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It was an interesting read. But by the end I have no idea what Nguyen is really good at other than selling a startup. He's a wheeler and a dealer, but I sure
by wavephorm 15y ago
It was an interesting read. But by the end I have no idea what Nguyen is really good at other than selling a startup. He's a wheeler and a dealer, but I sure don't have the impression that he knows how to build something as truly disruptive as he says he can.
- felipemnoa 15y agoSo he is missing a Wozniak, I guess.
- wavephorm 15y agoBut there was nothing in the article that gives me the feeling he is anything like Steve Jobs. He's just phenomenal at the flip, and that says a lot about what the Silicon Valley VC's that invested in Color are after.
- wyclif 15y agoHe flips companies. That's nice and everything, but it's not innovation. He's essentially a parasite.
- OstiaAntica 15y ago"Parasite" is unfair. You still need guys like him to agitate, to unsettle and disrupt the marketplace. Color was a pretty innovative idea, it was just terribly executed both in technology and marketing.
- wyclif 15y agoYeah, that's unfair...I retract that. But I wouldn't suggest for a second that you don't need "guys like him" i.e. great salespeople who can sell ice to eskimos. That's why I find his arrogance so over the top insofar as he compares himself to Jobs and other innovators.
- wyclif 15y agoNo, he's missing a Wozniak and a Jobs.
- mathattack 15y agoThis is still a valuable skill. Not the only one but a valuable one. Who wants to tie their money or career to someone who can't get you paid on the other side?
- wavephorm 15y agoAbsolutely true. However the article leans toward framing him as a visionary capable of superhuman feats: "IBM didn't survive the PC, none of the PC guys survived the web, and I don't think any of the web guys will survive the post-PC world," Bill Nguyen is implying that Color.com will do what IBM, Microsoft, and Facebook can't, and survive the post-pc world. And there is no evidence he is capable of this since he flipped every company he started.
- arihant 15y agoNo, he is implying some startup will do what IBM, Microsoft and Facebook can't. Historically speaking, this is a decent analogy. After all, Facebook did what Microsoft and Google couldn't. Apple did what IBM couldn't.
- i386 15y agoWhy even mention it if he doesn't think that Color could be the disruptive company that can make that leap? I doubt he's saying "Yeah a bunch of companies are going to fail at this, including Color, but hey throw cash at us anyway". That doesn't make for a good sell at all.
- mathattack 15y agoIsn't the job of spinster to imply that? :-)