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Why don't business folks talk more about their technology failures?

1 points by amish ↗ HN
As a web developer / consultant, I have to say the number of crippled businesses I have encountered over the years you would think some of these decision makers would've learned by now that if you're trying to do something complex with technology the last thing you should be doing is pinching pennies on the development of that technology.

Coming in as the "fixer" for failed startups has made a nice comfortable career for me so I'm not necessarily complaining, but from the standpoint of helping folks become successful, you would think I'd be getting more opportunities to consult with early stages of projects. And I'm not talking about the ones that come with 'equity, beer and high fives' as compensation either.

2 comments

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YoAdrian
Build it fast & cheap, stand it up and see who pays.

No one wants to spend a lot of money on something when there's no guarantee of profits. And if you take your time to do it right, someone else will beat you to the market.

amish
I totally get the argument. But in my experience it's rarely the first idea that you end up running with, or that will work on the market. It's generally significantly different project in the end if you're able to get to where the market is telling you to go.

This leads to the idea that unless the code is conceived well up front it's highly unlikely you're going to be able to learn from the market and adapt to what it's telling you if you're working with a bunch of ill conceived code from the get go.