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The 7 Powers Known to Tesla, Pixar, Netflix, Apple, and Twilio

33 points by maxwell 5y ago

lotsofpulp 5y ago
This sounds like a bunch of nonsense. Netflix and Pixar have a cornered resource and high switching costs?
- toast0 5y ago
  Yeah, not sure how any of these things really apply to Twilio either. I was a major customer of Twilio, among several other similar providers. Maybe if you've built a big interactive something, switching costs were high, but for what we were using them for, it wouldn't take much to switch to a new provider. Twilio's apis are nice, but most others are at least OK, and it's hard to screw up an SMS api (although GSMA has a soap standard that's pretty terrible, wouldn't have used that except that it came with some no cost messaging deals). That said their strategy of“There is only one true strategy, build products and services for which your customers will pay you.” works, cause their service works to get calls and texts to most of the world, most of the time. If you don't do that, or the price is too high, it's easy to leave.
- firemelt 5y ago
  i see twillio there I know immediately its a nonsense or some bullshits article
Impassionata 5y ago
There you have it, laid out the ways in which capitalism has a destructive effect on anything approaching an ideal system. They want to corner the market and raise prices. That's how they think. That's the desired end-game for these ghosts in the machines, these corporations. Corner the market, raise prices, extract money while delivering the same value. It's pure shit. If you're still a fan of unrestrained capitalism in this day and age, you're a moron and a tool of the elite. You're probably a tool of the elite anyway, but at least do yourself the service of chucking the Koolaid into the dust.
- wutbrodo 5y ago
  Holy cow, did not expect to see this username on HN. hi!
  - Impassionata 5y ago
    Hello there! It's nice to be remembered. How, may I ask, are you familiar with my work?
    - wutbrodo 5y ago
      The ssc subreddit and diaspora
- engineer_22 5y ago
  Keep calm, we've made it out of monopoly control before. It was a different time, but the same problem.
  - Impassionata 5y ago
    This is calm, I just think it's important to heckle the delusional so we can identify the stupid beliefs people have. This being Orange Site it is frequented by a large number of people who live in a fantasy world. Some call it 'Affluenza.' Hey VCs, the AI are coming for your jobs! and no one will cry when you go obsolete! Put another way, to solve the 'same problem' we will have to have a large number of people who understand the basic reality of the situation. Those of you downvoting me for presenting this basic reality indicate to me your captivity in self-delusion. Keep on pretending, HN!
codingdave 5y ago
Not quite on-topic, but the formatting of this article is downright bizarre. Someone must have told the author that people are more likely to read a bulleted list than a long paragraph, so they wrote exceedingly long paragraphs, and put each sentence in its own bullet?
- robbmorganf 5y ago
  I think it's notes from the live/audio interview? But agreed, it would be more powerful if it were flowing prose
yannoninator 5y ago
what is this vc sophistry?
aidenn0 5y ago
This is so much garbage: 1. Netflix didn't out-compete Blockbuster, Blockbuster imploded due to gross mismanagement. 2. Apple didn't make something that BlackBerry or Nokia didn't want to make, they made something that they couldn't make, because no network was going to allow it on their network. Apple got a deal with AT&T that completely blindsided their competition because they just weren't allowed to put such a device on any major networks. I don't know much about the other examples they give, but if you're batting 0 on the ones I know, you've completely lost ethos with me.
- senectus1 5y ago
  very much a pop culture revisionist history yes.
- simfree 5y ago
  Twilio has little competitive moat against Signalwire, Teli, Telnyx, etc beyond developer mindshare.
- rsynnott 5y ago
  > they made something that they couldn't make, because no network was going to allow it on their network. I think that’s probably true in the US, but less so in Europe, then Nokia’s main market. In the EU it wouldn’t have been up to the networks at all; bring your own device was and is quite common and networks are required to allow it. Nokia did produce a number of very premium smartphones (more expensive than the first iPhone, even!); they were just never all that consumer-friendly (though they made a few attempts).
jjtheblunt 5y ago
Am I the only one who sees "The [0-9]+.*" regex matches the title, and expects nonsense?
- ludamad 5y ago
  "The 0 Ways to Grow Your Devtools SASS"
  - jjtheblunt 5y ago
    :)
kkotak 5y ago
Why do VCs feel the need to write crap like this is beyond me. Too much idle time?
- AtlasBarfed 5y ago
  Part of the 7 habits of highly successful disruptors is to write various 7 step treatises to success.

33 points by maxwell 5y ago

lotsofpulp 5y ago

This sounds like a bunch of nonsense. Netflix and Pixar have a cornered resource and high switching costs?

toast0 5y ago
Yeah, not sure how any of these things really apply to Twilio either. I was a major customer of Twilio, among several other similar providers. Maybe if you've built a big interactive something, switching costs were high, but for what we were using them for, it wouldn't take much to switch to a new provider. Twilio's apis are nice, but most others are at least OK, and it's hard to screw up an SMS api (although GSMA has a soap standard that's pretty terrible, wouldn't have used that except that it came with some no cost messaging deals). That said their strategy of“There is only one true strategy, build products and services for which your customers will pay you.” works, cause their service works to get calls and texts to most of the world, most of the time. If you don't do that, or the price is too high, it's easy to leave.
firemelt 5y ago
i see twillio there I know immediately its a nonsense or some bullshits article

Impassionata 5y ago

There you have it, laid out the ways in which capitalism has a destructive effect on anything approaching an ideal system. They want to corner the market and raise prices. That's how they think. That's the desired end-game for these ghosts in the machines, these corporations. Corner the market, raise prices, extract money while delivering the same value. It's pure shit. If you're still a fan of unrestrained capitalism in this day and age, you're a moron and a tool of the elite. You're probably a tool of the elite anyway, but at least do yourself the service of chucking the Koolaid into the dust.

wutbrodo 5y ago
Holy cow, did not expect to see this username on HN. hi!
- Impassionata 5y ago
  Hello there! It's nice to be remembered. How, may I ask, are you familiar with my work?
  - wutbrodo 5y ago
    The ssc subreddit and diaspora
engineer_22 5y ago
Keep calm, we've made it out of monopoly control before. It was a different time, but the same problem.
- Impassionata 5y ago
  This is calm, I just think it's important to heckle the delusional so we can identify the stupid beliefs people have. This being Orange Site it is frequented by a large number of people who live in a fantasy world. Some call it 'Affluenza.' Hey VCs, the AI are coming for your jobs! and no one will cry when you go obsolete! Put another way, to solve the 'same problem' we will have to have a large number of people who understand the basic reality of the situation. Those of you downvoting me for presenting this basic reality indicate to me your captivity in self-delusion. Keep on pretending, HN!

codingdave 5y ago

Not quite on-topic, but the formatting of this article is downright bizarre. Someone must have told the author that people are more likely to read a bulleted list than a long paragraph, so they wrote exceedingly long paragraphs, and put each sentence in its own bullet?

robbmorganf 5y ago
I think it's notes from the live/audio interview? But agreed, it would be more powerful if it were flowing prose

yannoninator 5y ago

what is this vc sophistry?

aidenn0 5y ago

This is so much garbage: 1. Netflix didn't out-compete Blockbuster, Blockbuster imploded due to gross mismanagement. 2. Apple didn't make something that BlackBerry or Nokia didn't want to make, they made something that they couldn't make, because no network was going to allow it on their network. Apple got a deal with AT&T that completely blindsided their competition because they just weren't allowed to put such a device on any major networks. I don't know much about the other examples they give, but if you're batting 0 on the ones I know, you've completely lost ethos with me.

senectus1 5y ago
very much a pop culture revisionist history yes.
simfree 5y ago
Twilio has little competitive moat against Signalwire, Teli, Telnyx, etc beyond developer mindshare.
rsynnott 5y ago
> they made something that they couldn't make, because no network was going to allow it on their network. I think that’s probably true in the US, but less so in Europe, then Nokia’s main market. In the EU it wouldn’t have been up to the networks at all; bring your own device was and is quite common and networks are required to allow it. Nokia did produce a number of very premium smartphones (more expensive than the first iPhone, even!); they were just never all that consumer-friendly (though they made a few attempts).

jjtheblunt 5y ago

Am I the only one who sees "The [0-9]+.*" regex matches the title, and expects nonsense?

ludamad 5y ago
"The 0 Ways to Grow Your Devtools SASS"
- jjtheblunt 5y ago
  :)

kkotak 5y ago

Why do VCs feel the need to write crap like this is beyond me. Too much idle time?

AtlasBarfed 5y ago
Part of the 7 habits of highly successful disruptors is to write various 7 step treatises to success.