Comment by 6stringmerc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by 6stringmerc | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Um, he may have made a significant "observation" as you call it, but it wasn't his idea to research VOIP, to go out and get a device, or even how to implement it in a functional way to enact the advances in technology in a meaningful cost-savings avenue. It's right there in the article:

>And I had the good fortune of Tooter, The Machine and my former boss eventually rallying around my vision with their considerable super powers. To this day, I’m so thankful for each of them.

So in this particular instance, he's much more akin to a record producer creating a hit by lifting samples from other artists and then rapping about himself over the track. You might see it differently, that's fine. I just don't buy the self-directed, "Look what I made" narrative being put forward as fundamental here. Oh sure, it's his "vision" and all, but vision without talent and skill is just daydreaming. So he got some real people do to the hard part, that's a great "leadership" example I suppose.

> So in this particular instance, he's much more akin to a record producer creating a hit by lifting samples from other artists and then rapping about himself over the track.

Only in this case, it was an employee of the same company. His job as the CEO was to get the best out of his employees. He succeeded in doing that. I think that deserves appreciation.

I agree. The first sentence of the article pretty much sums the guy up and the figure is hardly inspirational. Tenacity and the ability to sell as well as to manipulate/exploit others: sure he has those, just like any typical street market peddler in Beijing - only Beijing street peddlers aren't lucky enough to have the opportunity scale of Silicon Valley. But, do these qualities make them inspirational figures? Not in my book.

Sales skills are among the most portable across industries.

Your understanding of music is obviously poor, and detracts from your analogy.

Not really. This is exactly what happened in the 80s and 90s with Vanilla Ice stealing from David Bowie and Freddie Mercury[1], and MC Hammer stealing from Rick James[2]. It even happened outside of rap with The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony stealing from "The Last Time"[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Sweet_Symphony [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Ice_Baby [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Can%27t_Touch_This

It's not stealing if you add value - see Kanye West, Daft Punk, etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com