4 ms·

This is the gist of his argument and it's not at all supported: "But no. 37s is a brand. They sell basecamp and books. Their sales go down when less people pre

by mahmud 17y ago

This is the gist of his argument and it's not at all supported: "But no. 37s is a brand. They sell basecamp and books. Their sales go down when less people prescribe to the "getting real" ideology. And out the window goes intellectual honesty." Rewrite the article so this is the premise and the rest the supporting arguments. Otherwise it's just a premise sandwiched between irrelevant anecdotes.

jacquesm 17y ago
I don't think having a major officer posting an entry based on a false premise is good for your brand in any way. So I don't buy the ulterior motive angle. Jason Fried must by now be seriously regretting choosing Mint in the way he did to make his point. He's lost a lot of credibility while trying to argue something that actually needed to be said. Let's get passed the point of the Mint exit being VC driven, and let's look at the larger picture he is painting, because I do believe it is correct.
- dschobel 17y ago
  Has it ever been proven that the Mint exit was under VC duress? Didn't Aaron publicly refute this himself?
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    No, it wasn't. One of the investors has said so in quite clear terms, besides that there are plenty of people quoting 'sources' saying that that was a nonsense story. http://www.businessinsider.com/mintcom-founder-wanted-to-sell-vc-conspiracy-wrong-2009-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/mintcom-founder-wanted-to-sel... http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2009/09/18/jason-time-to-get-out-of-the-tub/ http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2009/09/18/jason-time-to-get... http://blog.josephnet.org/?p=96 http://blog.josephnet.org/?p=96 He should have simply not made that call without the evidence to back it up.
rguzman 17y ago
That's about right: that's the main argument and not all that well supported. I don't think I'll rewrite the article, but here is a bit more support. I hope I don't need to argue that 37s is a brand. They do sell basecamp and books. Forgetting basecamp for a second, Getting Real is a very opinionated book (and they just published another) and it has an implied "ideology": do less without investment, make it look nice and charge money. The only "supporting argument" for that is that it worked out for 37s. They sell more books by promoting that ideology. Now, this is unfounded, but I suspect it is true: people hoping to imitate 37s use basecamp and I'd venture that at least ~5-10% of their users are trying to imitate them. So, ideology -> sales. I would like to be able to do these quantitatively to have a real founded argument, but that is out of the question. The whole thing is just my perception of the situation.

by mahmud 17y ago

jacquesm 17y ago

I don't think having a major officer posting an entry based on a false premise is good for your brand in any way. So I don't buy the ulterior motive angle. Jason Fried must by now be seriously regretting choosing Mint in the way he did to make his point. He's lost a lot of credibility while trying to argue something that actually needed to be said. Let's get passed the point of the Mint exit being VC driven, and let's look at the larger picture he is painting, because I do believe it is correct.

dschobel 17y ago
Has it ever been proven that the Mint exit was under VC duress? Didn't Aaron publicly refute this himself?
- jacquesm 17y ago
  No, it wasn't. One of the investors has said so in quite clear terms, besides that there are plenty of people quoting 'sources' saying that that was a nonsense story. http://www.businessinsider.com/mintcom-founder-wanted-to-sell-vc-conspiracy-wrong-2009-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/mintcom-founder-wanted-to-sel... http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2009/09/18/jason-time-to-get-out-of-the-tub/ http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2009/09/18/jason-time-to-get... http://blog.josephnet.org/?p=96 http://blog.josephnet.org/?p=96 He should have simply not made that call without the evidence to back it up.

rguzman 17y ago

That's about right: that's the main argument and not all that well supported. I don't think I'll rewrite the article, but here is a bit more support. I hope I don't need to argue that 37s is a brand. They do sell basecamp and books. Forgetting basecamp for a second, Getting Real is a very opinionated book (and they just published another) and it has an implied "ideology": do less without investment, make it look nice and charge money. The only "supporting argument" for that is that it worked out for 37s. They sell more books by promoting that ideology. Now, this is unfounded, but I suspect it is true: people hoping to imitate 37s use basecamp and I'd venture that at least ~5-10% of their users are trying to imitate them. So, ideology -> sales. I would like to be able to do these quantitatively to have a real founded argument, but that is out of the question. The whole thing is just my perception of the situation.