7 ms·

This is why we are entrepreneurs. An awesome video.

59 points by shafqat 17y ago

thomanil 17y ago
Sappy but uplifting video. I'm going to bookmark it and replay it when motivation for my mISV starts flagging. :)
jack7890 17y ago
The message is a bit trite, but the production values are phenomenal. Beautifully done video.
tdavis 17y ago
You know, it has yet to occur to me that I might not be able to do whatever I want. I'm not even sure what that would feel like.
- jdileo 17y ago
  Amen, tdavis! Also, it is my hope that all those who have commented on "craftsman v. entrepreneur" and the glut of "business types" have personally built companies and met the challenges of payroll & bringing a product to market.....but I really doubt thats the case.
jimboyoungblood 17y ago
did anyone look at the company that produced this video? http://grasshopper.com/ http://grasshopper.com/ http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/05/video-entrepreneurs-can-change-the-world.php http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/05/video-entrepreneurs-can... they're trying to sell stuff to entrepreneurs (who've never heard of grand central / google voice). Obviously this video is a cynical viral marketing ploy... lame.
- quizbiz 17y ago
  Aa marketing ploy with an underlying purpose of selling stuff isn't necessarily lame. The video is good and does not mention them. This is a fair mention and I love the idealism that it promotes. There is no shame in the fact that great causes are sponsored.
  - jimboyoungblood 17y ago
    Um, did we watch the same video? 1) It ends with "See how Grasshopper empowers entrepreneurs to succeed" and "grasshopper.com" bouncing up and down to call attention to itself. 2) What "causes" are sponsored? I completely disagree with your statement that "a marketing ploy with an underlying purpose of selling stuff isn't necessarily lame"- in general one should run screaming away from anything that can be described as a "ploy" with an "underlying purpose".
- anand 17y ago
  I'm a user and their service is different from Google Voice. It's a professional sounding 1-800/voicemail system intended for business, not personal use. "Push 1 for customer service, Push 2 for sales" type of thing.
rabidsnail 17y ago
This is the ideology that has been slowly and quietly ruining America and the world. Innovation has nothing to do with entrepreneurs. Innovation happens when craftsmen, not businessmen, find better ways of practicing their craft. The people that built/are building the technologies that are radically improving the lives of the public do so out of a drive to build. We don't need more Carnegies, and we _certainly_ don't need more P.T. Barnums. We need Benjamin Franklins.
- chops 17y ago
  There's nothing ruinous about holding the entrepreneurial spirit on a pedestal. It's the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation, whether it's inside the R&D department of a massive corporation (one can still be entrepreneurial while an employee - it was entrepreneurial ism that brought us Gmail), or someone's basement, or a few friends in a loft on the east side of Milwaukee. That said, one cannot completely dismiss "business" as a skill. Management, business direction, and market "intuition" are all skills, and when properly used, they give the necessary direction to the true creators: engineers, craftsmen, etc to allow them to excel. What would Woz be without Jobs?
  - davidbnewquist 17y ago
    You're absolutely right, but I think rabidsnail was trying to say there's currently a glut of business and marketing types.
    - brandnewlow 17y ago
      Isn't that always the problem? Too many managers, not enough creators?
  - hpvic03 17y ago
    Agreed. I think that saying that people mistaking entrepreneurship for innovation is an "ideology that has been slowly and quietly ruining America and the world" is a bit of a dramatic overstatement. Entrepreneurship is directly related to innovation. Innovation does not have to mean inventing the light bulb. It can also mean coming up with new ways to do things (e.g. Southwest Airlines). Entrepreneurship is an integral part of what makes capitalism work. Additionally, just because you're a craftsman doesn't mean you can never be a businessman also. Any individual craftsman that wants to make any money from their creations will have to at some point become involved in business. Even if you're just selling your new technology to a big corporation and not starting your own company, you're still having to make a sale (which I'm pretty sure would go under the business category).
Mistone 17y ago
marketing ploys aside, cool video, little dose of inspiration and while google voice/grandcentral has been sitting idle for years this company as been out in the market acquiring customers and making money, so more power to them.
davidbnewquist 17y ago
"Change the world" is only part of the equation. But what drives the hacker entrepreneur day to day? It's the adrenaline and focus supplied by the promised emotional payoff of a completed mission. Any veteran of a website launch knows what I'm talking about. This is why we're entrepreneurs, and it's the subject of this humorous video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNyoxpENXc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNyoxpENXc And no, it doesn't ask you to shell out any $$.
- jimboyoungblood 17y ago
  dang, and I was hoping it would tell me who I could pay to become an empowered entrepreneur...
anand 17y ago
Grasshopper is a pretty cool service, had some clunky UI though. We use it at BumpTop.com. They mailed us some chocolate covered grasshoppers recently as a mktg campaign, kinda crazy.
- nopassrecover 17y ago
  Actual grasshoppers?!

59 points by shafqat 17y ago

thomanil 17y ago

Sappy but uplifting video. I'm going to bookmark it and replay it when motivation for my mISV starts flagging. :)

jack7890 17y ago

The message is a bit trite, but the production values are phenomenal. Beautifully done video.

tdavis 17y ago

You know, it has yet to occur to me that I might not be able to do whatever I want. I'm not even sure what that would feel like.

jdileo 17y ago
Amen, tdavis! Also, it is my hope that all those who have commented on "craftsman v. entrepreneur" and the glut of "business types" have personally built companies and met the challenges of payroll & bringing a product to market.....but I really doubt thats the case.

jimboyoungblood 17y ago

did anyone look at the company that produced this video? http://grasshopper.com/ http://grasshopper.com/ http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/05/video-entrepreneurs-can-change-the-world.php http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/05/video-entrepreneurs-can... they're trying to sell stuff to entrepreneurs (who've never heard of grand central / google voice). Obviously this video is a cynical viral marketing ploy... lame.

quizbiz 17y ago
Aa marketing ploy with an underlying purpose of selling stuff isn't necessarily lame. The video is good and does not mention them. This is a fair mention and I love the idealism that it promotes. There is no shame in the fact that great causes are sponsored.
- jimboyoungblood 17y ago
  Um, did we watch the same video? 1) It ends with "See how Grasshopper empowers entrepreneurs to succeed" and "grasshopper.com" bouncing up and down to call attention to itself. 2) What "causes" are sponsored? I completely disagree with your statement that "a marketing ploy with an underlying purpose of selling stuff isn't necessarily lame"- in general one should run screaming away from anything that can be described as a "ploy" with an "underlying purpose".
anand 17y ago
I'm a user and their service is different from Google Voice. It's a professional sounding 1-800/voicemail system intended for business, not personal use. "Push 1 for customer service, Push 2 for sales" type of thing.

rabidsnail 17y ago

This is the ideology that has been slowly and quietly ruining America and the world. Innovation has nothing to do with entrepreneurs. Innovation happens when craftsmen, not businessmen, find better ways of practicing their craft. The people that built/are building the technologies that are radically improving the lives of the public do so out of a drive to build. We don't need more Carnegies, and we _certainly_ don't need more P.T. Barnums. We need Benjamin Franklins.

chops 17y ago
There's nothing ruinous about holding the entrepreneurial spirit on a pedestal. It's the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation, whether it's inside the R&D department of a massive corporation (one can still be entrepreneurial while an employee - it was entrepreneurial ism that brought us Gmail), or someone's basement, or a few friends in a loft on the east side of Milwaukee. That said, one cannot completely dismiss "business" as a skill. Management, business direction, and market "intuition" are all skills, and when properly used, they give the necessary direction to the true creators: engineers, craftsmen, etc to allow them to excel. What would Woz be without Jobs?
- davidbnewquist 17y ago
  You're absolutely right, but I think rabidsnail was trying to say there's currently a glut of business and marketing types.
  - brandnewlow 17y ago
    Isn't that always the problem? Too many managers, not enough creators?
- hpvic03 17y ago
  Agreed. I think that saying that people mistaking entrepreneurship for innovation is an "ideology that has been slowly and quietly ruining America and the world" is a bit of a dramatic overstatement. Entrepreneurship is directly related to innovation. Innovation does not have to mean inventing the light bulb. It can also mean coming up with new ways to do things (e.g. Southwest Airlines). Entrepreneurship is an integral part of what makes capitalism work. Additionally, just because you're a craftsman doesn't mean you can never be a businessman also. Any individual craftsman that wants to make any money from their creations will have to at some point become involved in business. Even if you're just selling your new technology to a big corporation and not starting your own company, you're still having to make a sale (which I'm pretty sure would go under the business category).

Mistone 17y ago

marketing ploys aside, cool video, little dose of inspiration and while google voice/grandcentral has been sitting idle for years this company as been out in the market acquiring customers and making money, so more power to them.

davidbnewquist 17y ago

"Change the world" is only part of the equation. But what drives the hacker entrepreneur day to day? It's the adrenaline and focus supplied by the promised emotional payoff of a completed mission. Any veteran of a website launch knows what I'm talking about. This is why we're entrepreneurs, and it's the subject of this humorous video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNyoxpENXc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNyoxpENXc And no, it doesn't ask you to shell out any $$.

jimboyoungblood 17y ago
dang, and I was hoping it would tell me who I could pay to become an empowered entrepreneur...

anand 17y ago

Grasshopper is a pretty cool service, had some clunky UI though. We use it at BumpTop.com. They mailed us some chocolate covered grasshoppers recently as a mktg campaign, kinda crazy.

nopassrecover 17y ago
Actual grasshoppers?!