

Ask YC:  If you had a choice between doing something creative vs highly profitable, which would you choose? - amichail

It seems that this is quite a common dilemma.  After all, anything creative requires greater mental effort on behalf of your users to understand and is unlikely to spread as quickly.<p>The fact that Scrabulous for example is so successful is telling.<p>In fact, Facebook is not novel either but is an incremental improvement on existing social networks.<p>In my case, maybe I should think less about creating novel puzzles and think more about adding an interesting twist on very well known puzzles/games.
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dkokelley
Honestly, because of where I am in life right now (poor college student) I
would choose the profitable one. I think if I did though, I would look back at
the end of my life and wish I had done differently. The idea is to do the
profitable thing first, then use my newfound wealth and free time to pursue
the creative things.

As for your puzzles, I really enjoy them, and I think they do have a
profitable potential. My suggestion is to rethink the marketing of them. Don't
call them games. Turn them into "brain exercises" or something of the sort
(consider Nintendo's "Brain Age" line of games, for example). Clean up the
site a little (no background image, remove or reorganize the adsense boxes)
and consolidate the games you've created to that site. Let other people submit
games or "Brain Exercises" and then when you've reached a good amount of
traction, sell to Tickle.

Sure, this is an off-the-cuff example, but the bottom line is that I think
that with a little more creativity, you can do both the creative and
profitable thing at the same time.

P.S., I personally don't like the background images. I think you posted
earlier asking if you should include them, so here's more feedback on that.

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rantfoil
Book recommendation: The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar. He's a partner
at KPCB, but he warns against taking the "deferred life plan."

I am loathe to call any Harvard Business School Press book "life changing" but
this is one that does open your eyes. I met him in person when I graduated
from college, and it really made me think about the entire make money then
pursue creative things thing.

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timr
One big problem with the make-money-first theory, is that it never really
feels like you've made enough to stop.

(I've never been a millionaire, but I've noticed that I get more anxious about
losing money when I have more of it to lose.)

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alyx
Why must we take such extreme sides? Life is all about balance, so why not
profitable creativity?

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jeroen
Any chance you can do the profitable thing first and then use the profits to
allow yourself to do the creative thing? That way you can more or less have it
all.

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SwellJoe
Be careful with this approach. If you're really lucky, one day you'll wake up
and find yourself playing in an irrelevant rock band.

<http://www.grownmen.com/interior.asp?section=who>

If you're not so lucky, your lack of passion for the "profit" path will lead
to no money AND no time for creative pursuits in your life.

When you're young and single is the one time in your life when you have
nothing stopping you from following whatever path you really want to
follow...if you opt, instead, to follow the safest path, you're squandering
that unique opportunity.

I'm old enough to know of what I speak here, and young enough to recall very
clearly my thought processes that led me to miss several really nice
opportunities when I was in my twenties. (I didn't always take the safe path,
by any means, but I did it enough to have a few very real regrets.)

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robinhoode
Wow.. that really hit home..

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sc
> After all, anything creative requires greater mental effort on behalf of
> your users to understand and is unlikely to spread as quickly.

You can always consider design as usability: Apple and 37signals are the "big"
names we know that follow and lead this mantra. Their products are creative,
but intuitive. You could even consider the intuitiveness itself a major
creative element; user understanding is at the forefront of their products, so
they are profitable, as well.

In the end, it's an issue of quality.

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Raphael
I believe that the most profitable things are the most creative. Just because
Scrabulous is popular doesn't mean that your puzzle couldn't be moreso.
Remember, there was a time before Scrabble even existed!

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andr
Do you have kids? If not, go for the creative. One-upping may give you short-
term profits, but creativity, ambition and luck is what you want for the long
haul.

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mrtron
Creative. Money has very quick diminishing returns.

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Raphael
Especially with inflation the way it is now.

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pchristensen
Wouldn't inflation slow the diminishing marginal value of money? If my next
dollar is only worth $.90, then it's not as far over my usefulness threshold.

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redorb
if you take any money you have a obligation to profit; even if its a grant,
the return has to be there even if its just "public good with public money" -

\- If you haven't taken money; follow your gut (and bills)

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lovelinuxlove
i'd do something creative :)

