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While I admire the can-do attitude and independent mindset, stories like this strike me primarily as how unscalable doing something like this is. I mean, it on

by mihaic 3y ago

While I admire the can-do attitude and independent mindset, stories like this strike me primarily as how unscalable doing something like this is. I mean, it only works because not more then 1-2% of developers even try to do something like this, since it's really hard to ensure you have enough edge in understanding user needs, building and being able to find a distribution chanel, and there simply isn't enough revenue to support many more developers to sell their niche products. I hate this conclusion, but most developers have to rely on salaries, since only a few companies have captured revenue streams big enough to justify a full time job.

satvikpendem 3y ago
Why isn't there enough revenue to support other devs? Lots of people have money to spend, they just don't want to spend it on bad products. Induced demand via increased competition is a real phenomenon [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand
- mihaic 3y ago
  Induced demand leads often also to a race-to-the-bottom in pricing. Almost everyone is just using a few basic apps, going against the consumer train is very hard, and only companies are spending money on software.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    There is always a competitive advantage to be had; products, especially software products, are not commodities.
whiplash451 3y ago
Good point, although I am less worried about the lack of scale and more about the lack of temporal persistence. It seems like he needs to constantly push new products out there to maintain a steady income.
- gen220 3y ago
  Building tools for other companies’ platforms (first one was Twitter, second one is macOS, last is OpenAI) is always a double edged sword. It makes growth / user acquisition easier, because you’re going where the people already are. But it also means you’re at the mercy of the underlying platform waking up and invalidating your business model (as happened with Twitter). As you suggest, the only way to survive in this mode is to be continuously building new products around a diverse group of platforms. It helps if they’re not too diverse, because you can cross-sell (i.e. the correlation of Twitter users, macOS users and chatgpt web users is pretty high). When one platform shifts, you find another. It’s a risky method but not a bad one if your morale can stomach the down turns in any individual platform.

by mihaic 3y ago

satvikpendem 3y ago

Why isn't there enough revenue to support other devs? Lots of people have money to spend, they just don't want to spend it on bad products. Induced demand via increased competition is a real phenomenon [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand

mihaic 3y ago
Induced demand leads often also to a race-to-the-bottom in pricing. Almost everyone is just using a few basic apps, going against the consumer train is very hard, and only companies are spending money on software.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  There is always a competitive advantage to be had; products, especially software products, are not commodities.

whiplash451 3y ago

Good point, although I am less worried about the lack of scale and more about the lack of temporal persistence. It seems like he needs to constantly push new products out there to maintain a steady income.

gen220 3y ago
Building tools for other companies’ platforms (first one was Twitter, second one is macOS, last is OpenAI) is always a double edged sword. It makes growth / user acquisition easier, because you’re going where the people already are. But it also means you’re at the mercy of the underlying platform waking up and invalidating your business model (as happened with Twitter). As you suggest, the only way to survive in this mode is to be continuously building new products around a diverse group of platforms. It helps if they’re not too diverse, because you can cross-sell (i.e. the correlation of Twitter users, macOS users and chatgpt web users is pretty high). When one platform shifts, you find another. It’s a risky method but not a bad one if your morale can stomach the down turns in any individual platform.