Re:Bootstrapping to €600k MRR and getting killed by Shopify
by caycep on Thursday July 27, 2023 @01:31PM
(#36897178)
One question in my mind is - how does TSMC structure their "platform" such that not-sherlocking-customers is incentivized into their business model?
Re:Bootstrapping to €600k MRR and getting killed by Shopify
by philipkglass on Thursday July 27, 2023 @01:40PM
(#36897339)
* * *
Re:Bootstrapping to €600k MRR and getting killed by Shopify
by politician on Thursday July 27, 2023 @01:46PM
(#36897427)
As I understand it from my time at AMD, TSMC provides what is essentially an SDK for specifying how to use their process for a given node. Clients translate (compile) their higher level specifications into this framework for fabrication, and own responsibility for characterizing (testing) the resulting silicon.
This separation of responsibilities presents TSMC with a difficult reverse engineering challenge if they were interested in violating their NDA.
Re:Bootstrapping to €600k MRR and getting killed by Shopify
by dtech on Thursday July 27, 2023 @01:46PM
(#36897430)
They don't have to. Building a semiconductor fab is such an enormous investment and requires so much specific knowledge that it's not an attractive option, orders of magnitude harder than copying some software.
A similar question would be how Airbus prevents airlines from building their own airplanes.
Re:Bootstrapping to €600k MRR and getting killed by Shopify
by chiefalchemist on Thursday July 27, 2023 @02:49PM
(#36898357)
> "but in the end you need an exit strategy as a company."
Simple. Reach out to the platform and ask to be acquired. You might not get top dollar, but it beats having the plug pulled. While he acknowledges he didn't expect the gravy to be pouring forever, he also didn't have an exit mapped. Exit is one of those things that is in the text book definition of what is an entrepreneur.
You can pray that the platform's customers will be upset if your product gets killed ("Shoppify broke our checkout screen" is not exactly bringing in new users) but in the end you need an exit strategy as a company.
In this case, I do think legal action would've succeeded, but it would probably be a long, expensive, painful lawsuit, that's probably too much for this company to bear. You're also not guaranteed that the judge will make the losing party pay for your defence even if you do win, so it could easily be quite a Pyrrhic victory.
With the new DMA coming into effect soon, I think businesses like these will stand a much better chance. The restrictions put onto gatekeepers by the EU can introduce significant risks to platforms being scummy to smaller developers.