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> It makes me think that the company exists just on a constant flow of VC or similar money and what I'm using or paying for isn't a realistic or future cost and
by donmcronald 3y ago
> It makes me think that the company exists just on a constant flow of VC or similar money and what I'm using or paying for isn't a realistic or future cost and I'm involved with a system or platform that is getting stretched larger and larger regardless of income and the more money they raise the harder the fall will be.
This is where I always get burned. As they get larger and larger, and the product gets more complex, they see it as value that I'm not paying for, but I see it as negative value because I'm forced to deal with all the added complexity that I don't even want. Then, one day, they decide I shouldn't be "freeloading" on their super awesome platform and change pricing to something that isn't even close to reasonable for me.
It's like hiring someone to cut your grass and a few years later you go outside to find 3 guys on riding lawnmowers telling you that prices are going up because obviously you're not paying enough to cover the costs of the service you're getting. It's not my fault they scaled their business to accommodate customers with 10 acre lawns and assumed I needed the same level of service, but I'm the one left without lawn care.
- aeyes 3y agoAlso the guy who you hired to cut your grass now also lugs around all the tools to take care of your pool, your car and your house. Take all or nothing.
- duxup 3y agoAnd your lawn guy’s office has a pool.
- snowstormsun 3y agoAlso, the lawn guy now has a pricing tier for different grass heights that all in the end take the same amount of work.
- mlloyd 3y agoBut your lawn guy stays in business - which is relevant to them and to you (for as long as you're a customer). If the market is efficient, there should be reasonable competition that you can switch to that more aligns with your needs.
- jrumbut 3y agoMy lawn guy, and his competitor, just got acquired by a company that only mows the median strips along highways.
- malfist 3y agoMy lawn guy got shut down by google.
- IIsi50MHz 3y agoMy lawn guy got bought by Google, cleverly integrated into Google Play Grass, eventually shifted over the the side behind the new 2.37m high spirea hedge (which is beautiful), then Google Play Grass got replaced with sign saying "It's time to switch to YouTube Groundskeeping!". And my lawn guy isn't included anymore.
- donmcronald 3y agoExcept it's more like you originally purchased turf that's compatible with the provider's lawnmowers and, while you thought they were cutting the lawn, they were busy building a moat around your property. So now, switching involved ripping out the old turf, filling in the moat, and having new turf installed. Then you realize that by the time you pay off the capital investments needed to switch to a new provider they'll be pulling the same stunt and you should've learned how to cut the grass on your own.
- scaramanga 3y agoIt's absolutely not efficient in the sense you imagine. The VC capital is concentrated in to the hands of a few players. They're not going to compete against themselves. And nobody is going to compete against the titans. The market is efficient at concentrating wealt in to the hands of those who already have it.
- jjtheblunt 3y agothat's an excellent description
- yawnxyz 3y agoWasn't this the case with Vercel? They started out as Now v1 which was closer to Fly.io, and... became whatever the heck they are now, which is very different from where they started.
- freetinker 3y agoBrilliant analogy. I find myself increasingly supporting small teams or indie devs. Why? Because it serves me well. Some things are way too complex for small teams to execute (or so I believe), so I will continue to rely on corps to supply me phones, computers, cars and such. But I loathe it.