7 ms·

It is not, but it could if twitter would stop spending huge piles of money that makes them go nowhere.

by trymas 10y ago

nikcub 10y ago
That is exactly what many on Wall St have been telling them to do for years. Despite the popular perception of investment bankers, they do value "patio11 style businesses" more highly than the Twitter style of spending and losing billions of dollars and not going anywhere. I actually don't think anybody values the later.
- kgwgk 10y ago
  "Investment bankers" do absolutely love companies that raise money (and the faster they burn it the better, so they come back to raise more).
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- Ryan_Shmotkin 10y ago
  The answer is in your example. Patio's business was barely profitable for a few years until closing down. Growth or death is true for most businesses, just need to decide on the growth acceleration
  - napoleond 10y ago
    > barely profitable Patrick wrote "year in review" posts going back to 2006, and they include full numbers, so you can see for yourself. Profit margins in 2014 (the most recent review) were at a whopping 60% across all his businesses. (See here: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/12/22/kalzumeus-software-year-in-review-2014/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/12/22/kalzumeus-software-year-...) > closing down He sold his SaaS businesses, and they are operated by other people. Here's a podcast episode about it: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episode-13-selling-online-businesses-with-thomas-smale/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episod... They are still in operation, and presumably still profitable: https://www.appointmentreminder.org/ https://www.appointmentreminder.org/ https://www.bingocardcreator.com/ https://www.bingocardcreator.com/ > Growth or death Not really. Moving past patio11 as an example, just look at local businesses in your community. The ones that have been there the longest (> 50 years) have undoubtedly gone through periods of both growth and decline (I don't mean decline toward death, I mean decline for a bit and then start growing again). Many of the ones that have been there for about 20 years will have reached a sort of "asymptote" of growth--they would have grown for the first 10 or 15 years and then stabilized around a size that feels "comfortable". There are many more businesses in the world than just start-ups and public companies.
    - forgetsusername 10y ago
      >whopping 60% across all his businesses Software built by 1 person will always have good margins. According to his numbers, BCC was making $60k in good years. 60% of that is $36k, which is a fraction of what a solid Dev can make (and an even smaller fraction of what he patio11 was making consulting). Clever side project income for sure, but not a staggering work of business genius.
      - napoleond 10y ago
        Sure, and I suppose "barely profitable" could be interpreted as "producing a small amount of absolute profit", but I read it as "barely producing more revenue than expenses", which is obviously incorrect in this case.
- drakonandor 10y ago
  Their revenue almost doubled from 2014 to 2015, and is on track to be a bit higher than 2015. It's silly to pretend they're just burning money for fun.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
em500 10y ago
For software companies, "stop spending huge piles of money" means cutting jobs, see headline of this article.
- trymas 10y ago
  but maybe they simply have too many employees in the first place?

It is not, but it could if twitter would stop spending huge piles of money that makes them go nowhere.

by trymas 10y ago

It is not, but it could if twitter would stop spending huge piles of money that makes them go nowhere.

That is exactly what many on Wall St have been telling them to do for years. Despite the popular perception of investment bankers, they do value "patio11 style businesses" more highly than the Twitter style of spending and losing billions of dollars and not going anywhere. I actually don't think anybody values the later.

kgwgk 10y ago
"Investment bankers" do absolutely love companies that raise money (and the faster they burn it the better, so they come back to raise more).
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Ryan_Shmotkin 10y ago
The answer is in your example. Patio's business was barely profitable for a few years until closing down. Growth or death is true for most businesses, just need to decide on the growth acceleration
- napoleond 10y ago
  > barely profitable Patrick wrote "year in review" posts going back to 2006, and they include full numbers, so you can see for yourself. Profit margins in 2014 (the most recent review) were at a whopping 60% across all his businesses. (See here: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/12/22/kalzumeus-software-year-in-review-2014/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/12/22/kalzumeus-software-year-...) > closing down He sold his SaaS businesses, and they are operated by other people. Here's a podcast episode about it: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episode-13-selling-online-businesses-with-thomas-smale/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episod... They are still in operation, and presumably still profitable: https://www.appointmentreminder.org/ https://www.appointmentreminder.org/ https://www.bingocardcreator.com/ https://www.bingocardcreator.com/ > Growth or death Not really. Moving past patio11 as an example, just look at local businesses in your community. The ones that have been there the longest (> 50 years) have undoubtedly gone through periods of both growth and decline (I don't mean decline toward death, I mean decline for a bit and then start growing again). Many of the ones that have been there for about 20 years will have reached a sort of "asymptote" of growth--they would have grown for the first 10 or 15 years and then stabilized around a size that feels "comfortable". There are many more businesses in the world than just start-ups and public companies.
  - forgetsusername 10y ago
    >whopping 60% across all his businesses Software built by 1 person will always have good margins. According to his numbers, BCC was making $60k in good years. 60% of that is $36k, which is a fraction of what a solid Dev can make (and an even smaller fraction of what he patio11 was making consulting). Clever side project income for sure, but not a staggering work of business genius.
    - napoleond 10y ago
      Sure, and I suppose "barely profitable" could be interpreted as "producing a small amount of absolute profit", but I read it as "barely producing more revenue than expenses", which is obviously incorrect in this case.
drakonandor 10y ago
Their revenue almost doubled from 2014 to 2015, and is on track to be a bit higher than 2015. It's silly to pretend they're just burning money for fun.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

em500 10y ago

For software companies, "stop spending huge piles of money" means cutting jobs, see headline of this article.

trymas 10y ago
but maybe they simply have too many employees in the first place?