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I am pretty exhausted by the startup world and their market ideas. Nearly ever single one is just taking some mundane part of life and throwing software at it.

by bmitc 3y ago

I am pretty exhausted by the startup world and their market ideas. Nearly ever single one is just taking some mundane part of life and throwing software at it. Also, venture capital generates very short term thinking. Their thinking is almost wholly based on timescales of 1-5 years, maybe out to 10 years, for when they can exit and move on, letting the company either crumble post IPO or sale or end up gobbled up by some megacorp.

arcticbull 3y ago
> Their thinking is almost wholly based on timescales of 1-5 years, maybe out to 10 years, for when they can exit and move on, letting the company either crumble post IPO or sale or end up gobbled up by some megacorp. Average time to exit is now about 9-11 years. [1] Maybe I'm just too millennial, but that doesn't sound like too short a timeframe in an industry that moves and changes as quickly as the tech world does. For instance, 11 years ago smartphone penetration was a tiny fraction of what it is today. I wouldn't consider a 10 year time horizon to be 'short term thinking' - especially when that's an average, in a distribution with a much higher median - but that's just me. [1] https://eqvista.com/exit-timing-startups-by-industry/ https://eqvista.com/exit-timing-startups-by-industry/
- jmholla 3y ago
  > Maybe I'm just too millennial, but that doesn't sound like too short a timeframe in an industry that moves and changes as quickly as the tech world does. It is a problem when the industries that depend on your work operate on much longer timescales. Not to mention, the degradation of service in the search for increased profits happens during that 9-11 years.
- bmitc 3y ago
  A ten-year horizon is extremely short-term. It doesn't have anything to do with generations. > 11 years smartphone penetration was a tiny fraction of what it is today. Right, and I'd say we were better off then than now, and I believe science backs that up. Education, intelligence (literally brain and cognitive development), mental health, emotional health, community, time, and more have all suffered at the hands of smartphones. And that's what I'm getting at. Chasing capital value at the expense of everything else is short-term and short-sighted thinking.
itake 3y ago
You’re not wrong but if it was that easy, everyone would do it

by bmitc 3y ago

arcticbull 3y ago

> Their thinking is almost wholly based on timescales of 1-5 years, maybe out to 10 years, for when they can exit and move on, letting the company either crumble post IPO or sale or end up gobbled up by some megacorp. Average time to exit is now about 9-11 years. [1] Maybe I'm just too millennial, but that doesn't sound like too short a timeframe in an industry that moves and changes as quickly as the tech world does. For instance, 11 years ago smartphone penetration was a tiny fraction of what it is today. I wouldn't consider a 10 year time horizon to be 'short term thinking' - especially when that's an average, in a distribution with a much higher median - but that's just me. [1] https://eqvista.com/exit-timing-startups-by-industry/ https://eqvista.com/exit-timing-startups-by-industry/

jmholla 3y ago
> Maybe I'm just too millennial, but that doesn't sound like too short a timeframe in an industry that moves and changes as quickly as the tech world does. It is a problem when the industries that depend on your work operate on much longer timescales. Not to mention, the degradation of service in the search for increased profits happens during that 9-11 years.
bmitc 3y ago
A ten-year horizon is extremely short-term. It doesn't have anything to do with generations. > 11 years smartphone penetration was a tiny fraction of what it is today. Right, and I'd say we were better off then than now, and I believe science backs that up. Education, intelligence (literally brain and cognitive development), mental health, emotional health, community, time, and more have all suffered at the hands of smartphones. And that's what I'm getting at. Chasing capital value at the expense of everything else is short-term and short-sighted thinking.

itake 3y ago

You’re not wrong but if it was that easy, everyone would do it