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I agree it's self righteous, but yeah, basically. Most businesses in the world focus on products, customers and profitability, not trendy lines of funding (and

by robomc 14y ago

I agree it's self righteous, but yeah, basically. Most businesses in the world focus on products, customers and profitability, not trendy lines of funding (and the non-tech "startup" scene has notably better rates of success - no googles, just honest businesses that do useful things for more money than they spend). Regardless though, all businesses should think long and hard about hires, not just hire pointless people because they give the impression they know everyone in town. The world is full of injustices, but I'd rather try my luck with those injustices than have to write consulting cheques to people who's bankable asset is how shamelessly they brag about who they party with.

ChuckMcM 14y ago
I think it is a fair point that many businesses focus on products, however it is also important to consider that many of those products have a 'fashion' aspect to them, which is to say they are potential 'fads.' Perhaps the poster child for such a business was the "Pet rock" business in the 70's where the 'product' was a rock in a nice package mocking practice of attempting to create a special identity around toys. It was also a fad, and came and went fairly quickly. The thing about fashion is that its a perception thing and hard to control. And unfortunately technology has developed a wing in the fashion district. So how does a fashion get 'launched' ? How does a certain look become 'the look' or a certain hairstyle become 'the hairstyle' ? The answer is that highly influential individuals endorse it through words or actions. The fashion designers know that the influencers in their sphere will have a huge impact on whether or not they are successful, so they court the influencers. the influencers get courted by everyone so they have high barriers to access. And in that mix emerges 'the connector' who is a person who can get a fashion designer 'access' to the influencers who they think will be key to making their designs successful. Not an area that comes easily to many deeply technical people, perhaps less so as a population than the more general population. So knowing someone who can get your product in front of, and used by, one of these key people can be the difference between nobody ever using your product and everyone using it. Simple example, take the top 100 people on Twitter and get them to move enmasse to identi.ca, their followers will follow to see where their influencers have gone, at that point identi.ca is a credible threat to Twitter's dominance. The key is that there aren't any technical or product related challenges that identi.ca doesn't match, it's just not fashionable.
- eevilspock 14y ago
  The 'ol if you can't beat 'em, join 'em argument, eh? Look where that logic has taken our society. Look at the state of our politics.

by robomc 14y ago

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I think it is a fair point that many businesses focus on products, however it is also important to consider that many of those products have a 'fashion' aspect to them, which is to say they are potential 'fads.' Perhaps the poster child for such a business was the "Pet rock" business in the 70's where the 'product' was a rock in a nice package mocking practice of attempting to create a special identity around toys. It was also a fad, and came and went fairly quickly. The thing about fashion is that its a perception thing and hard to control. And unfortunately technology has developed a wing in the fashion district. So how does a fashion get 'launched' ? How does a certain look become 'the look' or a certain hairstyle become 'the hairstyle' ? The answer is that highly influential individuals endorse it through words or actions. The fashion designers know that the influencers in their sphere will have a huge impact on whether or not they are successful, so they court the influencers. the influencers get courted by everyone so they have high barriers to access. And in that mix emerges 'the connector' who is a person who can get a fashion designer 'access' to the influencers who they think will be key to making their designs successful. Not an area that comes easily to many deeply technical people, perhaps less so as a population than the more general population. So knowing someone who can get your product in front of, and used by, one of these key people can be the difference between nobody ever using your product and everyone using it. Simple example, take the top 100 people on Twitter and get them to move enmasse to identi.ca, their followers will follow to see where their influencers have gone, at that point identi.ca is a credible threat to Twitter's dominance. The key is that there aren't any technical or product related challenges that identi.ca doesn't match, it's just not fashionable.

eevilspock 14y ago
The 'ol if you can't beat 'em, join 'em argument, eh? Look where that logic has taken our society. Look at the state of our politics.