3 ms·

The Truth

4 points by duked 13y ago

lutusp 13y ago
Quotes from the article: "I want to grow and build a business more than anyone can understand." "When you want something bad enough, you’re forced to create a path or quit." To me personally, this appears to be the behavior of a clinical narcissist and sociopath. "Love me or hate me. This is the raw me." Confirmed. Where are the entrepreneurs who are able to say, "I will succeed only if I have something to offer." And why? Because it's true -- in the final analysis, you will only succeed if you have something to offer that people want. No amount of lying and media manipulation can stand in for actually having a useful product.
- IanDrake 13y ago
  Honestly, I'm not so sure about that. There are plenty of great products that never got attention because the devs couldn't find a mass market story behind it or were unable/unwilling to add some spin. Frankly, I don't mind the hoax. The media deserves it. I once did a press release in the form of an article (that I wrote) in which the "writer" interviewed me as an industry expert. You'd be amazed at how many places ran that press release as an article with NO alterations, none.
  - lutusp 13y ago
    > There are plenty of great products that never got attention because the devs couldn't find a mass market story behind it or were unable/unwilling to add some spin. But that agrees with the thesis. A product that "can't find a mass market" is clearly one that people don't need. By contrast, proven over and over again, a product that actually fills a need will certainly find a market with very little ingenuity required by its marketers. > Frankly, I don't mind the hoax. The media deserves it. Does the public deserve it? I'm not crazy about this essentially amoral attitude. It's not as thought the media buy the product and face the consequences. A business can't thrive by cheating people and expecting it will all be forgotten in a fortnight. Not to say that doesn't happen, but I wouldn't want to rely on misbehavior followed by forgetfulness to sustain a business. I'm not moralizing -- I'm just saying this way of doing things can't create a sustainable business.
crm416 13y ago
I have hugely mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I don't see how this strategy could play out well in the long-run. The founder comes off as excessively desperate and even untrustworthy. What's weirder is that for him to have any chance of success with this strategy, it would eventually have to become apparent that he was lying. Which makes it all seem even sleazier. To top all of that, there's no way he maintains any long-term positive relationship with the press. On the other hand, there is evidently some payoff from this strategy--I had never heard of this service before this little stunt. Given his actions, though, I wouldn't use it even if I needed it.

4 points by duked 13y ago

Quotes from the article: "I want to grow and build a business more than anyone can understand." "When you want something bad enough, you’re forced to create a path or quit." To me personally, this appears to be the behavior of a clinical narcissist and sociopath. "Love me or hate me. This is the raw me." Confirmed. Where are the entrepreneurs who are able to say, "I will succeed only if I have something to offer." And why? Because it's true -- in the final analysis, you will only succeed if you have something to offer that people want. No amount of lying and media manipulation can stand in for actually having a useful product.

IanDrake 13y ago
Honestly, I'm not so sure about that. There are plenty of great products that never got attention because the devs couldn't find a mass market story behind it or were unable/unwilling to add some spin. Frankly, I don't mind the hoax. The media deserves it. I once did a press release in the form of an article (that I wrote) in which the "writer" interviewed me as an industry expert. You'd be amazed at how many places ran that press release as an article with NO alterations, none.
- lutusp 13y ago
  > There are plenty of great products that never got attention because the devs couldn't find a mass market story behind it or were unable/unwilling to add some spin. But that agrees with the thesis. A product that "can't find a mass market" is clearly one that people don't need. By contrast, proven over and over again, a product that actually fills a need will certainly find a market with very little ingenuity required by its marketers. > Frankly, I don't mind the hoax. The media deserves it. Does the public deserve it? I'm not crazy about this essentially amoral attitude. It's not as thought the media buy the product and face the consequences. A business can't thrive by cheating people and expecting it will all be forgotten in a fortnight. Not to say that doesn't happen, but I wouldn't want to rely on misbehavior followed by forgetfulness to sustain a business. I'm not moralizing -- I'm just saying this way of doing things can't create a sustainable business.

crm416 13y ago

I have hugely mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I don't see how this strategy could play out well in the long-run. The founder comes off as excessively desperate and even untrustworthy. What's weirder is that for him to have any chance of success with this strategy, it would eventually have to become apparent that he was lying. Which makes it all seem even sleazier. To top all of that, there's no way he maintains any long-term positive relationship with the press. On the other hand, there is evidently some payoff from this strategy--I had never heard of this service before this little stunt. Given his actions, though, I wouldn't use it even if I needed it.