"I used to be pretty consistent about submitting my stuff to Hacker News, but over time I've found it's pretty hit or miss. So if other people submit it, or if it's a piece i'm particularly proud of, I'll try and do something with that. But in general I'm just focused on growing my twitter following since it's most consistent and feels like something I can have real control of."
- Andrew Chen
"Well said. I haven't fully integrated the hedgehog/fox idea with the 10,000 expert practice framework- in some ways they are opposed to each other, but I think your comment captures the tradeoff."
- Andrew Chen
"Yeah, my critique is more around the POV of press/investors/advisors looking across the entire field of startups and being sucky at predicting their outcome due to oversimplification. I suppose it's more aligned to an entrepreneur looking at a single idea though, in that case the myopia is more likely to be unique and differentiated :) So in that case Thiel's quote makes a ton of sense."
- Andrew Chen
"Patrick, yes, it's been forever since we last talked. I did actually read that article when it first came out and really liked it. I think Poker is a nice analogy because at the heart of it, there's a bunch of randomness. Plus a bunch of humans. So if you went with a fixed strategy that said "always do X and then Y" over time you wouldn't be able to win- there's a lot of situational adjustment involved. But like any complicated stochastic thing, people are always looking for the "can't lose strategy" :)"
- Andrew Chen
"Yes, but will millions of people are ready to pay $500 to play with a Sifteo-integrated Google Glass mechanism? I get that you'll say that it's just one use case, but that's my whole point- what's the major use case? With the iPhone it's clear. It's in the name. It's a phone. And RIM/Palm/etc also proved that people cared about messaging, calendars, contacts, etc. So the iPhone value prop was clear. What's the Glass value prop?"
- Andrew Chen
"Yeah, if they can get the passive stuff working well, so that you don't need too much input, that would help a lot. That said, based on my experience using Google Now, it seems like it's not enough yet."
- Andrew Chen
"Not true, the iPhone 1 was a huge commercial success from the get go. It sold 1 million units in the first 3 months. The iPad v1 was a commercial success too, as was the Kindle. My point is that Google Glass isn't in this category of products - it's in with the Newton, the Segway, and products like that."
- Andrew Chen
"I think this is just another example of how people get excited about Google Glass without actually talking about any of the killer use cases or why it's worth the $1500 (or $500 or whatever price it'll be). The answer is always, "it'll be awesome! You just wait! People will find out ways to use it!" Reminds me of Google Wave."
- Andrew Chen
"Well, it's good they asked those questions about tablets, and it turns out there are good answers in the case of tablets. They're light, you can read them in bed. They are better on the sofa. More social since there isn't a big computer screen between you and others in a meeting. Etc., etc. Still looking for those answers on Google Glass."
- Andrew Chen
"My whole point is that the Newton was ahead of its time (and thus, a commercial failure). Glass is revolutionary but also I'm leaning towards commercial failure."
- Andrew Chen
"This is a thoughtful and well-constructed comment, but it's a reminder on how easy it is to read a blog post but totally miss the point of it. My whole point is that v1 will suck, but the subsequent versions could be a lot better. But more importantly, v1 will suck. I actually write sentences and sentences about how I think the category is interesting, and even the use of the Newton metaphor is to say that the v1 sucked, but eventually the iPad came. The funny about people who are crazy optimistic about the Glass is that whatever you say about it, they take as a critique against the future of all wearable computing for all time. No, sir, I'm just talking about Glass v1 sucking when they release it this year or next."
- Andrew Chen
"Yes, and I hope the category of wearable computing works out. But the point of my article is that I'm skeptical that v1 will be a success for exactly the reasons why you're saying- the guys that created the first popular computers (Commodore, MITS, Amiga, etc.) didn't become the ones to really nail it and make the category a huge success. It was later folks who launched refined versions that make it work. In the same way, I think Glass v1 will be a dud but maybe 5 years from now, someone else will do something interesting. Maybe that someone else will be Google if they stick to it."
- Andrew Chen
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more...
- precious
Re: Rational Growth (PDF): An intro to growing user signups via data and analytical thinking - http://andrewchen.co/2013...
"You're right that it's a tradeoff. It's easy to get more signups, but at the expense of quality. In general I've always erred over to the side of signups, just because once you have a signup you have various ways to notify them to get them back. Whereas if you don't sign them up at all, then you will never have a channel to get them back. Worst case, you can think of it as shifting the problem later in the funnel- you increase some top-line metrics but then you have to focus more on activating those lower quality users. I'd personally rather take that problem, but combined with higher signups, than to have lower signups overall."
- Andrew Chen
"Seems like you're trying to use an example of a failed product to argue the point it'd be obvious it'd be successful? (Not convinced that the Google "bear hug" was the problem- after all, after its purchase, YouTube is much bigger and better than its ever been, with more revenue. Jaiku just failed, and its network wasn't strong enough to keep it going.)"
- Andrew Chen