I think this kind of proves the point, though. These kids know their entrepreneurial and business-minded parents from birth (i.e. "what they know" comes from "who they know"), as opposed to those of us who grew up as children of "salary-parents"
    - wastedhours 10y ago
      Great counter point - people tend to discount parental influence as being "who you know" if it isn't direct nepotism. It's essentially like being born with a fantastic mentor from Day 1, and those of us fortunate to have that spirit of embracing entrepreneurial pursuits from a young age are, well, fortunate.
    - taneq 10y ago
      I've always heard the "who you know" used as a way to state that contacts are more important than skills, but as you point out, a good mentor blurs the lines between them.
  - UlyssesSKrunk 10y ago
    But that supports the "it's not what you know, it's who you know." idea. Most people I think see that saying as meaning that if you take somebody, like this girl for instance, and swap her out for somebody else who didn't accomplish anything like this, that the new person could more easily be similarly successfully to this girl.
- acveilleux 10y ago
  That alone does not get you 200k clients.
  - andrepd 10y ago
    No, of course not, because not everyone in her situation has a business with 200k clients, obviously. But it helps.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
joshaidan 10y ago
> It's just a wordpress website. You don't need nothing fancy to be successful. I've observed similar products myself, often ones that are more successful versions of my own creations. I've seen stuff built with spaghetti PHP code, yet it was marketed well and more people were paying money to use it than my own. Yet when I looked at it, the first thing I saw was an SQL injection vulnerability that would allow me to drop the entire database. It makes me wonder though, if instead of looking at entrepreneurship from the software development side of things, maybe instead I should be trying to build a marketing and advertising agency that builds software. These types of companies seem to make more money than I do. Yet at the same time, in the marketing companies that come to my mind, the weaknesses in their products tend to be sustainability. I think overtime customers are going to become frustrated with their lack of good support and ability to maintain code and add new features. Just my thoughts when reflecting on all of this. :)
- ensiferum 10y ago
  As an engineer I find it an appalling when you realize that quality engineering means nothing in terms of financial success. I used to think that if you build a quality product the users will pick it up and it will become successful when in fact it couldn't be further away from reality. Thus, bugs and quality are secondary. Why spend $ on engineering and fixing bugs when you can spend that on marketing for much better ROI.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - x1798DE 10y ago
    I'm willing to entertain that this is true, but it's also possible that the companies that sacrifice good engineering are setting themselves up for big costs later, like, for example, if someone uses one of your security holes to destroy your site and you can't easily fix them because they are so numerous. It could also presumably cause major scaling problems (if you are lucky enough to have that problem), which could impede growth significantly at a critical time. That said, as someone who highly values a well built product, this may be wishful thinking.

mobiuscog 10y ago

She has a wealthy (famous) family, very used to publicity and marketing, and one of their businesses is involved with China.

galfarragem 10y ago
It's more productive to think that she used her advantages in a positive way instead of wasting them.
- mobiuscog 10y ago
  Absolutely - but it should be portrayed in that context.
mpeg 10y ago
That most definitely helped her get early clients and commercial success, but I think it's still very cool that a young girl was able to plan, build and execute a business idea. Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn.
- vtlynch 10y ago
  >Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn. Because most 16 year olds dont come from a family with such a wealthy (both in money and opportunities) background.
  - hnal943 10y ago
    Still, she's leveraging those opportunities when the alternative is a life of leisure.
- ryanlol 10y ago
  >Most 16 year olds are just using their phones to send silly snaps to their friends and watch porn. And most people waste their lives away in 9-5 jobs. It's not an age thing.
taneq 10y ago
People always state things like this to imply "it's not what you know, it's who you know." I think it's quite the opposite - she grew up in a family environment where the fundamentals of business were part of the culture, as much as literacy and education. If a kid grows up understanding finance, business development, how to pitch an idea to investors etc. they're going to be lightyears ahead of some kid who grew up being taught to 'do well in school so you can earn a good hourly wage'.
- c12 10y ago
  You mean like the rest of us "wage slaves"?
- michaelscott 10y ago
  I think this kind of proves the point, though. These kids know their entrepreneurial and business-minded parents from birth (i.e. "what they know" comes from "who they know"), as opposed to those of us who grew up as children of "salary-parents"
  - wastedhours 10y ago
    Great counter point - people tend to discount parental influence as being "who you know" if it isn't direct nepotism. It's essentially like being born with a fantastic mentor from Day 1, and those of us fortunate to have that spirit of embracing entrepreneurial pursuits from a young age are, well, fortunate.
  - taneq 10y ago
    I've always heard the "who you know" used as a way to state that contacts are more important than skills, but as you point out, a good mentor blurs the lines between them.
- UlyssesSKrunk 10y ago
  But that supports the "it's not what you know, it's who you know." idea. Most people I think see that saying as meaning that if you take somebody, like this girl for instance, and swap her out for somebody else who didn't accomplish anything like this, that the new person could more easily be similarly successfully to this girl.
acveilleux 10y ago
That alone does not get you 200k clients.
- andrepd 10y ago
  No, of course not, because not everyone in her situation has a business with 200k clients, obviously. But it helps.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

joshaidan 10y ago

> It's just a wordpress website. You don't need nothing fancy to be successful. I've observed similar products myself, often ones that are more successful versions of my own creations. I've seen stuff built with spaghetti PHP code, yet it was marketed well and more people were paying money to use it than my own. Yet when I looked at it, the first thing I saw was an SQL injection vulnerability that would allow me to drop the entire database. It makes me wonder though, if instead of looking at entrepreneurship from the software development side of things, maybe instead I should be trying to build a marketing and advertising agency that builds software. These types of companies seem to make more money than I do. Yet at the same time, in the marketing companies that come to my mind, the weaknesses in their products tend to be sustainability. I think overtime customers are going to become frustrated with their lack of good support and ability to maintain code and add new features. Just my thoughts when reflecting on all of this. :)

ensiferum 10y ago
As an engineer I find it an appalling when you realize that quality engineering means nothing in terms of financial success. I used to think that if you build a quality product the users will pick it up and it will become successful when in fact it couldn't be further away from reality. Thus, bugs and quality are secondary. Why spend $ on engineering and fixing bugs when you can spend that on marketing for much better ROI.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- x1798DE 10y ago
  I'm willing to entertain that this is true, but it's also possible that the companies that sacrifice good engineering are setting themselves up for big costs later, like, for example, if someone uses one of your security holes to destroy your site and you can't easily fix them because they are so numerous. It could also presumably cause major scaling problems (if you are lucky enough to have that problem), which could impede growth significantly at a critical time. That said, as someone who highly values a well built product, this may be wishful thinking.