
RethinkDB: why we failed - mpweiher
http://www.defmacro.org/2017/01/18/why-rethinkdb-failed.html
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jbapple
948 points by v3ss0n 185 days ago, 267 comments:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13421608](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13421608)

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rdudekul
Still a classic post. Glad it got posted again. Very insightful!

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hnaparst
The first problem is that the product should be suggested by the users, not
thought up by the developers. If the users tell you what they need, they are
more likely to buy it. This is called market-driven product development.

The second thing to keep in mind is that you will probably think your product
is about three times as valuable as your competitor thinks your product is.
And your customer will think your product is about a third as special as your
competitor thinks your product is. So basically, your customer thinks your
product is about one ninth as special and beautifully different as you do.

In my humble opinion, these are the mistakes the author made, not the ones he
discussed in his piece.

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Strom
Listening to users for ideas works well in plenty of scenarios, but there are
also plenty of other scenarios where the users won't suggest something
innovative because they don't have the same persective of opportunities as the
developer. The best situation is where the developer is also a user of the
product.

However in all three situations (idea by users/developer/user+developer) you
can easily fail if nobody wants to pay for it. You can find millions of people
who say they want a better messenger app and they have plenty of ideas of what
features their dream app has. Will they pay for it though? Unlikely.

