If there is one lesson that HN needs to learn, it's that profitable is not the same thing as important.
Reddit succeeded largely because the company that bought them is making money elsewhere.
Such a nonsense makes me angry. Surely you've heard about companies called Google, Facebook, Linkedin, that succeeded without being bought and for a long time not making a profit.
I don't think grandparent should be downvoted, he raises a good point. Tons and tons of people use Reddit, but Reddit has a hard time making a living.
Maybe they enjoy it? Maybe it makes them happy?
Not everything is about money.
Checkup alladvantage - they paid people to surf. Had millions of users, but ultimately failed because their "business model" was idiotic.
Getting millions of users is pretty easy if you pay them to be a user. Someday though, it's only worthwhile if you can build a sustainable business which at least doesn't lose money hand over fist.
If Reddit hadn't got bought and supported by other profitable businesses, I doubt it would have survived.
I can make millions of dollars selling condom wrappers, but just because I have made millions of dollars does not mean that I have done something important. I may catch quite a bit of hate for this, but a large portion of HN's content is on things that make money, but are not truly important.
1. Make money doing whatever it takes. eg come up with some crappy website, sell it to google, then shut it down. 2. The money problem is solved! 3. Spend money solving world hunger, diseases, philanthropy.
Which IMHO is pretentious BS.
Was it fraud if you got a dog to play with the mouse, and never looked at the screen? The dog might have still been looking at the adverts!