

“Like Eating Glass”: Sean Parker on Airtime’s Bumpy Launch - olivercameron
http://allthingsd.com/20121002/like-eating-glass-sean-parker-on-airtimes-bumpy-launch-exec-departures-and-more/?mod=atdtweet

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adastra
Here's a thought experiment: let's say you had two billion dollars, household-
name level of fame, and a past history of startup success. If you wanted to
start a new company, you could no doubt convince some of silicon valley's
elite investors to put in money and attract a couple of the world's leading
experts in whatever field you were interested in. This will be your full-time
job.

For me, here's the list of industries I'd love to try and disrupt, in no
particular order: clean energy or clean water, health care IT, public
transportation, 3rd-world agriculture, cybersecurity, the US education system.

Or, here's some cool tech areas that I'd love to play in, maybe disrupt
something, but at least it would be hugely fun: AI, flying drones, quantum
computing/communications, genomics, space travel. Also, see the Yudkowsky
Scale [1].

You see where I'm going with this. With all his money and all his talent, Sean
Parker has decided to solve the problem of "my random video chats had too many
penises in them."

Not everyone can be Elon Musk, but once you've got 2 billion dollars, damn man
at least give it a try.

To be clear: I have no problem with software startups that start by solving
small problems or by bringing a tiny bit of joy to people's lives. But there's
also _plenty_ of people already doing that. I just think the calculus of how
you spend your time has to change when you have more capital at your disposal
than 99.999% of the entrepreneurs on the planet.

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4510702>

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derwiki
Parker is also a founding member and CEO of Causes, the largest platform for
collective activism online (disclaimer: I work there).

~~~
adastra
The Causes website says he's chairman of the board, not CEO. That's a huge
difference. My comment wasn't meant to denigrate Causes, which is great.

By all accounts Parker is full time at Airtime. He has $2 billion of wealth,
non-trivial technical and business skill, and another 40+ years of lifespan to
tackle one or more of the world's toughest problems. It doesn't exactly help
silicon valley's public image when one of its most public faces does a huge
hyped up launch for... chat roulette redux. After the unfortunate post-IPO
performance of groupon, facebook, and zynga, the perception of silicon valley
is in bad enough shape as it is.

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earbitscom
Not only has there yet to be a feature on Airtime that is cool or unique, but
there has yet to be mention of any future idea that sounds like it solves a
problem. What problem is Airtime trying to solve? This guy needs PG office
hours in the worst kind of way.

On top of that, he said his party was "scrappy" by comparing it to that of a
company who does more in revenue every month than the $30M his company raised
in total. I would hope you'd spend less than a company bringing in near a
billion dollars this year. It was still a massive waste of money, was off-
putting to a ton of early adopters, and was just a large amount of lipstick on
a pig, just as the marketing video they made was a cheap imitation of the
innovative one by Dollar Shave Club.

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to keep touting Parker's startups as industry
disruptions. Given their life cycles and profitability issues, perhaps
interruptions is a more appropriate term.

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eurleif
>Of the initial product, which connects strangers for live video chats based
on their interests, Parker said, “One-to-one is never viral.”

Wait, what? ChatRoulette wasn't viral? That's not how I remember it.

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ricksta
I cancelled my sign up because of this

THIS APP WILL RECEIVE: Your basic info Your email address (myemail) Your
profile info: description, activities, birthday, education history, groups,
hometown, interests, likes, location, questions, relationship status,
religious and political views, subscribers and subscribees, website and work
history Your stories: events, games activity, notes, photos, status updates
and videos Friends' profile info: descriptions, activities, birthdays,
education histories, groups, hometowns, interests, likes, locations,
questions, relationship statuses, religious and political views, subscribers
and subscribees, websites and work histories Stories shared with you: events,
games activity, notes, photos, status updates and videos Your app activity
from: music apps, news apps and video apps Friends' app activity from: music
apps, news apps and video apps

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k_kelly
One of the things I've always wondered was would Airtime have worked if Parker
had decided to cap initial investment at a few hundred thousand dollars or
less. He would have failed quickly, he would have known if it was a real
product, and he might have got devs willing to go for equity (not the riskiest
gamble as startups go and would have bought more commitment than a million
dollars up front). Anyone tying their fate to a startup would not leave after
launching the product.

It always felt like Parker tried to buy success or worse, didn't even want to
buy success just wanted to buy a hot startup as a lifestyle choice.

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johnrob
Lest anyone forget how hard startups are, here is some proven talent armed
with tons of cash that is struggling nonetheless.

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guimarin
Airtime does not solve a problem today. It is wayyy to ahead of its time. When
we are all in automated cars and have more discretionary time. Services like
airtime will be successful. Right now we're too busy to invest the time in a
product that needs to boil the whole ocean to be successful. Chatroullette was
a fad, where Airtime is trying to be a communications platform like
facebook/twitter. Except that there was a reason for Facebook/Twitter, and
there isn't one for airtime. There will be in the future though.

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omegant
Why people will be more willing to speak to strangers in the future than now?.
There is a need to be in contact with your friends and family, but I don't see
a general urgency to meet strangers. I travel a lot for work and I am a lot of
tome on my own, and still can't find the need to go talking to people I don't
know.

Conecting people could be great for learning languajes though.

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webwanderings
Past first time success is no guarantee of continuous success. This reminds me
of how the Youtube founders have bunked the takeover of Delicious.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Past history is never a solid guide. An LP at one of the valley's venture
firms once told me that the value of the track record for him was that it
meant that if the stars did align on the idea and the market, then the team
which had been successful in the past would likely be successful with this
idea. On the other hand, if the team had not been successful in the past then
there was the chance that the idea and market would be there and they would
drop the ball.

Its a challenge when folks conflate their previous successful venture with an
ability to deliver an idea when they won't or can't acknowledge the role of
serendipity in the timing.

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jhermsmeyer
"It will include a plethora of innovations to come that will further make it
clear that big things are on the road ahead."

All Things D's writing, and hence credibility, is one butter patty away from
the big dirt nap.

I've attempted to unpack that sentence and it's turtles all the way down.

