4 ms·

I predict death of tech firm investment in general. Startups are too volatile to deliver anything over a long period, and the dinosaurs are too fearful to deliv

I predict death of tech firm investment in general. Startups are too volatile to deliver anything over a long period, and the dinosaurs are too fearful to deliver anything new and dying a slow grasping death. The future lies in open source, to which I'm seeing some monetization movements happening there, but I'm not sure how anyone can really bank on something free. Maybe you can. Maybe you invest in the payment brokers for sponsoring open source projects?

fragmede 3y ago
Right. Monetization is the key issue. Doing a bunch of work, giving it away for free... doesn't pay the bills, or it pays it in a very roundabout way that's not necessarily a good thing. Eg Google's contributions to Open Source is huge, but it's on the backs of advertising. Advertisment brings with it a lot of morally grey areas. If, instead, we built things, and got paid directly to build those things, by people who are able to recognize the value of that work and compensate monetarily for it, then maybe things would be different. Open Standards and interchange formats, yes but, I'm less sold on open source when abuses like by RedHat (which is currently on the front page) gain traction.
mattbrewsbytes 3y ago
Investments/VC is sure to slow with higher interest rates. And companies without cash flow (aka depending on another seed round) are going to have fewer options so they may fold before they become profitable. When interest rates recede I would expect investments/VC to go back up.
sfpotter 3y ago
There’s space between highly speculative startups, huge stagnant companies, and open source: small privately held companies teamed by highly skilled engineers building products outside the “web space” that actually do something useful.
- moneywoes 3y ago
  Any pertinent examples? How do these companies compete in GTM

4 ms·

I predict death of tech firm investment in general. Startups are too volatile to deliver anything over a long period, and the dinosaurs are too fearful to deliv

by tetris11 3y ago

fragmede 3y ago
Right. Monetization is the key issue. Doing a bunch of work, giving it away for free... doesn't pay the bills, or it pays it in a very roundabout way that's not necessarily a good thing. Eg Google's contributions to Open Source is huge, but it's on the backs of advertising. Advertisment brings with it a lot of morally grey areas. If, instead, we built things, and got paid directly to build those things, by people who are able to recognize the value of that work and compensate monetarily for it, then maybe things would be different. Open Standards and interchange formats, yes but, I'm less sold on open source when abuses like by RedHat (which is currently on the front page) gain traction.
mattbrewsbytes 3y ago
Investments/VC is sure to slow with higher interest rates. And companies without cash flow (aka depending on another seed round) are going to have fewer options so they may fold before they become profitable. When interest rates recede I would expect investments/VC to go back up.
sfpotter 3y ago
There’s space between highly speculative startups, huge stagnant companies, and open source: small privately held companies teamed by highly skilled engineers building products outside the “web space” that actually do something useful.
- moneywoes 3y ago
  Any pertinent examples? How do these companies compete in GTM