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> If he had a business selling beanie-babies online with a slick AJAX interface I don't think anyone would care. But he doesn't. There's nothing even remotely

by joshwa 19y ago

> If he had a business selling beanie-babies online with a slick AJAX interface I don't think anyone would care. But he doesn't. There's nothing even remotely on-topic about his business... news.yc seems to be mostly about tech startups, or, at the very least, about new and disruptive business models. This is a fairly straightforward product business (with a few regulatory/marketing issues). Besides the social engineering of this site, there's not a much in the way of 'hacking' going on with his business. Thus, to me (and plenty of others), it's off-topic here.

DanielBMarkham 19y ago
I believe you are saying that it's okay to have product business (beanie-babies) and also that it's not okay to have a product business (his stuff). I, for one, would like to hear about web businesses that integrate product sales into lifestyles. I think it's fine to draw the line at "stuff we think might be illegal and/or bad for people" but I sure would like to talk more about product-based web applications if that's okay with everybody.
- joshwa 19y ago
  No, I'm saying that it's on-topic to have a product business if you're doing something truly 'hacker-ish' with it. If you have a yahoo or ebay store selling beanie babies, that's OT. If you have micropayment-based virtual beanie baby store that uses genetic algorithms to 'breed' new species of beanie babies with other users' virtual beanie babies, then lets you use on-demand manufacturing to buy physical copies of the new species, then you're back on topic. PS: if anyone uses that idea, give me 10% equity, please. "Spore meets Tamagotchi meets Etsy."
  - sethg 19y ago
    Also, this business has very little if any growth potential, because if kratom becomes "too" popular, the FDA and DEA are going to jump in with both feet. (And perhaps some big pharmaceutical company will patent a kratom-derived painkiller and crank it out on an industrial scale.)
    - rms 19y ago
      Yes, that's the essential catch-22 of the kratom business. I just do this on the side, it's not my "real" business.

by joshwa 19y ago

DanielBMarkham 19y ago

I believe you are saying that it's okay to have product business (beanie-babies) and also that it's not okay to have a product business (his stuff). I, for one, would like to hear about web businesses that integrate product sales into lifestyles. I think it's fine to draw the line at "stuff we think might be illegal and/or bad for people" but I sure would like to talk more about product-based web applications if that's okay with everybody.

joshwa 19y ago
No, I'm saying that it's on-topic to have a product business if you're doing something truly 'hacker-ish' with it. If you have a yahoo or ebay store selling beanie babies, that's OT. If you have micropayment-based virtual beanie baby store that uses genetic algorithms to 'breed' new species of beanie babies with other users' virtual beanie babies, then lets you use on-demand manufacturing to buy physical copies of the new species, then you're back on topic. PS: if anyone uses that idea, give me 10% equity, please. "Spore meets Tamagotchi meets Etsy."
- sethg 19y ago
  Also, this business has very little if any growth potential, because if kratom becomes "too" popular, the FDA and DEA are going to jump in with both feet. (And perhaps some big pharmaceutical company will patent a kratom-derived painkiller and crank it out on an industrial scale.)
  - rms 19y ago
    Yes, that's the essential catch-22 of the kratom business. I just do this on the side, it's not my "real" business.