MG wrote a post yesterday about scoffing in the technology world. It’s a great read, especially going into the new iPhone and “iWatch” launch today.
It also reminded me of all the scoffing I’ve heard in my time as an investor these 9+ years. Things like:
“User generated content can’t compete with professional content”
“Advertisers won’t put their ad next to user generated content”
“You can’t build a big company outside of Silicon Valley”
“You can’t hire great engineers in San Francisco”
“You can’t build a big business around photographs”
“We wanted flying cars and all we got were 140 characters”
“Digital goods are a fad”
“Social networks are a fad”
“Startups can’t build hardware”
“Why would someone want a blog”
“You can’t compete with Facebook”
“Nobody cares about virtual reality”
“You can’t build a real company with a $15k seed” (in reference to all the early scoffing about YC in the early days)
“You can’t build a big company in the music space”
“You can’t build a big company if you don’t charge for your software”
“Bitcoin will never work”
“You can’t build a big open source company”
It is a helpful reminder why I love this industry.