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What definition of "tech company" doesn't already include a modern car company? A modern car is a vastly more complex piece of engineering than most "tech" comp
by joefourier 9y ago
What definition of "tech company" doesn't already include a modern car company? A modern car is a vastly more complex piece of engineering than most "tech" companies' software, and even low-end ones contain dozens or more microprocessors, requiring custom software for control, diagnostics, the entertainment system, etc.
You can bang out a chat app in a 2 months and call yourself a tech company, but spend 2 or more years designing and engineering a vehicle, developing both hardware and software, to strict safety and efficiency specifications, and what you're doing isn't technology?
- curiouscat321 9y agoI think the definition is more cultural. The culture of a large bureaucratic car company is a lot different than most tech companies. They also have different views on talent
- joefourier 9y agoPerhaps "IT company" or a similar term is more appropriate, then? Why is it that software and Internet companies have reserved the term "tech" to themselves, so much that their culture has infused the term itself?
- taneq 9y agoThis is just an example of the thinking inside HN's thought bubble. Like the way that a company with 10 employees and $5mil/year in revenue is a "lifestyle business" because they're not raising venture capital and manoeuvring for an "exit" or IPO.
- spikels 9y agoIn business when people talk about a "tech" company it is not about technology but an industry classification. And the reason everyone wants to be a tech company is because the trade at higher earnings multiples than most other industries (i.e. they are worth more). Usually this is because they have higher growth rates and require few inputs and assets to generate their revenue. Companies like Ford are pretty much the opposite of that.