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I feel like the framing in the article is wrong. Tech startups are desperately searching for solutions that will generate value. When a "new hammer" is develop

I feel like the framing in the article is wrong. Tech startups are desperately searching for solutions that will generate value. When a "new hammer" is developed or discovered (lets say, radiation) there's a natural inflection point. People will try marketing radioactive medicines, radioactive soft drinks, radioactive toys, radioactive jewelry.... etc etc. Everything will be thrown at the wall to see what sticks. There's no broader intellectual movement in play. This process is more like "product darwinism" than technological determinism.

croes 2y ago
You mean Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate profit.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
  Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate a VC payday. Actual profit is optional.
  - steveBK123 2y ago
    Exactly - buzzwords are new opportunities for fundraising first and foremost. Actual products which provide actual solutions to actual customers.. are for the product market fit phase.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  s/profit/increase in valuation/ For most of the startup ecosystem, profits are less a goal than liquidity event. Often that comes in the form of an acqui-hire, monopoly buying out competition, or a technology transfer. Profits are a distant focus, though remaining ahead of run rate has merits.
- bryanrasmussen 2y ago
  this makes sense if tech startups just existed, but they are brought into existence, by people who perhaps think "you know what would be neat, and also make money because people would totally want that, is radioactive soda pop!" I guess in the end the effect is pretty much indistinguishable.
- boingydoingy 2y ago
  Yeah and this worked for quite a while as the prior generation was less STEM savvy than the younger generation who grew up on it and as such have had two decades to realize web app startups are just a generational Ponzi scheme that’s not going to literally take them to Mars or do much of anything but hand more of our agency to a bunch of patronizing elders who don’t contribute except in the form of political pageantry.
thaumasiotes 2y ago
> When a "new hammer" is developed or discovered (lets say, radiation) there's a natural inflection point. People will try marketing radioactive medicines, radioactive soft drinks, radioactive toys, radioactive jewelry.... etc etc. Have you read anything from the early 20th century? This is a noticeable theme in e.g. stories set in the mythos of Conan the Barbarian or the Wizard of Oz. "Radium" is treated as essentially a form of magic.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
  I don't think "read Conan the Barbarian" is the main takeaway of that, though I'm sure "rays" was a trope in fiction. Quack "radioactive medicines" actually happened to people. Product darwinism and actual customer darwinism. See, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/index.html https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioa... https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/for-students/radium/ https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/for-students/radium/ https://www.dannydutch.com/post/the-strange-story-of-eben-byers-the-man-that-drank-radium-until-his-jaw-fell-off# https://www.dannydutch.com/post/the-strange-story-of-eben-by... https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-lethal-legacy-of-early-20th-century-radiation-quackery/2020/02/14/ed1fd724-37c9-11ea-bf30-ad313e4ec754_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-lethal-legacy-of-e...
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    > though I'm sure "rays" was a trope in fiction No, seriously, "radium".
- lukan 2y ago
  And before that, it was "magnetism".
  - feoren 2y ago
    And today it's quantum mechanics and/or dark matter.
consf 2y ago
[dead]
saturn8601 2y ago
That sounds like the what I am seeing in the consumer packaged goods industry. In desperation of growth they are throwing everything at the wall. ex: that 'flamin hot' thing took off and post pandemic they put it in everything including soda and ice cream. Lets not forget every merchandising opportunity under the sun.
- fuzzfactor 2y ago
  There's only so many people who can figure out what will really sell, or be able to really sell it. And way more people who wish they could do the former, but know in their heart they never will, while having a leg up in the latter, often built from a fortunate upwardly-mobile sales career where their customers never did get their money's worth. You know the kind I'm talking about. Which can guide their actions toward a slightly deceptive form of marketing, or things even more unsavory. OTOH, sometimes quite benign, but also less creative. And it shows. Otherwise you wouldn't know the kind I'm talking about :\
  - saturn8601 2y ago
    A lot of these things that I describe are built on the back of a successful product. 'Flamin hot' was a successful product, every subsequent variation was not original thinking. What steps were taken to get to the original success? Seems like in the 80s-90s there was an avalanche of unique products, now in this post pandemic decade its just nonstop rehashing of the oldies. Ex. Cinnamon toast crunch vs cinnamon toast crunch hazelnut spread alternative.
nitwit005 2y ago
Funding, both from governments and investors, also tends to chase after trends, so people's proposals will reflect that. I wish there was some deeper thought or philosophy behind it, but that clearly isn't always the case.
vismit2000 2y ago
Reminds of hammer factory: https://factoryfactoryfactory.net/ https://factoryfactoryfactory.net/

croes 2y ago

You mean Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate profit.

SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
Tech startups are desperately searching for buzz words that will generate a VC payday. Actual profit is optional.
- steveBK123 2y ago
  Exactly - buzzwords are new opportunities for fundraising first and foremost. Actual products which provide actual solutions to actual customers.. are for the product market fit phase.
dredmorbius 2y ago
s/profit/increase in valuation/ For most of the startup ecosystem, profits are less a goal than liquidity event. Often that comes in the form of an acqui-hire, monopoly buying out competition, or a technology transfer. Profits are a distant focus, though remaining ahead of run rate has merits.
bryanrasmussen 2y ago
this makes sense if tech startups just existed, but they are brought into existence, by people who perhaps think "you know what would be neat, and also make money because people would totally want that, is radioactive soda pop!" I guess in the end the effect is pretty much indistinguishable.
boingydoingy 2y ago
Yeah and this worked for quite a while as the prior generation was less STEM savvy than the younger generation who grew up on it and as such have had two decades to realize web app startups are just a generational Ponzi scheme that’s not going to literally take them to Mars or do much of anything but hand more of our agency to a bunch of patronizing elders who don’t contribute except in the form of political pageantry.

thaumasiotes 2y ago

> When a "new hammer" is developed or discovered (lets say, radiation) there's a natural inflection point. People will try marketing radioactive medicines, radioactive soft drinks, radioactive toys, radioactive jewelry.... etc etc. Have you read anything from the early 20th century? This is a noticeable theme in e.g. stories set in the mythos of Conan the Barbarian or the Wizard of Oz. "Radium" is treated as essentially a form of magic.

SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
I don't think "read Conan the Barbarian" is the main takeaway of that, though I'm sure "rays" was a trope in fiction. Quack "radioactive medicines" actually happened to people. Product darwinism and actual customer darwinism. See, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/index.html https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioa... https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/for-students/radium/ https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/for-students/radium/ https://www.dannydutch.com/post/the-strange-story-of-eben-byers-the-man-that-drank-radium-until-his-jaw-fell-off# https://www.dannydutch.com/post/the-strange-story-of-eben-by... https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-lethal-legacy-of-early-20th-century-radiation-quackery/2020/02/14/ed1fd724-37c9-11ea-bf30-ad313e4ec754_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-lethal-legacy-of-e...
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  > though I'm sure "rays" was a trope in fiction No, seriously, "radium".
lukan 2y ago
And before that, it was "magnetism".
- feoren 2y ago
  And today it's quantum mechanics and/or dark matter.

consf 2y ago

[dead]

saturn8601 2y ago

That sounds like the what I am seeing in the consumer packaged goods industry. In desperation of growth they are throwing everything at the wall. ex: that 'flamin hot' thing took off and post pandemic they put it in everything including soda and ice cream. Lets not forget every merchandising opportunity under the sun.

fuzzfactor 2y ago
There's only so many people who can figure out what will really sell, or be able to really sell it. And way more people who wish they could do the former, but know in their heart they never will, while having a leg up in the latter, often built from a fortunate upwardly-mobile sales career where their customers never did get their money's worth. You know the kind I'm talking about. Which can guide their actions toward a slightly deceptive form of marketing, or things even more unsavory. OTOH, sometimes quite benign, but also less creative. And it shows. Otherwise you wouldn't know the kind I'm talking about :\
- saturn8601 2y ago
  A lot of these things that I describe are built on the back of a successful product. 'Flamin hot' was a successful product, every subsequent variation was not original thinking. What steps were taken to get to the original success? Seems like in the 80s-90s there was an avalanche of unique products, now in this post pandemic decade its just nonstop rehashing of the oldies. Ex. Cinnamon toast crunch vs cinnamon toast crunch hazelnut spread alternative.

nitwit005 2y ago

Funding, both from governments and investors, also tends to chase after trends, so people's proposals will reflect that. I wish there was some deeper thought or philosophy behind it, but that clearly isn't always the case.

vismit2000 2y ago

Reminds of hammer factory: https://factoryfactoryfactory.net/ https://factoryfactoryfactory.net/