6 ms·

Want to Do Business in Silicon Valley? Better Act Nice

Bostonian 7y ago
I don't understand what Palmer did wrong. When a business fails, we should try to understand why, so that others don't throw away time and money making the same mistakes.
- sharkmerry 7y ago
  Perhaps just the smugness of the tweet and the fact that is just was patting himself on the back and reveling in the failure of others? And his argument, "disrupting school was a terrible strategy" but doesnt elaborate why.. https://twitter.com/educationpalmer/status/1144909163459481601 https://twitter.com/educationpalmer/status/11449091634594816... "$174M lessons here. We passed on @Altschool multiple times, mainly because disrupting school was a terrible strategy, but also b/c founders didn’t understand #edtech is all about partnering w/existing districts, schools and educators (not just “product”)"
  - blackflame7000 7y ago
    Yea if HN is any indicator, people do not like smugness. Just post something slightly condescending and watch it get downvoted to oblivion.
    - sharkmerry 7y ago
      I dont notice the same thing but we could be looking at different articles/comments on here. anyways, i think the real issue here is just the emptiness of it. Anyone can brag they knew (or pretend they knew) that a business would fail after it already did. and hes not providing insight. Just, it was "Terrible" and they "did it wrong".
- Macross8299 7y ago
  It's kicking a person (or rather, a company) while they're down. Seems kind of tactless and tone-deaf to gloatingly tweet out your company's failure is a "lesson" a mere day after disaster hits the news.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  I don't think we are going to get any "understanding" from a 160 character tweet. But 160 characters is plenty of room to pay yourself on the back publicly and feed your own ego.
truebrazilian 7y ago
Sillicon Valley is a truly disgusting club.
purple_ducks 7y ago
I don't see the issue here. Would we be so hard on him if he was knowledgeable about blood testing and had tweeted about Theranos when they ultimately failed? The less silence is the norm, the better. We need people to publicly call out bullshit when they see it (at least he waited until they failed rather than when they were trying to succeed) Some people who thought they knew better than actual experts failed and took 174m of somebody else's money with them. It benefits certain angels & early stage VCs to have a culture of relentless optimism and fantasy in the face of reality, and to ensure silence is forced on everyone except those who succeed.

I don't understand what Palmer did wrong. When a business fails, we should try to understand why, so that others don't throw away time and money making the same mistakes.

sharkmerry 7y ago
Perhaps just the smugness of the tweet and the fact that is just was patting himself on the back and reveling in the failure of others? And his argument, "disrupting school was a terrible strategy" but doesnt elaborate why.. https://twitter.com/educationpalmer/status/1144909163459481601 https://twitter.com/educationpalmer/status/11449091634594816... "$174M lessons here. We passed on @Altschool multiple times, mainly because disrupting school was a terrible strategy, but also b/c founders didn’t understand #edtech is all about partnering w/existing districts, schools and educators (not just “product”)"
- blackflame7000 7y ago
  Yea if HN is any indicator, people do not like smugness. Just post something slightly condescending and watch it get downvoted to oblivion.
  - sharkmerry 7y ago
    I dont notice the same thing but we could be looking at different articles/comments on here. anyways, i think the real issue here is just the emptiness of it. Anyone can brag they knew (or pretend they knew) that a business would fail after it already did. and hes not providing insight. Just, it was "Terrible" and they "did it wrong".
Macross8299 7y ago
It's kicking a person (or rather, a company) while they're down. Seems kind of tactless and tone-deaf to gloatingly tweet out your company's failure is a "lesson" a mere day after disaster hits the news.
jjeaff 7y ago
I don't think we are going to get any "understanding" from a 160 character tweet. But 160 characters is plenty of room to pay yourself on the back publicly and feed your own ego.

truebrazilian 7y ago

Sillicon Valley is a truly disgusting club.

purple_ducks 7y ago

I don't see the issue here. Would we be so hard on him if he was knowledgeable about blood testing and had tweeted about Theranos when they ultimately failed? The less silence is the norm, the better. We need people to publicly call out bullshit when they see it (at least he waited until they failed rather than when they were trying to succeed) Some people who thought they knew better than actual experts failed and took 174m of somebody else's money with them. It benefits certain angels & early stage VCs to have a culture of relentless optimism and fantasy in the face of reality, and to ensure silence is forced on everyone except those who succeed.