4 ms·

In that case you are the first trying to solve a problem, thus creating a new market. What I meant is that I notice a herd mentality in VCs. Particularly in V

by Lucadg 7y ago

In that case you are the first trying to solve a problem, thus creating a new market. What I meant is that I notice a herd mentality in VCs. Particularly in Vacation Rentals there's many problems waiting to be solved and yet it seems everyone is trying to solve the same ones.

moduspol 7y ago
> In that case you are the first trying to solve a problem, thus creating a new market. Critically: No, in business, it more often means that the market doesn't exist. If it did, you'd likely have competitors. My point was just to note that this isn't unique to startups or VCs--it's common to all markets. It is generally a worrisome indicator if you have no competitors, and it is easier to justify chasing things other people are chasing.
- cody3222 7y ago
  I find this super interesting to watch being on the inside. There is some phenomenon where several people around the world come up with the same idea at the same time. There's even a term for this in scientific literature: Multiple Discovery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery The theory of evolution, calculus, etc were "discovered" by multiple people with zero contact at the same time. An event or change in the world (like airbnb here for example) trigger people to come to the same conclusion. Now imagine you have a team of people working on it who are "just ok" - maybe they lack the product or engineering skills but still bring something to market. When the next team comes along that is truly stellar, they will out-execute. With VC, it is really interesting. They may decide to invest in the team that is farthest along because they look like the leader in what is a new market. Or the stellar team may raise money and then the B team that started earlier and has more scale may go to investors and say "Look, this company raised money and we're way bigger - give us money too!" and they have a pretty good case for it at the surface level. That is my take on how these things may happen and evolve.

by Lucadg 7y ago

moduspol 7y ago

> In that case you are the first trying to solve a problem, thus creating a new market. Critically: No, in business, it more often means that the market doesn't exist. If it did, you'd likely have competitors. My point was just to note that this isn't unique to startups or VCs--it's common to all markets. It is generally a worrisome indicator if you have no competitors, and it is easier to justify chasing things other people are chasing.

cody3222 7y ago
I find this super interesting to watch being on the inside. There is some phenomenon where several people around the world come up with the same idea at the same time. There's even a term for this in scientific literature: Multiple Discovery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery The theory of evolution, calculus, etc were "discovered" by multiple people with zero contact at the same time. An event or change in the world (like airbnb here for example) trigger people to come to the same conclusion. Now imagine you have a team of people working on it who are "just ok" - maybe they lack the product or engineering skills but still bring something to market. When the next team comes along that is truly stellar, they will out-execute. With VC, it is really interesting. They may decide to invest in the team that is farthest along because they look like the leader in what is a new market. Or the stellar team may raise money and then the B team that started earlier and has more scale may go to investors and say "Look, this company raised money and we're way bigger - give us money too!" and they have a pretty good case for it at the surface level. That is my take on how these things may happen and evolve.