Caterina Says It's a Bad Time to Start Your 2.0 Co
I nodded at about every point Caterina makes about why its a bad time to start a company in the Valley. In Australia, its not quite that bad, but Im glad I've got one years head start because alot of heads are popping up, hoping for McDonalds-like drive-in timings on their flip, when a real Chocolate Souffle takes longer to bake and slice. My favourite Caterina-isms :
"Everybody else is starting a company. It's crazy." - This is the classic economic cycle where you dont want to be following the herd.
"Talent is scarce again. Hell, I want to find someone to write a little bit of PHP.." - We really need someone to do some little PHP and design 'implementation' work and it's totally hard again in Melbourne too. There are 232 PHP jobs advertised on seek.com.au alone.
"You can't operate in obscurity anymore." - Thankfully I'm on the Mornington Peninsula, where I decide what to work on which creates the most opportunity. There is no SXSW, Mix, Etech, Lockergnome, Web 2.0 Conference or Unconference here.
And my favourite Caterina-ism : "Web 2.0 isn't all that. Hello?. I don't think there's a rising tide lifting all boats here. I don't think Web 2.0 is the magic bullet some people seem to think it is either. It ain't the features, it's that AND the business. Tagging was a great feature, no doubt. But Flickr was at break even -- about to tip into the black -- when we were acquired."
Update : Of course Fred Wilson says what everyone should realise : "If you have a truly great idea, have incredible passion for it, and you've got a wide enough opening to run through, then you might as well go for it." (just dont be surprised when a taxi driver knows more about your segment of business as you arrive at LAX, as happened to me in 1999 when I was doing a efinancialservices play :) Check 2web podcast tonight aussie time on this.
"Everybody else is starting a company. It's crazy." - This is the classic economic cycle where you dont want to be following the herd.
"Talent is scarce again. Hell, I want to find someone to write a little bit of PHP.." - We really need someone to do some little PHP and design 'implementation' work and it's totally hard again in Melbourne too. There are 232 PHP jobs advertised on seek.com.au alone.
"You can't operate in obscurity anymore." - Thankfully I'm on the Mornington Peninsula, where I decide what to work on which creates the most opportunity. There is no SXSW, Mix, Etech, Lockergnome, Web 2.0 Conference or Unconference here.
And my favourite Caterina-ism : "Web 2.0 isn't all that. Hello?. I don't think there's a rising tide lifting all boats here. I don't think Web 2.0 is the magic bullet some people seem to think it is either. It ain't the features, it's that AND the business. Tagging was a great feature, no doubt. But Flickr was at break even -- about to tip into the black -- when we were acquired."
Update : Of course Fred Wilson says what everyone should realise : "If you have a truly great idea, have incredible passion for it, and you've got a wide enough opening to run through, then you might as well go for it." (just dont be surprised when a taxi driver knows more about your segment of business as you arrive at LAX, as happened to me in 1999 when I was doing a efinancialservices play :) Check 2web podcast tonight aussie time on this.
posted by redbarren at 6:04 PM
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