5 ms·

“If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost.” So nobody can find inspiratio

by Velc 4y ago

“If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost.” So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos? This seems like a fairly obtuse statement. I don’t watch these hustle porn guys on YouTube but I learn a hell of a lot from smaller tech YouTubers who produce educational content. The author is clearly quite salty. Vox is just as bad if not worse than these guys on YouTube. Their whole schtick is riling people up for page views with no consideration for the wider societal impact.

calculated 4y ago
I was going to say the same thing as you. The article has a good title but besides that it completely missed the point. And the sentence you quoted was only the cherry on top.
FredPret 4y ago
Elsewhere on HN’s front page today: negativity drives engagement. Vox and others on both sides of the political spectrum turned that into a business.
varsketiz 4y ago
I'm not sure how you get from "If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost" to "So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos?"
- Velc 4y ago
  If a startup idea is good, it doesn’t really matter if someone mentioned it in a video that got hundreds of thousands of views. Execution is still the key component. ‘You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means.
  - Osmose 4y ago
    You are stripping all of the context of the statement and then responding to the universal form of it that you created yourself, I dunno that Vox can be blamed too much in this case given how much you're working in order to be mad about it.
    - Velc 4y ago
      eh, I think you're reaching. Saying I'm working on being mad about it is as unsubstantiated as me saying that you’re a Vox fanboy who can't handle having your worldviews challenged. Bit pointless isn't it?
  - vasco 4y ago
    > You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means. This is not a correct interpretation. It implies watching YouTube influencer ideas is not a way that gives you much chances of success. That there are better ways to start your business than a youtube video idea. Your interpretation is the most extreme one you can take from what is written. It's possible for an idea to not be unique but from unique to "3m people watched on youtube" goes a long way, and the type of idea that gets 3m views is probably optimized for entertainment more than business resilience.
highwaylights 4y ago
I think you’ve missed the point of the comment. The point is that these people aren’t making their money from what they’re preaching, they’re making it from YouTube. Even if there were some validity to what they’re saying in the videos, if the video has 3 million views by the time you’ve watched it then you’re at least the 3 millionth fish in the packed-to-the-gills salmon farm by then and there’s no margin left for you.
- lethuel 4y ago
  There's lots of similar programming videos, does that mean you should not learn programming because you'll be the 3 millionth fish? Competition exists in every niche, you still have to get better than others, there's no silver bullet.
  - lessname 4y ago
    If you learn programming you can create a completely unique and useful program. Dropshipping on the other hand is thousands of different people selling the exact same product, there is no value added.
    - wruza 4y ago
      Tbf, from the economical perspective both are a lottery of marketing.
      - meghan_rain 4y ago
        Interesting and scary take.
  - SergeAx 4y ago
    My opinion is that you one hundred percent should not learn programming from YouTube videos. It is tremendously ineffective.
- MrPatan 4y ago
  Vox also doesn't make their money from whatever it is they preach, but from Vox getting clicks.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

by Velc 4y ago

calculated 4y ago

I was going to say the same thing as you. The article has a good title but besides that it completely missed the point. And the sentence you quoted was only the cherry on top.

FredPret 4y ago

Elsewhere on HN’s front page today: negativity drives engagement. Vox and others on both sides of the political spectrum turned that into a business.

varsketiz 4y ago

I'm not sure how you get from "If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost" to "So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos?"

Velc 4y ago
If a startup idea is good, it doesn’t really matter if someone mentioned it in a video that got hundreds of thousands of views. Execution is still the key component. ‘You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means.
- Osmose 4y ago
  You are stripping all of the context of the statement and then responding to the universal form of it that you created yourself, I dunno that Vox can be blamed too much in this case given how much you're working in order to be mad about it.
  - Velc 4y ago
    eh, I think you're reaching. Saying I'm working on being mad about it is as unsubstantiated as me saying that you’re a Vox fanboy who can't handle having your worldviews challenged. Bit pointless isn't it?
- vasco 4y ago
  > You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means. This is not a correct interpretation. It implies watching YouTube influencer ideas is not a way that gives you much chances of success. That there are better ways to start your business than a youtube video idea. Your interpretation is the most extreme one you can take from what is written. It's possible for an idea to not be unique but from unique to "3m people watched on youtube" goes a long way, and the type of idea that gets 3m views is probably optimized for entertainment more than business resilience.

highwaylights 4y ago

I think you’ve missed the point of the comment. The point is that these people aren’t making their money from what they’re preaching, they’re making it from YouTube. Even if there were some validity to what they’re saying in the videos, if the video has 3 million views by the time you’ve watched it then you’re at least the 3 millionth fish in the packed-to-the-gills salmon farm by then and there’s no margin left for you.

lethuel 4y ago
There's lots of similar programming videos, does that mean you should not learn programming because you'll be the 3 millionth fish? Competition exists in every niche, you still have to get better than others, there's no silver bullet.
- lessname 4y ago
  If you learn programming you can create a completely unique and useful program. Dropshipping on the other hand is thousands of different people selling the exact same product, there is no value added.
  - wruza 4y ago
    Tbf, from the economical perspective both are a lottery of marketing.
    - meghan_rain 4y ago
      Interesting and scary take.
- SergeAx 4y ago
  My opinion is that you one hundred percent should not learn programming from YouTube videos. It is tremendously ineffective.
MrPatan 4y ago
Vox also doesn't make their money from whatever it is they preach, but from Vox getting clicks.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]