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Comment by robertlagrant | Hacker News Reader

Is it a quick buck? How long has bluesky been funded for with no return?

I meant "quick buck" like flooding the place with ads, tracking, dark patterns, closing the API/protocol, or doing some sort of crypto scam, with no regard for the platform's long-term health. It's been funded for a few years? That's not really that long for such a small team. But I have no idea how their investors think it might make "Facebook money", and isn't that always the goal?

Quick meaning it's short term from when it starts. The time before it starts doesn't factor in.

A quick buck would be the time from when you put your money in to when you get back your money and a profit.

If you have a sudden massive change in plans like this, it resets the timer. You were doing long term, but now you want a quick buck and you don't care much if the company survives.

If I set up a get rich quick scheme based on overhyping and selling land, it doesn't matter whether I buy the land today or it's land I had for decades for a completely different reason. Either way I'm going for a quick buck now.

But they didn't have this for completely different reasons. They invested money years ago, that they could've bought government bonds with and just earned interest, and instead it went into BlueSky. At some point they'd like a return that would substantially beat the government bond they could've invested in with zero risk.

They invested for the long term. If they suddenly want the company to go all-in on short term profit extraction that is a big change in plan.

I agree, but I doubt from their perspective it's a quick buck. I appreciate from the perspective of people who got a free service and it's now getting monetised it might feel quick, but surely not surprising at some point. And they got a quick buck up front from not having to pay for the service, which is nice :)

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