7 ms·
I wouldn't go as far as labeling it evil - as long as you have the resources and the "follow-through" to make vaporware into a real product. It took a significa
by abl 18y ago
I wouldn't go as far as labeling it evil - as long as you have the resources and the "follow-through" to make vaporware into a real product. It took a significant amount of resourcefulness to land a deal with IBM, whether it was easy because of prior contacts, or hard-earned from the ground up, is notwithstanding. However, the final product was delivered, and the quality was good is most respects. But Gates' goal was not to build a product from the start, and Orian's goal was, which makes the situation quite different.
- mroman 18y agoI think it is evil because it basically amounts to making a bet with other people's money . . . I realize that "what if" scenarios sound unrealistic at times, however . . . seriously, what if - in that particular case with Gates, for example - the product had turned out to have some major showstopping flaws? Consumers/users ALWAYS get screwed in those type of scenarios. I don't believe in taking risks with other people's money.
- trapper 18y agoWhen I said "fake sell" I was meaning using it to prove a market. The process is as follows: 1. Create mockup/demo/realistic brochure/non-functional physical prototype 2. Go to your target market. Count number of targets 3. Try to sell them the product at the target price 4. Once they hand over their credit card etc, just hand it back. 5. Tell them thanks very much for their support, but this was a test so you can make sure the market wants the product, if they want we can contact them when/if the product is ready. 6. Do your stats. What proportion of the target market you sampled bought the product. Extrapolate to the estimated population to get an idea of how many units you can sell. [rinse and repeat to make your product more attractive to the market] It's the only way I have ever heard of turning a snake-oil, soothsayer business plan into one that can statistically show the uptake of your product in the market.
- mroman 18y agoMy, that's neat, wasting people's time with a marketing survey under the guise of an actual product offer.
- trapper 18y agoYeah. Your way wastes everyones time as the product isn't right from the start and it's harder to build a great business, as you don't know if you'll ever get paid. Everyone to their own though. I'd rather be sure.
- mroman 18y agoOh, "my way" involves solving the problem of "how to find out what users want" WITHOUT resorting to shady little tactics. I refuse to believe that there is no other way of conducting a market study other than resorting to sneaky, dastardly little tactics. Why? because there ARE other ways. Also, nice strawman, I obviously did not counter with "conduct NO market studies/surveys" - I came back with "that's dishonest and I don't believe in it". Funny, how I have set up services (granted, not products) that made me money and I did not have to resort to cheap little deceptive tricks.
- trapper 18y ago1. How can you be sure someone wants to pay for something unless they bring out their credit card? I would love to know a better way. 2. Is it unethical to sell a product that isn't right for the market, and promote half truths like most advertising does? Which is better in the long run? I would rather have a product I can be statistically confident is going to sell because users have wanted to pay for it. There's no debating whether it's right for the market or not. Thanks for the discussion by the way, this is fun :). If you do have a better way I'd love to know.
- mroman 18y agoI keep trying to post a reply, and this app simply hangs and then displays a blank screen.