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Louis, just today.. literally just 10 hours ago... Dave and I were on the phone talking about so many things (neat stuff coming... you'll be the first to know ;) ...) and I touched on the very sentiment you are getting across here. Of course you put it so much more eloquently than I did... but let's just say that when someone says something about "Shyftr" they are indeed talking about Dave Stanley and Matt Shaulis personally, and when they something mean it hurts... we're only human (and our intentions have probably been misunderstood more than most recent services). You are such an inspiration and you know how to create positivity in the people around you... that's a real gift. This post made my day and while I can't speak for the other people mentioned I am willing to bet that a handful of hearts were just warmed.
P.S. Hey bloggers... this is how to get the exclusive. ;) hehehe j/k (sorta).
Louis thanks for remembering that there are people behind these services.
Great stuff! :-)
Lets not forget Thomas Connors, current lead on ReadBurner who has done an amazing job thus far.
Thanks for slowing everyone down and reminding everyone that we're all human :)
Sure, many will forecast incorrectly, and their creations will end up in the so called "deadpool," but I find it very admirable that the entrepreneurs took the risk anyway.
Our lives would be quite primitive, and our standard of living a lot lower, without these key individuals.
I'm a developer myself and the favorite part of my job is showing something I worked on to clients and seeing them get truly excited about what it can do. If I didn't have to work to pay the bills I'd just build things for people because it's awesome to see what you produce make their lives a little easier, a little more fun or even a little more magical. It's not an easy thing to figure out what people really need (not just what they want) and build a system that can give people that experience in a pleasing way.
Kudos to all these developers for even making the effort and thanks to them for giving me lots of new shiny toys to play with!
when size happens, the impersonal comes in, and i would offer that is when we start hating companies, and it usually grows the bigger they get ... friendfeed is cool, verizon is, difficult, to use some extremes
ALL of my products are hobbies. They are fun to work on but still provide a service to the community. I'll admit that 1 reason I launch them is to make a name for myself and, a few years from now, get a job working at a startup with other rockstars. But until then I need to hone my skills and work hard; thus RSSmeme and fftogo.
So on that note: Louis Gray, thank you for not forgetting about the people behind the services! There's a reason I subscribe to your feed and that each post gets read thoroughly -- and this post of yours truly illustrates that reason.
You are never going to please everyone. And realistically speaking, a lot of these things WILL deadpool. There is a difference between doing something fun as a side job and trying to turn those side projects into the day job with VC and the Silicon Valley wannabe-Hollywood culture. Louis, you are a much more positive person than I am. You also do this as a hobby, not a job. If people only want to read positive things about their projects, they should keep them limited to friends and families. Every time you pitch a blogger, there is going to be the chance that the blogger sees no use for your app. It's like that whenever you work, even if it's flipping burgers.
something like fftogo, I would never slam and understand that it is just something done out of passion, love and enthusiasm. SezWho, SocialMedian are not hobbies. While I don't doubt that they are trying to build good products and services, they are also trying to make money. Since I am not actually sure whether Toluu is hobby, I apologize to the folks behind if it is.
I'm definitely *not* in favor of stamping out innovation under the premise that "most things won't take root", especially when that innovation is coming from someone doing something out of their bedroom merely for the love of it.
For the companies that aren't hobbies If it's simply that you don't like thinking about business models and exit strategies and how it will all play out in that regard and so you're not interested in ever writing about those things I don't have a problem with it. But those things do come into play and I like having conversations about those issues. However, I'd agree that "snarky notes" are not the best way to facilitate those conversations. Thanks for calling me out on that.
Robert
more and more, energy follows intention, my bet is that motivation, why one does something will play a bigger part in success and failure than ever before.
There are plenty of other sites for business models, exit strategies, etc. So far, I've focused less on that here, and it usually doesn't come into play for the earliest adopter crowd. It has been interesting to see some of the stories I used to have a large mindshare for (See: FriendFeed and ReadBurner) grow up beyond me to gain a larger audience. At some point, some of those services will take another leap to the level you're mentioning, where business models are a bigger focus.