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IMHO: Companies that make a profit are in php and rails (rarely in python). Companies that do not make a profit or have no intention to are in elixir, rust, typ

IMHO: Companies that make a profit are in php and rails (rarely in python). Companies that do not make a profit or have no intention to are in elixir, rust, typescript, go and node. I don't think this has anything to do with the language used - it's the attitude of the founders: "let's use easy boring tech"- that type of thinking extends into the business. The founders are focused on solving a business problem - not some hipster js framework. I don't want to code php, but after year 20 i am confident there is no escape.

CoastalCoder 4y ago
That's a really interesting observation. I never thought of tech stack as a possible predictor of profitability. Do you know of any larger studies on that?
- derivagral 4y ago
  Paul Graham wrote this[0] back in the day about tech stacks. I think this is still kind of true, but there's many more people across many stacks today that can work around some of the shortcomings. I guess it would still be important-ish at a small startup, but you still have to hire for it. There's much more JS/python/java/etc these days, so you have to fight that tide while you grow. Profitability also may correlate differently; smaller places usually focus on growth instead, right? [0] http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html
collinc777 4y ago
elixir, rust, typescript, and node are all relatively newer languages. Php, rails, and python have been around longer and the companies built on top of them have had more time to ride the compound growth rate curve.
matwood 4y ago
I wouldn't exactly call Go hipster. New maybe, but it fits squarely in the 'easy boring tech' and is one of the main complaints from detractors.
spollo 4y ago
To be fair, Zendesk was founded in 2007. Ruby on Rails was new and hot back then.
sethammons 4y ago
SendGrid was/is profitable (I've since moved on). It was a perl and python shop that turned to a go shop; a fantastic decision that greatly improved developer productivity. One team was rails and it turned out to be a trash fire before going to Go. I'm now at an elixir place. I'm not convinced it is the right tool for what we do but it was chosen to leverage the BEAM arch. Headcount growth is the only thing in the way of being profitable at this juncture. In short, I disagree with your thesis.

CoastalCoder 4y ago

That's a really interesting observation. I never thought of tech stack as a possible predictor of profitability. Do you know of any larger studies on that?

derivagral 4y ago
Paul Graham wrote this[0] back in the day about tech stacks. I think this is still kind of true, but there's many more people across many stacks today that can work around some of the shortcomings. I guess it would still be important-ish at a small startup, but you still have to hire for it. There's much more JS/python/java/etc these days, so you have to fight that tide while you grow. Profitability also may correlate differently; smaller places usually focus on growth instead, right? [0] http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html

collinc777 4y ago

elixir, rust, typescript, and node are all relatively newer languages. Php, rails, and python have been around longer and the companies built on top of them have had more time to ride the compound growth rate curve.

matwood 4y ago

I wouldn't exactly call Go hipster. New maybe, but it fits squarely in the 'easy boring tech' and is one of the main complaints from detractors.

spollo 4y ago

To be fair, Zendesk was founded in 2007. Ruby on Rails was new and hot back then.

sethammons 4y ago

SendGrid was/is profitable (I've since moved on). It was a perl and python shop that turned to a go shop; a fantastic decision that greatly improved developer productivity. One team was rails and it turned out to be a trash fire before going to Go. I'm now at an elixir place. I'm not convinced it is the right tool for what we do but it was chosen to leverage the BEAM arch. Headcount growth is the only thing in the way of being profitable at this juncture. In short, I disagree with your thesis.