3 ms·
The difference between companies like Blue Apron and Amazon is that one is created with a "I think I want to do a startup, any startup that's in vogue nowadays
by kkotak 9y ago
The difference between companies like Blue Apron and Amazon is that one is created with a "I think I want to do a startup, any startup that's in vogue nowadays. I know people who can take me to IPO" mindset and the other "there is a clear business opportunity in bringing efficiencies in the retail books business. The time is right since all the underlying infrastructure (PCs, wide internet access, Credit cards, USPS/UPS, etc.) needed for such an opportunity to succeed are present; all it needs is a strong execution path and leadership to have a go at it" mindset.
- jackweirdy 9y agoFor many startups, it's just like the line from the Silicon Valley show - "the product is the stock"
- Waterluvian 9y agoI call this "playing startup." Edit: possibly not my own thought, for whatever that means. I just don't want to accidentally suggest to others that I steal thoughts. See child comments.
- ice109 9y agooh really? you sure it's you and not Paul Graham that calls it that? like don't you realize you're literally on a site started by the guy that coined that phrase: everyone here is already familiar with it and the correct attribution.
- Waterluvian 9y agoI'm not here to convince you of anything, but I will say with all genuine honesty I don't know who Paul Graham is. I'm here because I got tired of reddit and my friends said there's more tech news here. I also think that "playing startup" is so obvious that many people could have come up with it. That being said, it's also quite possible that I saw it somewhere and absorbed it without fully remembering the source and now have a false memory of coming up with it myself. I will add though that it's pretty fascinating as someone who is so disinterested in (and at times has a disdain for) startup people and startup culture, to be accused along the lines of, "how dare you feign not knowing who Startup Person X is!"
- dreamcompiler 9y agoSurfing Hacker News without knowing who Paul Graham is, is like shopping at Amazon without knowing who Jeff Bezos is. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it but it seems a bit odd to some of us. That doesn't make it okay to be rude to you.
- lazaroclapp 9y agoWould be willing to bet you less than 1% of Amazon shoppers worldwide know who Jeff Bezos is...
- phlakaton 9y agoPaul's one of the founders of YCombinator who hosts this site. That being said, I don't really know Paul as a Startup Person, only as an essayist and author. To that end, I'm happy to commend his book "On Lisp" to anyone's attention, though, as it's one of my very few desert-island technical books!