3 ms·
Yeah, but did they fail to build the right things...or did they just write bad code that didn't work? I would assume the former, but you're right, it's hard to
by ryandetzel 3y ago
Yeah, but did they fail to build the right things...or did they just write bad code that didn't work? I would assume the former, but you're right, it's hard to quantify.
My CEO said something the other day at an all-hands, someone asked what concerns him and he said velocity and then followed it up with not that we're moving slowly but rather he's worried we're building fast just in the wrong direction. I think this happens a lot.
I can't think of a single company that failed because they didn't have unit tests, or they chose the wrong DB. I'm sure they're out there, maybe, but it's more common you're going to fail because you built the wrong thing vs the code wasn't tested, no?
- muzani 3y agoI worked at a SaaS company which was just complete shit. They handled a lot of critical B2B data. They frequently went down, together with prod. They had an incompetent lead programmer who would disappear often and take a long time to fix things. They had no processes, they'd store source code in email. But they have product market fit, in that they operate in a huge market with plenty of suckers. They were good at sales. They could only keep a handful of customers at any one time. Plenty of sales stuff were straight lies - they'd make up clients, used an intern for testimonials, etc. They're bootstrapped and still around. A VC commented that they were resilient, cockroach like, all the sexy words you use during a recession. But it's likely they just never grew into a unicorn level because they kept bleeding customers.