4 ms·

Yes, exactly. I don't want a business to make me filthy rich. I want a business that will feed my wife and me.

shadowgovt 4y ago
The asymmetry that, it seems, has crept into modern life is that the business you describe will not attract investors, and (because the Internet has flattened the marketplace geographically) the heavy investor-backed company doing what you do 90% as well at 300% the convenience will eventually put you out of business.
- gavinhoward 4y ago
  Sure, if they have 300% the convenience. But I am pretty sure I will have more convenience. I'll have a Matrix server and website where customers, including their employees, can ask me questions. I'm pretty sure it will be maximally convenient for senior developers or a CTO helping to make the purchase if interns never ask them questions about my software.
  - shadowgovt 4y ago
    It sounds like you're in the right place. I'm thinking more about local retailers getting curb-stomped by Amazon because they barely have a website while Amazon has same-day delivery requestable via a phone app (and at the end of the day, the local retailer's only differentiation is local-market knowledge; the same trucks that deliver to their storefronts deliver to the warehouse that Amazon routes product to front porches from). The market has proven more than willing to lose "Joe, of Joe & Sons Seed, already knows my order and has it waiting on the table for when I stop by on the first Tuesday of April" in favor of "It takes like three clicks to put my order in the online basket and I don't even have to walk to the car to get it; it's dropped on my porch."
    - gavinhoward 4y ago
      I agree with you 100% here. This kind of convenience matters, and I acknowledge that as someone who drives to the local bank for a lot of my bank stuff; convenience may not matter to me personally, but I would be stupid if I didn't acknowledge that it matters most too most people.

The asymmetry that, it seems, has crept into modern life is that the business you describe will not attract investors, and (because the Internet has flattened the marketplace geographically) the heavy investor-backed company doing what you do 90% as well at 300% the convenience will eventually put you out of business.

gavinhoward 4y ago
Sure, if they have 300% the convenience. But I am pretty sure I will have more convenience. I'll have a Matrix server and website where customers, including their employees, can ask me questions. I'm pretty sure it will be maximally convenient for senior developers or a CTO helping to make the purchase if interns never ask them questions about my software.
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  It sounds like you're in the right place. I'm thinking more about local retailers getting curb-stomped by Amazon because they barely have a website while Amazon has same-day delivery requestable via a phone app (and at the end of the day, the local retailer's only differentiation is local-market knowledge; the same trucks that deliver to their storefronts deliver to the warehouse that Amazon routes product to front porches from). The market has proven more than willing to lose "Joe, of Joe & Sons Seed, already knows my order and has it waiting on the table for when I stop by on the first Tuesday of April" in favor of "It takes like three clicks to put my order in the online basket and I don't even have to walk to the car to get it; it's dropped on my porch."
  - gavinhoward 4y ago
    I agree with you 100% here. This kind of convenience matters, and I acknowledge that as someone who drives to the local bank for a lot of my bank stuff; convenience may not matter to me personally, but I would be stupid if I didn't acknowledge that it matters most too most people.