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This is a bit like saying "I have a great idea for a painting. Will you paint it for me, and then give me half the money you get from selling it?"
by ecuzzillo 19y ago
This is a bit like saying "I have a great idea for a painting. Will you paint it for me, and then give me half the money you get from selling it?"
- stillmotion 19y agoSounds like Andy Warhol.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- jamiequint 19y agoor Dale Chihuly (see http://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html http://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html)
- run4yourlives 19y agoYour analogy is apt. What you (like a lot of programmers) fail to realize is that selling a painting is extraordinarily difficult. They didn't coin the phrase "starving artist" for fun.
- Shooter 19y agoWhy can't I upmod run4yourlives on this? There are no mod arrows on his comment?
- run4yourlives 19y agoMaybe you already did?
- Shooter 19y agoMaybe. (Damn you, short attention span.)
- michaelneale 19y agoSorry, I was just experimenting with my remote jedi mind trick on you.
- sbraford 19y agoPG should skip the co-founder requirement on you if you can pull off the DEMO on that one.
- michaelneale 19y agoNO need for startup when I can use my powers for greater evil ;)
- chaostheory 19y agoThe problem is unless you're guy kawasaki, kevin rose, or some serial entreprenuer/misc luminary what proof do you have that you can outsell someone who can program? (hypothetically if this is the case:) it's really hard to convince someone of your value if you can't even sell it to an angel or vc, and have cash as proof
- run4yourlives 19y agoHave you ever seem most programmers give a presentation? Enough said I think. :-)
- chaostheory 19y agothat's a stereotype that not all programmers fall into... especially the ones that do it out of the necessity of seeing their idea come to life as opposed to love of puzzles alone not all business people are too proud to step outside of their comfort zone and learn something new...
- run4yourlives 19y agoI didn't say all, I said most. From my own observation, programmers can and do have a very difficult time both understanding what people are willing to pay for, and getting them to pay for it. Some hackers are great salesmen, and a few business folk are decent programmers, but if you're going to use the painting analogy the way the GP did, you can't discount the act of selling as something that'll just happen.
- chaostheory 19y ago"I didn't say all, I said most." if you don't provide a counter example - it's almost the same as saying all if you think most programmers are pizza box hermits, i think you need to spend some time with more of them. the stereotype has some basis in some parts of the country, but i think it's largely overblown I'm not discounting the act of selling... it's just from my personal experience most business people aren't great at presenting or selling either - it's only a few (saying something is very different from doing - this relates to my view on ideas too), hence the need for proof (or your cash)
- fauigerzigerk 19y agoecuzzillo, I've been running the marketing department of a well known retailer for 10 years. I think I have discovered a way to use data from social networking sites to enhance the models we've been using to analyse particular buying patterns. Obviously, I know a few people in the industry and everybody agrees that this idea has huge potential. I'm thinking of starting my own business to explore this further. Would you be willing to join me? I gather you are a great hacker with some maths and statistics skills, is that right? Oh you say you're not going to paint my picture... too bad. I guess I should learn Python ;-)
- joshwa 19y agoemail me... contact info in my profile.
- fauigerzigerk 19y agoSorry, this was just a parody. There are people who have valuable domain knowledge. They can develop not one idea but many. They know how to sell the idea because they can make the case on the basis of deep knowledge. They are credible in the eyes of investors and so on.
- deltapoint 19y agoThats what art galleries do, but they give the freedom to the artist and then decide whether the painting is "good" enough. This is more like contract work where someone would get payed to do murals or portraits and that too is commonplace. Also a webapp's popularity will mainly have to do with the quality of the idea and how well it is marketed and publicized, much of the programming necessary is relatively elementary.
- menloparkbum 19y agoActually, that is almost exactly how the fine arts painting gallery circuit works.
- adnam 19y agoHuh? Who said anything about money? Thehigherlife just said he had a good idea.