News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Growing a company that sells miniature construction supplies to $17k a month. Parent comment

Re:Growing a company that sells miniature construction suppl... by maxxxxx on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @10:34AM (#16430152)
You have to have an idea if you have the ability to make it right with your customers. For some products if you ship a bunch of faulty ones it will be very expensive to replace them.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Growing a company that sells miniature construction suppl... by ethbro on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @10:46AM (#16430253)
If you've got a high growth rate and you're improving process quickly enough, this is essentially an ethical Ponzi scheme.

Previous_gen_users << current_gen_users

Ergo, take a one-time charge to upgrade your previous gen users to current, with the revenue from your current gen growth.

Key points here are probably: (1) that it's unexpected & doesn't create an expectation (unsustainable), & (2) that it's unannounced & properly timed (manage the Osborne effect & avoid screwing customers who choose to pay to upgrade themselves ASAP)

It won't fit all business models / products but seems practical in most cases.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Growing a company that sells miniature construction suppl... by ImSkeptical on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @11:31AM (#16430641)
Why is it ethical to ship a low quality product to generation one customers? I think you're breaching ethics anytime you aren't providing a decent quality of product.

Some products are a great fit for releasing something quick and fixing it later, like a free website. Other products, especially physical goods (car parts, medical equipment, etc) this is obviously a terrible strategy.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Growing a company that sells miniature construction suppl... by ethbro on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @03:18PM (#16432590)
Because, from the article, you never know you're shipping a low quality product at the time you ship it.

Failure modes are complicated. It's not as simple as "Ah, this thing will obviously fall apart in a few months."

[ Parent | on HN ]