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thisisbrians · 2021-01-22 17:36:16

Stated another way: the goal shouldn't be to build something, but to solve a problem for someone. Building should be a means, not an end.

pdonis | karma 17088 | avg karma 1.99 · | 2021-01-05 19:06:14+00:00

> If your goal is to build houses

Which is the goal of Habitat for Humanity, correct?

> if it's to recruit lifetime donors

Which is not the goal of Habitat for Humanity, right? It's only a means to an end. The end is building homes for people. If that end can be accomplished by a means more efficient than "recruit lifetime donors", shouldn't it be done that way?

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tjbiddle | karma 1554 | avg karma 3.05 · | 2019-03-25 22:09:46+00:00

Your point? Sometimes people just want to build things.

nl | karma 29762 | avg karma 2.49 · | 2011-11-16 00:25:40+00:00

Most people take "Build something people want" to mean "Pick a problem to solve and solve it well."

Most people are wrong.

"Pick a problem to solve and solve it well" focuses on the "Build" part. The important part is "people want".

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twelve40 | karma 2298 | avg karma 1.58 · | 2021-08-16 02:19:13

> spending two decades trying to build something

maybe trying to build something (in a random faraway country, one of the many in the world) was never the objective in the first place.

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ipaddr | karma 6901 | avg karma 1.37 · | 2023-10-25 00:19:38

Building what people want vs building what they need

sofuture | karma 1089 | avg karma 5.45 · | 2010-08-18 03:09:09+00:00

You're reading that backwards. He's encouraging people to build something rather than attempt to build something for the sole purpose of selling it.

tosh | karma 156026 | avg karma 6.88 · | 2021-02-16 16:24:20+00:00

> I wanted not just to build things, but to build things that would last.

lettergram | karma 13239 | avg karma 3.12 · | 2013-12-05 18:17:43+00:00

"I don't intend to build in order to have clients; I intend to have clients in order to build."

dragonwriter | karma 118260 | avg karma 2.17 · | 2020-06-26 14:46:23+00:00

> Because someone will build tools off yours and then someone will build tools off theirs.

Is that supposed to be a reason against? Enabling further progress sounds more like a reason for, not a reason against.

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andrewwharton | karma 306 | avg karma 5.28 · | 2017-09-29 06:41:32+00:00

He's stated previously (can't remember where) that building all that is someone else's problem (opportunity).

bjornsing | karma 4728 | avg karma 2.92 · | 2016-01-11 21:50:17

> Build things that people want.

That sentence has a very familiar ring to it. :)

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talmand | karma 5168 | avg karma 1.45 · | 2016-06-14 14:49:06

I am hoping that was the intention of the statement; not wanting to build something because of interests doesn't mean the knowledge to build it doesn't exist.

dbul | karma 993 | avg karma 3.76 · | 2009-05-29 20:33:59+00:00

"Build something people want."

linuxftw | karma 904 | avg karma 0.37 · | 2019-09-23 17:33:36+00:00

I don't disagree. My comment was related to the notion of 'oh you can't just build things here' premise that I responded to.

akkartik | karma 13864 | avg karma 3.99 · | 2012-03-22 03:28:34+00:00

He's missing a subtlety in the essay. Even if the eventual vision is ambitious, don't tackle it head-on. Start with something that looks like a toy.

"Don't try to construct the future like a building, because your current blueprint is almost certainly mistaken."

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tempsy | karma 12572 | avg karma 5.71 · | 2020-04-23 13:21:50

Purely Extrinsically motivated people are not going to solve the build problem.

maratd | karma 6296 | avg karma 3.2 · | 2016-04-08 21:44:36+00:00

> p&l is a silly goal when it comes to "Fuck yeah, progress!"

Is it though? We don't throw money at people for building useless shit. If you make a lot of money, it's because you helped a lot of people.

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runT1ME | karma 1605 | avg karma 2.04 · | 2010-10-27 21:56:51+00:00

So, you too don't understand the desire just to build things?

chosenbreed37 | karma 270 | avg karma 1.06 · | 2019-01-11 10:40:33

> You don't build great things by raising money, you build great things by building them.

Maybe not...but you might latest hardware, fancy offices, etc without risking a dime. Not a bad proposition :-)

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