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> How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? Probably other colleagues. I've been doing this a long time

> How do you think your trusted colleagues originally found out about the stuff they recommend you? Probably other colleagues. I've been doing this a long time and the only 5x tools I can think of are things like git and Linux (if it counts as a tool), which probably didn't have much marketing behind them. Maybe IRC? It may have been 5x better than the BBSs I was using. Tools like Notion seem to be more like 1x or maybe 1.1x compared to plain text files or Google Keep (which itself is also incremental).

themacguffinman 4y ago
Ok then I'll have to ask how those other colleagues or those other IRC people originally heard about those products, ad infinitum. Things like git and Linux were marketed, they just weren't marketed by professional specialists in return for money. Torvalds was out on mailing lists intentionally promoting his creations. For-profit startups will do this kind of informal marketing too, even technical founders will initially try to talk up their business amongst their circle of friends and associates. Without someone making a deliberate effort to tell people about new stuff, it's unlikely people will just magically know about it.
- powerhour 4y ago
  You've certainly marketed your thoughts my way, so I'm now familiar with them. The meaning of marketing is diminishing rapidly here.
  - themacguffinman 4y ago
    That would be true if my thoughts & commentary were available as a product, but they're not. If I said "if you liked what I have to say, get my free or paid eBook that has my thoughts/commentary" then yes that would very clearly be marketing. This might also be true if my profile or skills were being marketed through my commentary, but I'm anonymous. Others on HN submit commentary and blog posts on HN with the intent of promoting their profile as a consultant or leader. Profit-driven corporations also do this, there's basically no non-altruistic reason to share any of their proprietary knowledge except to market their pedigree to engineers they might hire or customers they might want to impress.
Consultant32452 4y ago
Tesla famously has a $0 marketing budget, but their real marketing is basically Musk keeps doing things that get him in the news.

themacguffinman 4y ago

Ok then I'll have to ask how those other colleagues or those other IRC people originally heard about those products, ad infinitum. Things like git and Linux were marketed, they just weren't marketed by professional specialists in return for money. Torvalds was out on mailing lists intentionally promoting his creations. For-profit startups will do this kind of informal marketing too, even technical founders will initially try to talk up their business amongst their circle of friends and associates. Without someone making a deliberate effort to tell people about new stuff, it's unlikely people will just magically know about it.

powerhour 4y ago
You've certainly marketed your thoughts my way, so I'm now familiar with them. The meaning of marketing is diminishing rapidly here.
- themacguffinman 4y ago
  That would be true if my thoughts & commentary were available as a product, but they're not. If I said "if you liked what I have to say, get my free or paid eBook that has my thoughts/commentary" then yes that would very clearly be marketing. This might also be true if my profile or skills were being marketed through my commentary, but I'm anonymous. Others on HN submit commentary and blog posts on HN with the intent of promoting their profile as a consultant or leader. Profit-driven corporations also do this, there's basically no non-altruistic reason to share any of their proprietary knowledge except to market their pedigree to engineers they might hire or customers they might want to impress.

Consultant32452 4y ago

Tesla famously has a $0 marketing budget, but their real marketing is basically Musk keeps doing things that get him in the news.