Actually, I appreciate the way he candidly writes things like that. I get that you're pointing out the moral implications of doing other people's school work, but that'd be another essay all its own. In this context, it's an example that proves his point very well as it's a context almost everyone can relate to.
I think you addressed your own question there. The answer is essentially, "I enjoy doing this, but I would never want to do this as a full-time job." I think deep down you realize it's a hobby that you enjoy in your free time but it's not something that brings you true fulfillment and sense of achievement you would doing something else as a profession.
It seems like you need a business co-founder, and on a positive note, it's relatively "easier" to find a business co-founder than a technical co-founder. Good luck.
I don't always agree with Mark Cuban, but I think he makes a good point on this when he talks about the folly in the adage, "follow your passions." His point is that you should follow your efforts as that leads you to be better at something, which in turn grows your passions in it. You can read his words for yourself: http://blogmaverick.com/2012/03/18/dont-follow-your-passion-....
It's almost a requirement in a criminal defense case to have an alternative culprit, just the same way that it's almost required to have a motive and a weapon in a homicide case. The defense needs to raise a reasonable doubt that Ulbriicht wasn't the criminal and that's best done by presenting an alternative culprit.
Yeah, I agree with you, this app isn't going to change the world. However, I think he's taking the right approach. He's at a point where he's earned his right/freedom to work on what he wants. If he so happens to find an opportunity for an underserved niche in something that he's genuinely passionate about, I'd argue that's definitely the approach to take. Go with that and see where it leads.
Everyone (prob including himself) is expecting him to put out a home run product now. He seems "due" for it. But if he comes out swinging for the fences, which I think he kinda did with Milk, there's a good chance that all parties will be disappointed because regardless of who you are, those home runs are really hard to come by, and even for someone like Kevin Rose, still very unlikely. I think if he follows these sorts of opportunities where his passion lies, he'll create a succession of hits that may eventually lead to his home run. Who knows, there's obviously no science to this, but that's the approach I would, and do, take.
Sorry for my naiveté but why does someone like Kevin Rose raise money at this point? Surely, he's cashed out enough that he could fund these sorts of projects on his own, at least at the seed stage. I would assume he has enough connections that he doesn't need to give up the equity for advice either. Can someone help me understand this? I often hear about people who I assume to be immensely successful raising seed rounds for their next projects and I'm often confused as to why. Wouldn't they want to keep as much equity as they can at this point?
One of his recently released apps is definitely for watch aficionados. High-end watches are a new interest/hobby that he picked up after he inherited a Rolex from his father. It's something that he enjoys and pursues with a passion.
Not that this is the case here, but crisis PR firms would love the publicity from an event like this and many would be willing to take this on pro bono. If you think about it, this is a really easy case for the PR firm that brings huge amounts of publicity, so they're really getting their bang for their buck. The clients in this case are just high school "kids" whose story got taken out of context and exaggerated by the manipulative "media". Any wrong doing can really be swept under the rug with a sincere apology. Who can't relate to the follies of youth, esp when there's powerful media enterprise trying to exploit them?
A crisis PR firm would love the publicity from an event like this and many would be willing to take these clients pro bono (not that they did in this case).
I find this ironic. When I used Hailo in Boston, it actually only integrated with taxis then moved to private drives. Uber on the other hand, contrary to what you're saying, started with only black cars then shifted to include taxis, and eventually UberX.
I keep hearing this argument that the barrier to entry is so low for an Uber competitor, but I think people massively underestimate the difficulty of successfully running a system like Uber. Here in Boston where Uber has wide adoption, I just watched a competitor with an impressive team (Hailo) fold up shop as they struggled to gain traction and compete. Where are all these other competitors that are going to come along and easily compete with Uber. Not to mention, there's huge advantages that network affects have in the vertical.
That's awesome, congrats. How did you create your sales path? Did you use another model. Also, do you still work a salaried job? I assume this is your main source of income.
Reading that document a few years ago lead to an epiphany for me in realizing that there may actually be value in some of the BSing you're forced to do in school. I think human nature leads people to seek deeper meaning and explanations, and the BS assignments force you to create convincing rationalizations that satiate that need. This is particularly true when you're trying to justify spending a lot of money on more abstract things like, say, a logo redesign. From what I remember, Pepsi paid the firm that put together that presentation about a million dollars for that logo. Granted, I think it's a good logo and certainly an improvement on the old, but I don't think that the artist(s) actually looked to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa or the expanding rate of the universe for influence. That's just the BS rationalization that was added later to help them close the deal.
I know you're just joking, but I think it actually makes a lot of sense. Reddit has given birth to a lot of successful businesses, websites, projects, and careers. I bet internally the question was more along the lines of, "how do we monetize without taking away from the community, and perhaps, even further enhancing it?" This is one solution that helps them monetize by further supporting the community.
10k hours playing basketball isn't going to make you a professional basketball player, but I would imagine 10k hours painting, writing, or doing many other professional endeavors will certainly help you to earn a livable wage if not excel in your field.
Advertising has a large spectrum and what you're describing is product placement which has been around as long as advertising has existed. Whether it's placement in a movie, a well crafted article, or a celebrity endorsement. Even academic studies are funded by private parties that have an incentive to sell you something.
But that's the nature of branded advertising and why it's so big. Search is based on helping a consumer reach out and buy what they're looking for, while branded advertising reaches out to the consumer and convinces them to buy something they may not necessarily know they want to buy. Search fulfills current market desires, while branded advertising expands market desires.
For one thing, native ads tend to be more viral oriented versus paid, so they have much lower costs which can be as low as free.
It's not so much about the narrow targeting as it is about the engagement. These "advertisements" show up in your FB news feeds and Pinterest pages because someone else in your community thought it worthy to share; they go viral when many people find it worthy to share. They're also much more integrated to the platforms as they don't initially appear as advertisements, unlike say banner ads.
"I still have such a hard time believing that they actually convert into user action (eg. purchase)."
To your last point, the author argues that native advertising is more akin to Brand advertising versus direct response, so in the same way, they're not intended to function as direct response ads that encourage you to buy immediately. But I'd argue that these native ads are even more effective because they can serve both purposes; they can serve the purpose of bringing brand awareness as merely being subtly place subject matter into and article that brings awareness to a brand, or they can be as direct as a product endorsement by a celebrity on their Twitter feeds or Pinterest pages. Native advertising can be versatile enough to cover both direct response and brand building advertisements.
This is also very common of people in Massachusetts who live near the NH border. The state run NH liquor stores are significantly cheaper than in MA. They also conveniently place their stores all along the border on major highways. It's less that an hour drive from Boston.