3 ms·

* Success often brings bureaucracy to protect against losing what you've got going for you * The bureaucracy drives away the types of misfit maniacs that build

* Success often brings bureaucracy to protect against losing what you've got going for you * The bureaucracy drives away the types of misfit maniacs that build incredible and unique products. * You're left with people more worried about fucking up then they are about building something awesome.

beebmam 3y ago
How do you reconcile this belief with big tech companies being some of the largest bureaucracies on Earth, yet they continually build incredible and unique products?
- mritchie712 3y ago
  What big tech company built a unique product well after they were big? * Google is still mostly search * Amazon is still mostly an online store (small exception with AWS, but that was charcoal[0]) * Meta is still mostly facebook (unique products were acquired) etc. 0 - https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/expert-sets/101417/ https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digita...
  - SeanAnderson 3y ago
    > Amazon is still mostly an online store (small exception with AWS, but that was charcoal[0]) What? I would express the opposite of this sentiment. Amazon is mostly AWS. Their online store's profit pales in comparison to AWS. https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/07/07/aws-chief-says-amazons-most-profitable-segment-is/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/07/07/aws-chief-says-ama... > Amazon overall generated $24.8 billion in operating profits in 2021, and AWS was responsible for $18.5 billion (or 74%) of it. Basically, a business segment that contributes 14% of overall revenue is generating roughly three-quarters of Amazon's total operating profits.
    - mritchie712 3y ago
      Right, I'm saying AWS is an outlier.
    - cma 3y ago
      Doesn't Amazon bucket their store ads (sponsored listings) under AWS?
    - hbrn 3y ago
      That's because Amazon's strategy was to not focus on profits in the first place. https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/annual/2004_shareholderLetter.pdf https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/annual/2...
chippiewill 3y ago
Yeah, just take a look at Hearthstone. It was developed by a small independent team within Blizzard who iterated like crazy and created prototypes with Adobe Flash. At one point they transferred basically the entire team to work on finishing StarCraft 2 temporarily and left the two principal game designers to continue iterating for 10 months. Hearthstone ended up being a smash hit and their first properly new game since they released World of Warcraft. All because they gave a small creative team the freedom to explore those ideas.

beebmam 3y ago

How do you reconcile this belief with big tech companies being some of the largest bureaucracies on Earth, yet they continually build incredible and unique products?

mritchie712 3y ago
What big tech company built a unique product well after they were big? * Google is still mostly search * Amazon is still mostly an online store (small exception with AWS, but that was charcoal[0]) * Meta is still mostly facebook (unique products were acquired) etc. 0 - https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/expert-sets/101417/ https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digita...
- SeanAnderson 3y ago
  > Amazon is still mostly an online store (small exception with AWS, but that was charcoal[0]) What? I would express the opposite of this sentiment. Amazon is mostly AWS. Their online store's profit pales in comparison to AWS. https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/07/07/aws-chief-says-amazons-most-profitable-segment-is/ https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/07/07/aws-chief-says-ama... > Amazon overall generated $24.8 billion in operating profits in 2021, and AWS was responsible for $18.5 billion (or 74%) of it. Basically, a business segment that contributes 14% of overall revenue is generating roughly three-quarters of Amazon's total operating profits.
  - mritchie712 3y ago
    Right, I'm saying AWS is an outlier.
  - cma 3y ago
    Doesn't Amazon bucket their store ads (sponsored listings) under AWS?
  - hbrn 3y ago
    That's because Amazon's strategy was to not focus on profits in the first place. https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/annual/2004_shareholderLetter.pdf https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/annual/2...

chippiewill 3y ago

Yeah, just take a look at Hearthstone. It was developed by a small independent team within Blizzard who iterated like crazy and created prototypes with Adobe Flash. At one point they transferred basically the entire team to work on finishing StarCraft 2 temporarily and left the two principal game designers to continue iterating for 10 months. Hearthstone ended up being a smash hit and their first properly new game since they released World of Warcraft. All because they gave a small creative team the freedom to explore those ideas.