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Comment by frereubu | Hacker News Reader

I do care what they spend my subscription money on if it's not about providing a good service. The cost of this place is probably a drop in the ocean in terms of their income, but it does feel like it's yet another distraction from their core services.

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Every company in the world does things like this, why do people get upset that Kagi does it as well? Don't you think your local supermarket or electrical company spends money outside of their core business? We're soon in December, when companies will invite their employees to Christmas dinners and other holiday events.

Because a lot of people want Kagi to succeed because they want to keep using the service. So people care if they make bad business decisions that might threaten their long-term success. Compare to, say, Fastmail, who won similar mindshare under similar market circumstances, and who never attempted to enter the real estate business.

That said, this isn't as crazy of an idea as it sounds from the headline. Kagi says they are "remote-first", so the main beneficiary of this real estate is meant to be Kagi and their employees. The idea to open up some of the office space for Kagi customers to reserve is novel but not completely ridiculous either. I can see it working out well as a marketing tool.

> but it does feel like it's yet another distraction from their core services.

It is basically marketing. I am not sure everyone would call that a distraction if it gives kagi more visibility and thus, customers and revenues to spend on r&d.

Belgrade is a good place to test if that marketing works. It is a tech hub, which means higher probability to get new kagi subsribers, and it is not too expensive as a place to do an experiment. If they realize the ratio between money spent on this coworking space vs customer gained in that area in a year is not in their favor they can easily not renew their rent and shut it off.

Out of curiosity what makes Belgrade a tech hub moreso than other capitals with similar population and HDI?

Belgrade, historically, was a "gateway between East and West" and in some ways it still is: as a non-EU member in Europe it has access to a broader range of markets than a lot of other cities. I think recently, the wave of Russian tech workers fleeing Russia has also elevated its "tech hub" status.

> Russian tech workers fleeing Russia has also elevated its "tech hub" status.

Fleeing as in seeking asylum? Or fleeing as in sanctions? If the latter, besides the Slavic nations, I'd have thought Germany, the UAE, Israel, and Canada to be more popular?

Like in avoiding participation and being worried about future, speaking as Russian Kagi user from Belgrade.

Most popular places to move I guess are Georgia(365 daya visa-free, easy to reach), Serbia, UAE, Cyprus, Poland.

The UAE has an awful climate. Germany is in the EU, with all of its drawbacks. Canada is far away and expensive. (But yes, these are popular.)

Fleeing as in "I don't want to die in Putin's war". I've heard from friends that it's actually becoming an issue with locals there (the overwhelming number of Russians who have moved there) to the point where it's beginning to strain the relationship between Russia and Serbia, who have historically been very closely aligned.

My impression is that b/c they're non-EU they've retained a lot more local talent. By contrast, any half decent programmer in Croatia has a very strong incentive to get a job in Germany and make a much higher salary

But is their service suffering for it? Is it getting worse? For me, it is not. So I don't care. Take my money, Kagi!

if they can go around burning money on vanity projects, maybe that means they're charging me too much !

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