"but it's natural to question what exactly about that moat qualifies a billion dollar valuation, and the answer is extremely little."
I am no shill for Calendly but a happy user and as far as I know, they are doing 100M in ARR. It is a lot more than "I can code this app in a weekend". Whether this justifies a billion dollar valuation is a separate discussion but for sure it is not that easy to do what Calendly is doing.
I don't know if you're just being intentionally reductionist by doubling down on this "I can code this app in a weekend" angle when I just spent something like a hundred words explaining how that's not the point or what... but people are talking about the business here.
And it's the whole business: Not just 100M in ARR, but 100M in ARR with what burn rate and what exit that won't just be dumping a steaming pile on the public market as has flown in years past.
Maybe you're just missing the forest for the trees when these questions come up now too: We're not in 2019 anymore. It used to be that every startup with a faint pulse could justify any valuation by throwing up revenue numbers and see a successful exit at some point. Now money is tightening up and people are starting to question fundamentals again.
The comment you replied to is essentially saying: This is a sign of the times, 3B dollar valuation, ~100M ARR, likely an insane burn rate that that ARR doesn't even begin to touch
I don't know how that's even a controversial take unless your argument is "well we've seen even worse do fine" (because yeah, it did well fine in the past climate of free money)
I don't necessarily disagree with the "Is Billion dollar valuation justified" thing but I originally replied to GP who said "90% of hacker news readers could build both these products in a weekend or 2".
I am no shill for Calendly but a happy user and as far as I know, they are doing 100M in ARR. It is a lot more than "I can code this app in a weekend". Whether this justifies a billion dollar valuation is a separate discussion but for sure it is not that easy to do what Calendly is doing.
Easy is not same as simple btw.