Comment by garry | Hacker News Reader

Comment by garry | Hacker News Reader

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I started here on Hacker News as a software engineer. I learned that I could build software for others, ship it and release it. I did end up taking the venture path, and now help others on that path.

The key here is that magic can be created by people, and I'm not that different than a lot of people on this site. I also got very lucky, and I'm thankful for that.

Startups are hard, and most fail, and most startup stock is worthless. But if you read my post, I'm trying to point people to the fact that the deeper lesson is to be able to learn to ship to real customers quickly.

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback. It's shockingly hard to get something that is both nuanced and clickable in video format, but I will keep trying to get better.

> But if you read my post, I'm trying to point people to the fact that the deeper lesson is to be able to learn to ship to real customers quickly.

The video title is "My $200M mistake" and you spend 90% of it talking about the money. In what way is the point of this learning to ship to real customers quickly?

I threw it in at the end but honestly your point is valid. I should have expanded that part and will do so in the future.

The first time we met, you had just announced Initialized and had hired two people to work for you. I asked one question about it hoping to see if you guys were hiring more and send a resume, and you said something along the lines of: “Yes, one of the perks of raising money is you get to hire your friends”.

Just want to say that I appreciate the post. I am considering whether to go to a smaller startup for my next job, or just go to a big company.

I doubt many people have a passion for shipping to customers quickly.

I am saddened by this, since the “shipping to customers quickly (and iterating on the product based on feedback)” is the foundation of a successful growth economy.

There are so many gross inefficiencies in my market (US) that could be successfully addressed if more people has this type of orientation.

You're right, they don't. It's my hope that more people do, though.

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