3 ms·

As a customer, this is unfortunate news. Why is it so hard to just supply an honest service in exchange for money and take a nice profit?

mavdi 8y ago
You’re getting downvoted but I too hate the world domination plans of every single successful start up.
- redisman 8y ago
  Reminds me of being promoted until you fail. Growing and creeping until you fail to deliver the core service you were the best at. HN skews hard to the unicorn-or-bust mentality for some reason.
  - halfjoking 8y ago
    Probably because YC owns HN and they only make money if more people drink the VC Kool-Aid?
ajmurmann 8y ago
It is so hard to do this because of VC money. Once you have taken the VC money success is not an option anymore. You must be super successful and ideally wipe out all competitors! If I'd start my own startup and don't take VC money and the company makes $300k-$500k profit per year, I'd be ecstatic and happy to stay at that level forever. Maybe I'd focus more on reducing my own time spent at some point, rather than growing more. For a VC that's the same as failing. They invest in a wide range of companies and they need to get some major cash out from the successful companies. There also needs to be an exit. That means IPO or sell the thing. The exit is needed because the fund has a set lifetime. After that the shares go to the fund investors. For years you had A16Z representing, now you got a bunch folks you never heard of. Neither you nor those people want to deal with any of that. If you have an IPO the treadmill continues, because our economy is about exponential growth and not sustainable, steady income. That pattern is even reinforced by our tax code. Capital gains < income tax. I can defer capital gains by not selling. Don't give my dividends! Those get taxed immediately!

3 ms·

As a customer, this is unfortunate news. Why is it so hard to just supply an honest service in exchange for money and take a nice profit?

by mychael 8y ago

mavdi 8y ago
You’re getting downvoted but I too hate the world domination plans of every single successful start up.
- redisman 8y ago
  Reminds me of being promoted until you fail. Growing and creeping until you fail to deliver the core service you were the best at. HN skews hard to the unicorn-or-bust mentality for some reason.
  - halfjoking 8y ago
    Probably because YC owns HN and they only make money if more people drink the VC Kool-Aid?
ajmurmann 8y ago
It is so hard to do this because of VC money. Once you have taken the VC money success is not an option anymore. You must be super successful and ideally wipe out all competitors! If I'd start my own startup and don't take VC money and the company makes $300k-$500k profit per year, I'd be ecstatic and happy to stay at that level forever. Maybe I'd focus more on reducing my own time spent at some point, rather than growing more. For a VC that's the same as failing. They invest in a wide range of companies and they need to get some major cash out from the successful companies. There also needs to be an exit. That means IPO or sell the thing. The exit is needed because the fund has a set lifetime. After that the shares go to the fund investors. For years you had A16Z representing, now you got a bunch folks you never heard of. Neither you nor those people want to deal with any of that. If you have an IPO the treadmill continues, because our economy is about exponential growth and not sustainable, steady income. That pattern is even reinforced by our tax code. Capital gains < income tax. I can defer capital gains by not selling. Don't give my dividends! Those get taxed immediately!