"Make something people want" poster | Hacker News Reader

"Make something people want" poster

alvybrooks.com

86 pointsvignesh_vs_in75 comments

This smells like the new corporate motivational poster, except for cooler kids. IMO a little pretentious, just make something people want, without the wall ornaments.

Wow, even posters get their middlebrow dismissal, with its characteristic signature of uncharitability pushed so far that it crosses over into mistakenness.

Even the most formidable people often put "ornaments" in their sight to remind them of things they might otherwise forget. So it's mistaken to conclude that such things are as a class useless. And I know from experience that this particular sentence is useful, because the same sentence is printed on YC t-shirts, and surprisingly often I find myself in office hours answering founders' questions by pointing to their shirts and saying "make something people want."

...middlebrow... characteristic signature of uncharitability... crosses over into mistakenness.

This is honestly why I sometimes have a hard time taking YC seriously... your essays are really informative and insightful, and YC does and sponsors some really cool things, but the inability to either neutrally run a web forum or stay hands-off instead of jumping in with borderline flames when HN or YC engenders any kind of negative feedback puts a dent in that good impression.

Actually responding to the various types of bad behavior is essential to running a web forum. In fact it's probably the single most important thing one has to do. And I call out this type whenever I see it, whether it has to do with YC or not.

Hey pg, I've followed your writings ever since Hackers & Painters was published, and you've thoroughly influenced the decisions I've taken at every major juncture of my career. Sorry if the initial comment was too quick trigger, I did not mean any malice towards the project creators. I've left more useful feedback elsewhere in this thread.

The essence of my discomfort with this is that because this is YC's slogan, having a YC startup publish it with the blessing of YC the organization seems a bit like self-worship. I never got the sense through any of your writings that you'd advocate for this sort of thing. I guess I interpreted it more as YC worship than a what's presented by the message, and I doubt I am the only one that might think that.

My humble 2 cents. Thanks for HN.

Alvy Brooks is not a YC startup, and we didn't ask them to do this. But it was cool with me, since they're donating the proceeds to Watsi. And the poster looks good.

There's no useful feedback.

"I don't like it" or "I think it's pretentious" is a useless post.

pg's comments have a downvote button too... If everyone agreed with you, his comment might be an indecipherable gray-on-gray. I think he has as much right to comment how he wants as the rest of us do and just like many OP's who defend their articles or startups on threads here.

Doesn't the fact that you need to point at them rather somewhat suggest that owning "ornaments" with the phrase isn't useful other than for the sake of art? Buyers of this poster likely won't have their own pg around to point at it and remind them to pay attention to the meaning :)

No: (a) the t-shirts probably also work without me pointing to them, and (b) me noticing that the shirt has the answer is an instance of the phenomenon I describe.

a) Fair enough b) Do you really need that, or does it just feel nice to see it? If they weren't wearing the t-shirt would you really not think of it? If I put up a poster in my kitchen saying "Eat!" then I would often notice it when it's completely relevant, but that doesn't mean it's a useful poster.

> middlebrow dismissal

Your writings are readable and often useful but not exactly highbrow affairs… Perhaps the horse you're sitting on is not as tall as you seem to imagine.

It may not be for you, but there is nothing pretentious about it. There are many ways to motivate yourself. Having physical reminders to keep important stuff at the top of your mind is just one way of doing it. It works for some.. it may even work for everyone if people weren't negative about this stuff.

A good example I like is Bruce Lee's letter to himself on his chief definite aim: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/03/my-definite-chief-aim.h.... Some may find this stupid, pretentious, or cheesy, but I bet it was useful for Bruce Lee and that is what matters.

I just got one because (1) I find myself coming back to this saying a lot, (2) I like this motivational type of stuff (I actually want all of little posters up in FB), and (3) donating to Watsi is a good thing to do.

With the obvious difference being that the proceeds benefit watsi.

I love the poster and the initiative. Sadly I can't spend $40 in a poster, so I created mine https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8bpjdui1a4myhp/poster.JPG

If you're talking startups, you forgot "that scales"

People want haircuts. Being a barber doesn't scale.

Being a barber might not scale, but I would definitely call Supercuts [1] a startup when they were founded back in 1975.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercuts

That's what he was saying.

There was a post a few months ago about a guy who really liked hair styles. He was about to become a barber but had a conversation with a successful entrepreneur that made him realize that being a barber doesn't scale. He went on to build a hugely successful franchise.

Starting a hair salon franchise > being a barber

There's a difference between the business and the job. Being a Barber doesn't scale in the same way a search engine or car manufacturer with 1 employee doesn't scale. There's no reason a company based on haircuts can't scale though by hiring more employees, and without knowing where you live I'm sure some hairdressing chains exist.

If you mean that scales exponentially, so the employee-value graph isn't linear, I guess that'd be different and you're probably right.

I prefer jwz's "How will this software get my users laid?" http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html

"Make something people want" may seem obvious, but its still an avoidable and fatal mistake that otherwise smart people frequently make. Put another way: product/market fit is the high order bit.

I like simple, profound slogans like "Make Something People Want" or "Just Do It". They're profound because of what's not written. By those being the only words on the poster the real point its made - "make something people want - nothing else matters".

The prints look gorgeous. Can't wait to put mine on the wall!

I get all the revenue will be donated but isn't 40$ a bit too much for an unframed poster?

Yeah, we debated the price for a long time and consulted PG. Keep in mind that the poster was made using high production standards. They are screen-printed by hand and embossed on really beautiful French paper. We are also just trying to maximize the amount of money we can raise for Watsi since this is a limited-edition poster.

Not if the point is to donate the profit.

  > Buy a poster *and* fund medical treatments through Watsi.

Think of it like you would a charity auction; you're giving to a cause and getting a bonus item.

"Make something people want (at a reasoneable price)"

Make something people want (and charge for it)

I just bought one. I likely wouldn't have done so without the association with Watsi.

I launched v3 of our product yesterday to an internal audience of about 1000 employees who got to very much enjoy using some new killer features -- none of which the business was fit to imagine.

I got to make something that people want, even though they didn't know they wanted it. Now I get to put a commemorative poster up.

*edit: typo

I'm curious as to why the association with Watsi was the deciding factor for you. Certainly, there are causes that are equivalently significant as those being confronted by Watsi, and indeed, organizations that do similar work. The fact that you'd be willing to support a cause associated with Watsi but not with another organization is indicative that Watsi has done something correct in their branding strategy and PR efforts.

I think he was trying to say he wouldn't have bought a $40 poster without some charitable tie in. I imagine it wasn't the only worthy cause that would have swayed him. That said, Watsi is popping up a lot with the "cool kids" lately. Chelsea Clinton tweeted about them yesterday. Getting PG on the board got lots of buzz. They're trendy, and that's fine as long as it gets more people the medical care they need.

IMO his purchasing decision is legitimate. I think he liked the poster regardless of the charity element of it, that aspect just makes paying $40 palatable.

"There is a 3-poster limit. If you order more than 3, we will lovingly cancel your order. Please email us if you have a special request for a bulk order."

I suggest only allowing people to order 3 in the quantity field instead of 9 if three is the max.

is the intent of this to prevent bad actors from re-selling them?

I want at least 5, What will you do now?

A new startup because no one made that option available yet while you want it!

Just order five singles please, or a double and a triple.

This is turning into a Monty Python skit.

How about an option to frame it?

"Make something that solves a pain that people will pay to fix."

There you go. The secret to success.

Not everything is about solving pain. Some things are about creating joy instead. You can describe Rovio as solving the "pain of not having a fun bird throwing game", but it's a lot more straightforward to say "they made a really fun game that a lot of people wanted".

"Start a game company" is definitely not a "secret to success." It's not even a reliable path to joy, as plenty of deathmarch veterans can attest.

It is true that there are ways to succeed other than easing pain. Helping people make more money is one. Creating joy is, indeed, another. But the beauty of targeting pain is that people who have it are not hard to find - they're the ones complaining really loudly - and the ones you find will often pay for relief. Whereas nobody was wandering around five years ago complaining about the lack of a bird-throwing game and offering money to whoever came up with one.

Or alternately, manufacture the illness, then sell the cure.

Although that would probably look a bit shifty hanging in the lobby.

Quick question, how much is given to Watsi (what is the profit exactly) ?

Good question! We'll update the amounts when the dust settles. I'd expect our cost to be ~25% of the poster price. Everything else will go to Watsi (minus shipping and sales tax for CA residents) Final #s will be posted on Twitter @alvybrooks. We're really grateful to Stripe for lowering their transaction fee and Exec for helping with packing/shipping. Those donations will allow more money to go to Watsi.

These look a lot like the posters sprinkled around Facebook HQ:

http://bluebones.net/2012/09/move-fast-and-break-things/

What do people want?

"It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." - Steve Jobs

Or the original from Henry Ford: "If i'd asked people what they'd wanted, they would have said faster horses"

There's nothing wrong with asking people what they want, the value that you're supposed to add is to realize that there's a better option than faster horses.

Could you maybe say a little more about what future projects will be, and/or offer an email list? I'm... curious, at the very least, but I don't really want to follow on Twitter, I just want to see the next announcement, and then perhaps the one after that, and take it from there. And nice job on raising for Watsi - about $10k to them I think?

The poster may not appeal to a lot of people, but I certainly think it's pretty cool. Purchased!

It will look good on the wall with my 2010 radial world cup bracket

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyperakt/2010-world-cup-...

How about we make something people need?

People need very little. Food, water, shelter. Most of these things are already being made, and in quantity. If you restrict yourself to that which is truly necessary, you do very little indeed.

Well the hidden meaning behind my comment was that instead of producing more things for us to consume in the 1st world, maybe we should focus our attention on helping the other worlds out there.

I know, I know, I'm a dreamer.

Unless you make... posters :)

Joke aside, I like "need" better. People don't know what they want, just give them what they need.

This.

Poster are selling fast. Only ~200 left!

Any thought on making a run of Zen of Python? I'd be interested in that more than this version. Would pay $40.

Awesome, purchasing mine now. I did a similar design (based on Alexis' marketing course) recently that failed (http://teespring.com/mspl) but may try to bring it back.

Props for hand screenprinting these, that takes some effort!

I can't seem to get it to work -- after the "Secure Payment" steps, my screen refreshes with no confirmation or receipt.

I think the "Make something that works" poster isn't available.

Sorry about that. Let me look into it. In the meantime, can you try again on a different browser?

didn't inspiration used to be more subtle?

Great idea! It should be more expensive since they are selling quickly and the money is going to charity.

With such a small volume, what if the price increased by $.25 for every poster sold. Max price still wouldn't be that unreasonable if you're buying it with charity in mind.

I hope one of these ends up at the YC office. It looks great.

I would pay $40.00 if I could replace your embossed name with mine.

Is that helvetica?

No. If it were Helvetica, the ends of the "e" and "s" would be horizontal. They are angled, so it's definitely not Helvetica.