752 karma · joined August 25, 2011
The Samwers are bad enough.
That's a scary thought, but I don't think developers are going to be commoditized anymore than designers. Web templates are just as plentiful as API
The question now is, can the structure SO built there scale across a variety of human communities. I tend to think not.
When you run your own startup it can be hard to admit the stresses. You see yourself as the face of the company and don't want to appear weak.
Easy money at the seed stage means a lot of companies that are small ideas trying their hand at building a business.
In the same way that the American dream of home ownership came back to bite us, perhaps the cult of entrepreneurship could use a hard look.
Whatever the net-net is in terms of jobs created or killed by startups, the US is better off for having a class of creative people in the technology space trying to create new business models.
It is strange, however, to see the same folks who were recently selling their shares on this market now becoming its backers. SecondMarket makes the market for FB stock, which Mr. Palihapitiya may still have quite a bit of.
As per usual, these companies don't share a single line of code, and Kickstarter was in business for years before this guy's patent was even approved.
But somehow, he can claim to have invented crowdfunding for creative projects -- USING A COMPUTER.
BS.
It's like saying, this anarchist mob isn't very organized. Well, yeah.
That being said, I agree with Meetup guy that sites like Kickstarter are exactly the kind of peer-2-peer marketplace that could help reshape our economy and empower the 99%.
Given the bleak macro economic picture, funding has probably fallen on Angel List, where a lot of doctors, lawyers, and non techie investors look for deals.
But the overall picture for early stage funding, as concrete data shows, did not get any grimmer over the last two quarters.
With the gauntlet thrown, Mr. Jobs headed into deeper, metaphysical territory. "The hardest thing is, when you think about focusing, focusing is saying, yes, no, "he said, walking backwards as his argument changed direction, his hands splayed out wide. "Focusing is about saying no. Focusing is about saying no," he repeated, as scattered applause breaks out.
Jobs was not only reasserting himself, he was setting the stage for the way he would run the company for the next decade and half. He was articulating the essential vision, which he returned to again. "Focus is about saying no. And the result of that focus is going to be some really great products. Where the total is much greater than the sum of the parts."
I guess the real question is how much less information/scoops they will have with Mike and MG gone.