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Comment by cookiecaper | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, the patio11 fervor has always been a little mysterious to me. I think he is a fine HN poster who has some helpful blog posts. That's all well and good, but it doesn't justify his celebrity status. It puts him in the category of like the upper 15% of HN posters (and yes, I know his karma). I think the fanfare is a little overdone.

I assume that HN just thought it would be cool for "one of their own" to be raised to celebrity status and Patrick was right-place/right-time. And who can blame him for enjoying it?

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If you've been around HN for a long time, you'll have watched him take the path of a salaryman, to a small-time app, to a SaaS product, to consulting, to productized consulting, to a new and better SaaS product, to selling a company, to angel investing, and beyond, etc.. While he's really good at some stuff, he's also not an expert at everything. Its a really relatable story for so many people here.

And he's transparently written about all of it along the way, including a lot of financial stuff

Can't say whether he is over/under/fairly rated, but I like reading patio11's business and career posts because 1) he is good at communicating pitfalls and rules of thumb that I wouldn't otherwise think of 2)it's nice to read tech business stories outside the cult of superstar personalities, sacrificed relationships, and (huge bets)∩(survivor bias)

Lol. Bitter much? Considering how much terrible advice is on this forum from people who wouldn't know the first thing about building a business, at least Patrick has a track record.

Why would I be bitter? I have no personal animosity against Patrick. We don't compete in any meaningful way and I can only recall a few very limited interactions in the comment sections on HN. If anything, I feel a personal affinity for him, as I also ran a side business that ended up having a similar demographic to BCC (in a totally different sector).

I have nothing against Patrick whatsoever and as I said, no one can blame him for taking advantage of the position that the social media gods awarded him. I just think he's overrated. I normally wouldn't comment just for that, but I guess I felt bad for the parent commenter taking all the heat, and wanted to let him know that he's not alone, and some of us are even willing to say it without using a throwaway. ;)

"I just think he's overrated" fair enough. I just think that a lot of HN folks drawn to business-oriented posts are trying to start something business oriented of their own. He has some useful things to say/write. Some of it good, some of it not. But usually interesting.

He writes well, he's succeeded and failed at his own SaaS business, and he's generous with his advice.

For people considering moving from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur, his comments add value.

Plus he lives/lived in Japan, which - in the eyes of the true geeks on here - grants him bonus points ;)

> ... lives in Japan, which - in the eyes of the true geeks on here - grants him bonus points

Is this for real? I mean, do true geeks prize "living in Japan" more than living somewhere else?

> I mean, do true geeks prize "living in Japan"

True geeks, no. Many geeks, yes.

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