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> tech companies" are those where tech still plays a significant factor in the growth of the company such that it's important to an executive level. By similar

by Rd6n6 5y ago

> tech companies" are those where tech still plays a significant factor in the growth of the company such that it's important to an executive level. By similar definitions, aren’t almost all companies also money companies, employee companies, legal compliance companies, strategy companies, marketing companies, mission statement companies, fundraising companies, etc? That sort of definition works for giving job applicants a hint about whether the company might need them I guess.

nostrademons 5y ago
By definition, "almost all" companies are not whatever departmental adjective comes next. In business, you're defined by your differentiators, the things that make you different from all other companies. Finance, HR, legal compliance, etc. are commodities: pretty much everyone knows how to do them. The companies that are defined by those labels (Goldman Sachs for finance, for example, or Gusto & ADP for payroll) are those that know how to do them so much better that other companies would rather pay them than do it themselves. So it is with tech. On some level all companies are tech companies in that you need a website, Intranet, database, etc. These are all commodities though. A "tech company" is one where your tech is so good that either you can offer differentiated consumer experiences that nobody else can offer (eg. YouTube, Apple, FB's various products, consumer parts of Google) or people pay you to handle the tech things for them (eg. AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud).
- Rd6n6 5y ago
  > A "tech company" is one where your tech is so good that either you can offer differentiated consumer experiences that nobody else can offer(…) or people pay you to handle the tech things for them It’s a decent definition. It has some implications though Almost no companies really differentiate via tech that nobody else can offer Almost no game or app companies meet that bar. Most game companies have tech that another company can reproduce for example. Almost all apps use fairly commonplace tech.
  - kenhwang 5y ago
    Within gaming, there's Unity, Unreal, Crytek, and the like which I would classify as tech, but otherwise, most gaming companies are far more creative-focused much like film.
    - nostrademons 5y ago
      Depends on the company. Roblox, Epic, and Wube (Factorio) I'd also classify as tech. Most of the other ones are either driven by gameplay or art, though. There's a pattern there: Unity, Roblox, Unreal, Crytek, and Epic all build platforms and game engines used by other game developers, so again, you are what you do well enough to sell to people who don't want to deal with it.

by Rd6n6 5y ago

nostrademons 5y ago

By definition, "almost all" companies are not whatever departmental adjective comes next. In business, you're defined by your differentiators, the things that make you different from all other companies. Finance, HR, legal compliance, etc. are commodities: pretty much everyone knows how to do them. The companies that are defined by those labels (Goldman Sachs for finance, for example, or Gusto & ADP for payroll) are those that know how to do them so much better that other companies would rather pay them than do it themselves. So it is with tech. On some level all companies are tech companies in that you need a website, Intranet, database, etc. These are all commodities though. A "tech company" is one where your tech is so good that either you can offer differentiated consumer experiences that nobody else can offer (eg. YouTube, Apple, FB's various products, consumer parts of Google) or people pay you to handle the tech things for them (eg. AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud).

Rd6n6 5y ago
> A "tech company" is one where your tech is so good that either you can offer differentiated consumer experiences that nobody else can offer(…) or people pay you to handle the tech things for them It’s a decent definition. It has some implications though Almost no companies really differentiate via tech that nobody else can offer Almost no game or app companies meet that bar. Most game companies have tech that another company can reproduce for example. Almost all apps use fairly commonplace tech.
- kenhwang 5y ago
  Within gaming, there's Unity, Unreal, Crytek, and the like which I would classify as tech, but otherwise, most gaming companies are far more creative-focused much like film.
  - nostrademons 5y ago
    Depends on the company. Roblox, Epic, and Wube (Factorio) I'd also classify as tech. Most of the other ones are either driven by gameplay or art, though. There's a pattern there: Unity, Roblox, Unreal, Crytek, and Epic all build platforms and game engines used by other game developers, so again, you are what you do well enough to sell to people who don't want to deal with it.