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Meta: the misuse of the term "scam" appears to be on the rise, often serving as a catch-all phrase for anything that one disapproves of.

taeric 3y ago
Agreed, this use of scam can quickly reduce to "most business models are scams." And that is less than useful. I do think there is something there. At large, tech's chasing of "scale" robs so many ideas of the ability to grow and be acceptable in the small. Frustrating, as nothing works at scale. Pretty much period. And "in the small" can still be quite large and manageable for many successful people. But so much of this argument seems to be on a redefinition of predatory pricing. Non sustainable pricing is not the same, all told. Especially when what makes it non-sustainable is the growth in the company. Either in market share, capabilities, or general offerings. I'm wary of turning a lot of this into whataboutism argumentation. But it would be very helpful if there was a callout to what is pushed forward as an alternative model. I'm not seeing it in this article. :(
- jonathankoren 3y ago
  Your argument about “predatory” versus “unsustainable” pricing is a distinction without a difference. All predatory pricing is unsustainable. You’re literally selling at a substantial loss to take customers away from your competitors and drive them out of business. It is an unsustainable price. That’s the whole point. Usually, you don’t do that in every market simultaneously, and are actually turning a profit overall, thus. Or taking yourself down along with the competition. Uber and Lyft got away with it so long because VCs believed in growth above all else, and that at sometime in the unspecified future, the ride share companies would transition to a sustainable business model after they established a near monopoly.
  - taeric 3y ago
    Predatory is selling at below cost of manufacture. You do it in a way that is unsustainable with regard to making and offering of the product. Much of tech's unsustainable pricing is that they cannot maintain the growth of the company at that pricing forever. Which, tracks, as they also cannot sustain that growth forever.
fullshark 3y ago
I think it's a larger phenomenon at play, if it's a news story in front of a paywall, it will have inflammatory and misleading language at the very least in the headline in order to go viral.

taeric 3y ago

Agreed, this use of scam can quickly reduce to "most business models are scams." And that is less than useful. I do think there is something there. At large, tech's chasing of "scale" robs so many ideas of the ability to grow and be acceptable in the small. Frustrating, as nothing works at scale. Pretty much period. And "in the small" can still be quite large and manageable for many successful people. But so much of this argument seems to be on a redefinition of predatory pricing. Non sustainable pricing is not the same, all told. Especially when what makes it non-sustainable is the growth in the company. Either in market share, capabilities, or general offerings. I'm wary of turning a lot of this into whataboutism argumentation. But it would be very helpful if there was a callout to what is pushed forward as an alternative model. I'm not seeing it in this article. :(

jonathankoren 3y ago
Your argument about “predatory” versus “unsustainable” pricing is a distinction without a difference. All predatory pricing is unsustainable. You’re literally selling at a substantial loss to take customers away from your competitors and drive them out of business. It is an unsustainable price. That’s the whole point. Usually, you don’t do that in every market simultaneously, and are actually turning a profit overall, thus. Or taking yourself down along with the competition. Uber and Lyft got away with it so long because VCs believed in growth above all else, and that at sometime in the unspecified future, the ride share companies would transition to a sustainable business model after they established a near monopoly.
- taeric 3y ago
  Predatory is selling at below cost of manufacture. You do it in a way that is unsustainable with regard to making and offering of the product. Much of tech's unsustainable pricing is that they cannot maintain the growth of the company at that pricing forever. Which, tracks, as they also cannot sustain that growth forever.

fullshark 3y ago

I think it's a larger phenomenon at play, if it's a news story in front of a paywall, it will have inflammatory and misleading language at the very least in the headline in order to go viral.