SchoolboyBlue

> The best advice I can give anyone that wants to start a company: ask yourself why do you want to start a company? If the reason is anything other than "there is this huge problem that needs to be solved and I know a way to do it!" then you are chasing a bandwagon of the glory that comes from being a successful technology entrepreneur, and aren't actually building a company with any value behind it.

Couldn't agree more.

I would counter with the fact that in physical endeavors it's apparent to us that we are not #1 - our household cats are more agile than us.

It's in matters of intellect that humans still believe they are #1.

AlphaGO's achievement in another field would have similar effects, e.g.:

- An AI that diagnoses sickness better than any doctor

- An AI that generates text which humans believe more beautiful than any other poetry created

- An AI which creates classical arrangements the likes of which we compare to Mozart

I would imagine that in any of those situations some doctors, authors, and musicians alike would be devastated.

> The company I now work for started as a parking app. . . . We were growing sustainably as the result of having a superior product based on a great understanding of consumer needs.

> But sustainable growth isn’t what VCs (or the execs that they install in the firms they have stakes in) are looking for. So we pivoted.

> Without going into too much detail, we are now exclusively focused on getting acquired by a big tech firm. Meetings with low-level product managers at a few of the world’s largest com­panies dictate every decision about which projects we pursue. We’re no longer building a company. We’re not even building a product. We’re building a feature that we hope will end up getting included in an app owned by a mega-corporation.

> When I talk to my friends and peers at other tech startups, they tell me that it’s pretty much the same story at their compa­nies. Everyone is building to the specifications set by Google or Amazon or Apple. This “competitive” industry, supposedly a shining example of the power of the free market, is really just a massive risk-free R&D department for the faang companies.40

ooph.

probably something like Halo / Borderlands 3 / Titanfall campaign.

thanks! just sent you an email :)

I spent $100 on subscriptions a couple Christmases ago. Never received any product nor was I able to get in contact with anyone at the company.

Really turned me off since I was a big fan of their content and already had a yearly subscription.

I spent $100 on subscriptions a few years ago for Christmas gifts and never received anything. Still annoyed at that.