Are you building [Ice Skates] or are you building [Ear muffs]?
Ice skates allow you to do something new that you didn't even know you had a demand for. Ear muffs solve a problem that you were already solving poorly (with your hands).
[Business vs toy] is an insanely counterproductive mental framework which will create a false sense of security in founders who are actually building crap - just because you can play with it does not mean it has value.
I believe you can only do that distinction (business vs toy) after the fact. So it offers no guidance at all.
Was Dropbox a toy in the beggining? You can argue.
Was Google a toy in the beggining? You can argue.
Was Uber a toy in the beggining? You can argue.
Was Airbnb a toy in the beggining? You can argue.
Unless, of course, you're talking about the famous SOCIAL NETWORKS. In which case they were -- and continue to be -- toys.
> Unless, of course, you're talking about the famous SOCIAL NETWORKS. In which case they were -- and continue to be -- toys.
That's only from the perspective of the user. From the perspective of businesses using the data for marketing, the actual customers, social networks are definitely not toys.
It is worth noting that Dropbox took a bundle of business problems that already had been solved in one small community and solved it for a much wider community. Specifically, the problems of "cloud" file storage were being solved by AFS in MIT's Project Athena. So, to argue at Dropbox's founding that it was a toy would require first arguing that businesses didn't have problems that resembled "All the folks working on this class project need to have one accessible and shareable place to store files".
On the contrary you are taking ambicapter too literally; I can only assume they meant they'd prefer building ice skates in the metaphorical sense -- they'd rather build for a new desire, than create a solution for a known problem.
Why do I suspect that the global market for ice skates, which now includes ice skating rinks in many areas that don't get ice, and supports multiple sports, such as Hockey, Curling (not to mention the Olympic level sports), is actually (much) more than ear muffs.
I mean, I was honestly trying to figure out which way you were going with that analogy while reading is, because it seemed to cut against your point.
Perhaps instead of this false dichotomy or business vs toy, we should actually consider supply, demand, reach etc and many the other variables that have proven the test of time that they actually help define future success.
Here's a list of toys I can rattle off the top of my head, let me know whether they are crappy businesses to start if they didn't exist: Movies, Video games, Comic books, Frisbee.
The grandparent post isn't making a value judgment, it's just pointing out that the two cases should be approached and marketed differently. (And should avoid deluding yourself into thinking you have ice skates when you actually have something nobody actually wants.)
You're right. I also either didn't read the end of the original comment correctly, or it was changed later. The end of it seems to be making some of the same argument I was trying to, so my comment doesn't make a lot of sense.
Eh, I should know better than to comment when I'm that worked up about something. It's too easy to get tunnel vision. :/
Are you building [Ice Skates] or are you building [Ear muffs]?
Ice skates allow you to do something new that you didn't even know you had a demand for. Ear muffs solve a problem that you were already solving poorly (with your hands).
[Business vs toy] is an insanely counterproductive mental framework which will create a false sense of security in founders who are actually building crap - just because you can play with it does not mean it has value.