> The website[1] (not the blog) looks like it was designed using a Bootstrap theme from 10 years ago. It doesn't inspire confidence about the legitimacy of the business.

The post is of a somewhat candid, high-information concentration blog post, by a bootstrapped company... and the stereotypical HN response is to criticize them for not using the latest purely stylistic glossy marketing brochure Webrogrammer resume keyword on their Web site? :)

Maybe just like tech companies are still stuck in VC growth investment scam kinds of thinking, where the quality of their software developers didn't matter so much (since Potemkin Villages don't have to be structurally sound), and now companies institutionally have little clue how to hire or even recognize great software developers... So are we stuck in forming opinions of companies based upon our VC scam era criteria?

"You're not investing in the most frivolous image BS, and any good VC scam company knows it's all about what image you present to the marks, so you're not even a legitimate business."

Did we swap the definitions of legitimate and illegitimate?

It looks like they don’t have a designer, which is a smell for sure if you were looking for some indication of how serious the place is. It’s not the choice of framework that makes the difference, it’s the fact that it looks like it was made by 1 lone engineer who is doing their best, but still isn’t a designer.

Using memes as marketing material was more questionable than the design (which I agree is equally uninspiring).

Can they be serious without taking on VC (which they've implied is misaligned with customer goals)?

If so, what would that serious look like?

No, it isn't.

Do you have anything to back up your claim other than anecdote?

I was able to find this study:

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6347

I didn't even supply an anecdote; why would I need one? It's a self-evidently false claim.

I’m not sure I follow, but you have a good day.

We don't have a designer. In fact, I appreciate your optimism in thinking the website was built by an engineer, because it wasn't (I did it myself over a weekend).

We're a bootstrapped startup in a hostile environment being funded by me throwing a chunk of my savings at the problem. Do you think that's the most important thing for us to spend money on?

You do what you want, but you might consider listening to potential users and being a little less defensive.

Nobody is forcing you to use your savings for this, I can understand that you’d take any feedback personally but you should try not to.

You know, that's fair, I was a little defensive about it. Sorry about that.

I do still think you're expecting something somewhat unreasonable from a company at our stage, but I shouldn't have said so and my mindset replying earlier was not in the right place.

Personally, I'm an old school, social mis-fit geek .. So I actually prefer something a bit quirky/less glossy as long as the information is there.. For some reason that feels more 'human' and 'honest' then some bland,shiny PR firm crud that is solely focused on 'conversions' (signups).

But to each his own I guess....

It's true. Everyone knows you can actually only judge a book by its cover.