People obviously do do dumb things, and some stuff is obviously crap. But if you change perspectives a lot of stuff actually….makes sense?
Like, looking at the world and seeing a bunch of bullshit is actually a flaw in your own thinking, not the world.
Take fast food for example. Widely derided, clearly poisons the body, not the best taste, produces a lot of waste. More expensive than cooking.
But, flip it around:
* Standard experience —> you know exactly what you’re getting
* Much cheaper than restaurant food
* Much faster than restaurant or home cooked food
* Tasty
* Easy
It’s something with obvious downsides but also obvious upsides.
It isn’t obviously dumb. It is only obviously dumb if you decide the downsides outweigh the upsides and then ignore all the upsides. Which is flawed thinking.
You can repeat this analysis and find that on their own terms most people mostly aren’t doing things that are totally irrational.
Even something like a lottery ticket gives someone hope despite the clear negative EV. You can take that too far, but….
The point is if you think everything is bullshit, your analysis is probably crap. And merely allowing yourself to use the term bullshit rewards this sort of lazy, negative analysis.
Whatever you sell doesn’t have to be the absolute best of all possible things. But it has to meet a need, and the vast bulk of stuff which sells does exactly that.
> The point is if you think everything is bullshit, your analysis is probably crap.
Yes, it is crap. Because as I say I most values I can't relate .. a lot of why
> But it has to meet a need
That's the problem. Most of the time I don't think they need it.
For example, say someone goes buys a mac because they think the software is pretty and they like having things managed. You can't argue they are mistaken because you could get a linux machine with freedom for much less. They don't want such a thing.
Conversely, say someone buys a Linux machine because they like getting inexpensive tools and they enjoy fiddling with software. You can't say they are wrong because they could spend much less effort on computing by buying a mac.
There are no mistakes in either choice if they align with preferences. Here's an example of a mistake: buying a linux machine for ease of use, or buying a mac for maximal control over your machine.
So ask yourself: are the people making a mistake by having different preferences from you, or are they actually making a mistake on their own terms?
I think this is the point. Because the game is actually the psychology around why people buy shit. I can't make myself do that. For example. I can't ride the wave of hype because I don't believe its value is real or sustainable. Well a lot of excuse, right, that's why it's my trap.
Then don't. Or maybe you subconsciously don't want to do the work or have no good ideas. That's OK. But I can't see how this cynical attitude serves you otherwise.
As a reminder YC's mantra is "build something people want". There are plenty of now wealthy people on this forum that did that. Some never even had to do marketing because customers were so happy.
As an example, audiophiles might sneer at consumers buying "cheap" "digital" "crap" instead of having the good sense to appreciate what a high end speaker or vinyl system is capable of, but those consumers aren't upstream, they're trying to solve the issue of needing a sound system. People in the industry are for the most part audiophiles, so they're going to have an appreciation for things their consumer base is basically illiterate in. Still, the business is run on solving problems, and the problems of most are not the problems of the high-end user.
we're solving problems, or solving really hard problems, but either way can't deceive ourselves if we're just trying to solve the problem of making ourselves money, or actually of providing value to a variable population of problem-havers.
anything in that game requires a lot of planning to make something livable that can be sold at many groups over many years so you can finally get enough leverage to move the minds along some value axis
nerf was last minute class project.
Me neither, I'm a producer.
So I sell to other producers.
Sometimes big ones.
Then one call does it all.
Yes it has to be good.
Well, all the more reason to thing in terms of trees/heaps & not traditional loops/recursive functional loops.
Let someone else handle the mark & sweep clean up.