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Same way Twitter is going to go under Elon. These companies are massive cash generating machines, that ultimately burn it all on excessive and unnecessary expen

Same way Twitter is going to go under Elon. These companies are massive cash generating machines, that ultimately burn it all on excessive and unnecessary expenses. They've built a great and popular product, be content with that and run it like a real business rather than an incubator of failed ideas

dragonwriter 4y ago
> They've built a great and popular product, be content with that and run it like a real business rather than an incubator of failed ideas The problem for social media is that something new comes along, becomes popular, and displaces incumbents if they aren’t innovating, or at least adapting rapidly to innovation in the space. If you’re milking instead of moving, you’re going to wake up as MySpace.
- adam_arthur 4y ago
  What has Twitter innovated on in the last 10 years? Granted they just released "Spaces" which is pretty nice, but I think you'll find the pace of innovation at these companies is quite low relative to their size. I think companies like SNAP and TWTR are fundamentally mismanaged on the product side. Very low output relative to the headcount. At the end of the day, some businesses are niche and limited in scale, and that's ok. Right now every larger tech company is run as if they're trying to become a huge conglomerate.
- skippyboxedhero 4y ago
  Internal innovation will never be profitable. If you have a good idea, are you rushing to work for Twitter for $150k/year? No. Is anyone you hire likely to have an especially good idea? No, all the people with good ideas are self-employed...because they know the value of good ideas. It is far better to milk your cash cow, and invest in acquisitions where possible (now, almost impossible legally...so the only component of the strategy should be: milk cash cow, return excess value to shareholders).
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    I’m not sure I agree with your first paragraph, but the second…. That’s pretty good. If you’ve already extracted (milked) a billion dollars or more from the business, why do you care if you wake up one morning and your business is the next MySpace? That’s the employee’s problem, not yours. Sell the business to someone who hasn’t yet realized it has turned into MySpace, and move on to the next idea you’ve got. Or retire. Whatever you want.
    - nmfisher 4y ago
      That seems to be Jack Dorsey to a T. Pretty clear he mentally checked out as Twitter CEO a decade ago. I probably would too.
mhh__ 4y ago
Snapchat has some good qualities but it seems profoundly unmonetizable unless they go full palantir and sell all the data. Look at the ads page, it's like talking to (I'll be be Blunt) the worst reality tv addicted morons around

dragonwriter 4y ago

> They've built a great and popular product, be content with that and run it like a real business rather than an incubator of failed ideas The problem for social media is that something new comes along, becomes popular, and displaces incumbents if they aren’t innovating, or at least adapting rapidly to innovation in the space. If you’re milking instead of moving, you’re going to wake up as MySpace.

adam_arthur 4y ago
What has Twitter innovated on in the last 10 years? Granted they just released "Spaces" which is pretty nice, but I think you'll find the pace of innovation at these companies is quite low relative to their size. I think companies like SNAP and TWTR are fundamentally mismanaged on the product side. Very low output relative to the headcount. At the end of the day, some businesses are niche and limited in scale, and that's ok. Right now every larger tech company is run as if they're trying to become a huge conglomerate.
skippyboxedhero 4y ago
Internal innovation will never be profitable. If you have a good idea, are you rushing to work for Twitter for $150k/year? No. Is anyone you hire likely to have an especially good idea? No, all the people with good ideas are self-employed...because they know the value of good ideas. It is far better to milk your cash cow, and invest in acquisitions where possible (now, almost impossible legally...so the only component of the strategy should be: milk cash cow, return excess value to shareholders).
- Kon-Peki 4y ago
  I’m not sure I agree with your first paragraph, but the second…. That’s pretty good. If you’ve already extracted (milked) a billion dollars or more from the business, why do you care if you wake up one morning and your business is the next MySpace? That’s the employee’s problem, not yours. Sell the business to someone who hasn’t yet realized it has turned into MySpace, and move on to the next idea you’ve got. Or retire. Whatever you want.
  - nmfisher 4y ago
    That seems to be Jack Dorsey to a T. Pretty clear he mentally checked out as Twitter CEO a decade ago. I probably would too.

mhh__ 4y ago

Snapchat has some good qualities but it seems profoundly unmonetizable unless they go full palantir and sell all the data. Look at the ads page, it's like talking to (I'll be be Blunt) the worst reality tv addicted morons around