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It's interesting that the speculation (the hope?) that the internet could allow entrepreneurs to create businesses that don't rely on these connections, that co

by emsal 9y ago

It's interesting that the speculation (the hope?) that the internet could allow entrepreneurs to create businesses that don't rely on these connections, that could sustain themselves just by reaching out to enough consumers directly, seems to have been wrong. It seems that the well-connected and savvy old guard has proven better at reaching ordinary people than an unconnected newcomer entrepreneur can, no matter how good the product may be.

hkmurakami 9y ago
I find that posters on this board generally overvalue the inherent merits of the core product vs other business factors. In enterprise, trust and the relationship matters a lot, since the buyer is generally taking a big risk on you as a vendor. In smaller b2b, customers will be righfully concerned about depending on you when they can't be sure you'll be around in 2 years. These are both legitimate and important factors that are outside the scope of core product. In consumer, even a great product will often get blown out of the water if a competitor with a worse but good enough product has a deep, deep marketing war chest. (the 'ol, "if you space has a VC backed competitor, you have no choice but to also raise money and fight a war of attrition") You probably still have the best chance in consumer by creating something with inherent virality (honestly the only way to not have a huge sales and/or marketing cost in any sort of business). It's not even a sinister conspiracy at play or anything like that. It's just a truth that non-core value propositions are important in business, and are often even part of the true "product".
david927 9y ago
That's a bizarre conclusion to reach. Another conclusion is if that you have a long enough runway, you get more at-bats, which leads to a higher probability of a hit.
pwaai 9y ago
The other conclusion is that running a business is fucking hard for most people and that these businesses are started by do gooders, opportunists but ultimately playing the lottery. It explains why those with access to capital or people with capital are more likely to succeed as a result of being able to play the lottery over and over. Google & Facebook founders did not come from a struggling American family (Sergei or Larry's family comes from the Soviet elite) and none of the "ivy league dropouts" had any pressure (twitch.tv justin's comment how he was unmotivated throughout uni) to be something their socioeconomic class determined for them. Finally, Theranos is a clear illustration of economic lineage taking place--having a rich powerful daddy with other daddies tends to produce consistent wins, often through sheer will and structural reinforcements that inevitably sets conditions for even the most incompetent children of the elite to succeed. It's starting to feel like, a lot of us are getting into the startup game and realizing it's just another vehicle of transferring wealth generated with your life so they can buy a horse ranch or private plane.
- myth_drannon 9y ago
  Sergei's parents were Soviet Jews, that's on the opposite spectrum from Soviet elites. Well educated - yes, but not elites.
  - sattoshi 9y ago
    Jews disproportionatily comprised the upper echelons of soviet politics, what do you mean?
    - stoic 9y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewish_pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewish_pogroms_in_the_Rus...
      - umanwizard 9y ago
        This article is about events that took place before the Soviet Union was established.
  - pwaai 9y ago
    I'm missing information on what being a Jew in USSR entails so I concede that they may not have been part of the elite (I thought working for USSR propaganda machine would put you far ahead of the pack). I just thought being able to afford a commodore 64 back then already put you well ahead of the curve, in the 80s, but again this was after they arrived in the US, not much info on this.
- googletazer 9y ago
  Soviet elite? You gotta be fucking kidding me. The reason Sergey's and Larry's parents even came to America was why USSR collapsed - the system started putting spikes on the roads of talented (or presumably talented) people. How many excuses can you make?

by emsal 9y ago

hkmurakami 9y ago

I find that posters on this board generally overvalue the inherent merits of the core product vs other business factors. In enterprise, trust and the relationship matters a lot, since the buyer is generally taking a big risk on you as a vendor. In smaller b2b, customers will be righfully concerned about depending on you when they can't be sure you'll be around in 2 years. These are both legitimate and important factors that are outside the scope of core product. In consumer, even a great product will often get blown out of the water if a competitor with a worse but good enough product has a deep, deep marketing war chest. (the 'ol, "if you space has a VC backed competitor, you have no choice but to also raise money and fight a war of attrition") You probably still have the best chance in consumer by creating something with inherent virality (honestly the only way to not have a huge sales and/or marketing cost in any sort of business). It's not even a sinister conspiracy at play or anything like that. It's just a truth that non-core value propositions are important in business, and are often even part of the true "product".

david927 9y ago

That's a bizarre conclusion to reach. Another conclusion is if that you have a long enough runway, you get more at-bats, which leads to a higher probability of a hit.

pwaai 9y ago

The other conclusion is that running a business is fucking hard for most people and that these businesses are started by do gooders, opportunists but ultimately playing the lottery. It explains why those with access to capital or people with capital are more likely to succeed as a result of being able to play the lottery over and over. Google & Facebook founders did not come from a struggling American family (Sergei or Larry's family comes from the Soviet elite) and none of the "ivy league dropouts" had any pressure (twitch.tv justin's comment how he was unmotivated throughout uni) to be something their socioeconomic class determined for them. Finally, Theranos is a clear illustration of economic lineage taking place--having a rich powerful daddy with other daddies tends to produce consistent wins, often through sheer will and structural reinforcements that inevitably sets conditions for even the most incompetent children of the elite to succeed. It's starting to feel like, a lot of us are getting into the startup game and realizing it's just another vehicle of transferring wealth generated with your life so they can buy a horse ranch or private plane.

myth_drannon 9y ago
Sergei's parents were Soviet Jews, that's on the opposite spectrum from Soviet elites. Well educated - yes, but not elites.
- sattoshi 9y ago
  Jews disproportionatily comprised the upper echelons of soviet politics, what do you mean?
  - stoic 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewish_pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewish_pogroms_in_the_Rus...
    - umanwizard 9y ago
      This article is about events that took place before the Soviet Union was established.
- pwaai 9y ago
  I'm missing information on what being a Jew in USSR entails so I concede that they may not have been part of the elite (I thought working for USSR propaganda machine would put you far ahead of the pack). I just thought being able to afford a commodore 64 back then already put you well ahead of the curve, in the 80s, but again this was after they arrived in the US, not much info on this.
googletazer 9y ago
Soviet elite? You gotta be fucking kidding me. The reason Sergey's and Larry's parents even came to America was why USSR collapsed - the system started putting spikes on the roads of talented (or presumably talented) people. How many excuses can you make?