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But… I could have written that in a week

27 points by cinbun8 13y ago

vicky_dec8th 13y ago
I think it also matters where you eventually want to be. Is the problem you are solving help a million users? Is it repeatable business? Not judging on what is wrong approach or right approach. But startups tend to go after ideas which can get a few million users or generate a few million dollars in revenue.
quaunaut 13y ago
It's a good lesson to learn. After all- most web apps aren't that complicated in the first place. To steal a quote, they're just "skins over databases". Yet, they have immense value.
blowski 13y ago
This argument is very similar to that about the 'value' of modern art. We traditionally place all the value on the amount of effort that goes directly into producing the item, and discount any of the other effort involved in making it a success. Perhaps the cliche `success = perspiration + inspiration` needs to be updated to include `marketing`.
- srikrishnan 13y ago
  maybe it needs to be more generic than 'marketing'. Sometimes its about making the right connections and getting distribution right. Sometimes its about creating barriers to entry that are not via the core product itself.
  - blowski 13y ago
    Yeah, I wasn't happy with my choice of word, but couldn't think of anything else. I guess the key point is that if you pour 100% of your effort directly into development of the product then there's a good chance you'll fail.
grimtrigger 13y ago
Do you have a week? You can be their first competitor!
- gryn010 13y ago
  i'm pretty sure that once you start making it you'll discover that in fact it takes way more than a week ^^
wikwocket 13y ago
Reminds me of a blog post about Stack Overflow[0], which references a HN discussion[1] where people were guesstimating that they could reproduce all of SO in a weekend. We're tinkerers - when we see something, we immediately think about how it works under the hood. And because we're too clever by half, we're dogged optimists, thinking there is always a way to accomplish something. As we mature, we realize that things are often more complicated than they seem on the surface, that often a lot of engineering goes into making something appear simple and easy, and especially, that there is more to the value of something than the effort it would take to build a copy of it. [0] http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/07/code-its-trivial.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/07/code-its-trivial.ht... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=678501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=678501
jrs99 13y ago
Crappy, rip-off products can make money. That's hard to accept.

27 points by cinbun8 13y ago

I think it also matters where you eventually want to be. Is the problem you are solving help a million users? Is it repeatable business? Not judging on what is wrong approach or right approach. But startups tend to go after ideas which can get a few million users or generate a few million dollars in revenue.

quaunaut 13y ago

It's a good lesson to learn. After all- most web apps aren't that complicated in the first place. To steal a quote, they're just "skins over databases". Yet, they have immense value.

blowski 13y ago

This argument is very similar to that about the 'value' of modern art. We traditionally place all the value on the amount of effort that goes directly into producing the item, and discount any of the other effort involved in making it a success. Perhaps the cliche `success = perspiration + inspiration` needs to be updated to include `marketing`.

srikrishnan 13y ago
maybe it needs to be more generic than 'marketing'. Sometimes its about making the right connections and getting distribution right. Sometimes its about creating barriers to entry that are not via the core product itself.
- blowski 13y ago
  Yeah, I wasn't happy with my choice of word, but couldn't think of anything else. I guess the key point is that if you pour 100% of your effort directly into development of the product then there's a good chance you'll fail.

grimtrigger 13y ago

Do you have a week? You can be their first competitor!

gryn010 13y ago
i'm pretty sure that once you start making it you'll discover that in fact it takes way more than a week ^^

wikwocket 13y ago

Reminds me of a blog post about Stack Overflow[0], which references a HN discussion[1] where people were guesstimating that they could reproduce all of SO in a weekend. We're tinkerers - when we see something, we immediately think about how it works under the hood. And because we're too clever by half, we're dogged optimists, thinking there is always a way to accomplish something. As we mature, we realize that things are often more complicated than they seem on the surface, that often a lot of engineering goes into making something appear simple and easy, and especially, that there is more to the value of something than the effort it would take to build a copy of it. [0] http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/07/code-its-trivial.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/07/code-its-trivial.ht... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=678501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=678501

jrs99 13y ago

Crappy, rip-off products can make money. That's hard to accept.