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I'm not a capitalist. Profitability is helpful under capitalism for survival, but it's a poor measure of anything other than whether one number is higher than a
by Kye 7y ago
I'm not a capitalist. Profitability is helpful under capitalism for survival, but it's a poor measure of anything other than whether one number is higher than another.
YC funds a lot of companies who do cool things that aren't very profitable. I don't know what most of them do, and that's great. So many of them serve niches I haven't even heard of. If they break even making someone's life better, then they're a success.
Imagine a world without Stripe or something like it. The current boom in membership services might not have happened. Even VC-juiced Patreon, which I use, handles payments through Stripe. How many successful companies by your measure glue their business together with companies that got their initial funding and guidance from YC?
- scarface74 7y agoSo exactly how do you run a business as an ongoing concern if you continuously lose more money than you make?
- Kye 7y agoThe answer is get bought by an ad-funded behemoth or a VC-funded behemoth or struggle to get by. I didn't say better measures of success were viable under this system. There's a reason I'm not a capitalist. Profit as the only measure of success is how we ended up in this hell world. You're welcome to only care about that, but I prefer to imagine and work toward better futures.
- scarface74 7y agoSo did you give up all worldly goods to live in a monastery and live on the charity of others or do you work for a company that seeks to make money?
- tambourine_man 7y agoThose are not the only choices.
- scarface74 7y agoWell what “choice” did you make to food on your table?
- tambourine_man 7y agoMany. Sometimes I manage to make interesting stuff that people are also willing to pay for. Those are the good ones.
- scarface74 7y agoSo you’re providing stuff that people are willing to pay for - ie capitalism.
- tambourine_man 7y agoSure, no one claimed otherwise. Just that there are nuances between monastery and money-seeking-only business.
- dang 7y ago"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Also, please don't cross into personal attack.
- rvnx 7y ago"Profit as the only measure of success is how we ended up in this hell world. You're welcome to only care about that, but I prefer to imagine and work toward better futures." No, profit is not the cause of hell. Debt is, it's a modern-form of slavery. When you accept VCs money, the reality (if you play by the rules), is that you agree to give your most precious ressource (time and energy) to pay back your debt. It may pay off, or may not, but you have to be very aware of your choices.
- scarface74 7y agoVC funding is worse than debt if you care about your business. When you borrow money, the lender doesn’t own a stake in your business. You just have to pay them back at their agreed upon terms. Theoretically you could “buy back” your equity but with the type of returns and want it’s almost impossible. Taking VC money is like taking a payday loan.