This thread is really interesting. You can see a bunch of engineering types doing their best to slice and dice this from a million logical angles. I would hav

This thread is really interesting. You can see a bunch of engineering types doing their best to slice and dice this from a million logical angles. I would have done the same 20 years ago when I launched my product and went out there to sell it. The difference? I was honest enough to recognize I was going to approach sales as an engineer. I got help in the form of experienced non-engineer sales people tutoring me by going on sales calls with me and doing review sessions after every sales call. The first two quarters sucked. It took me about three months to truly stop thinking as an engineer and another three to optimize my style, delivery and approach. We closed the third quarter with over $600K in sales, most of which I was responsible for. I would eventually hire sales and marketing people so I could devote more time to engineering. I felt it was important to understand the sales process by becoming a sales and marketing person myself (for about two years on and off) before staffing thise positions. I have always been glad I took that approach. We engineers are great about building products but absolutely suck at selling. The letter that is the subject of this thread isn't fantastic. That said, it achieved several things all the engineers on HN are ignoring: - Made a sale! Do not underestimate the importance and power of cash in the bank! - It deprived a competitor of revenue. Every dollar you take away from your competition is a dollar that goes towards potentially taking them out of the race, particularly with low price sellers. - It was compelling enough to take someone who was on the fence and flip him to the point of having him write a blog post about the experience - It probably created a long term believer and evangelist for their brand, product and price model - It confirmed that this tactic works. They can use it with new potential customers, evolve and fine tune it. They might also consider integrating aspects of this message in other marketing efforts. - It revealed that the competitor's low price position is tenuous at best - It started a relationship with a new customer in a very positive tone. If nurtured this could lead to more sales from word of mouth - Because of some of the above their cost of customer aquisition is likely to reduce over time I could probably add to this. The point is that most of the criticism here is misplaced. This letter isn't genius. It doesn't have to be. It only has to be effective. That, it is. I don't expect everyone to get this. In typical engineer/HN fashion this will be sliced, diced and down-voted from a million of irrelevant angles. That's OK. I get it. The interesting thing is, regardless of what is said here, that letter still made a sale and accomplished all I have highlighted and more.