At some level, I really want to like Kagi. It represents how things should work. Value for value. I don't have any particular opinion about the pricing. I don't have "fuck you money", but I don't feel like it would appreciably hurt me if I put off cancelling the subscription for a year or two.
The problem I have with Kagi (within the status quo) is that it attracts high-value users, and it exists in a system that refuses to settle for anything less than milking those users for every penny. It's not that I think the idea is bad or the founder is dishonest, it's that Kagi is ultimately asking me to believe that it can construct a vessel that won't spring a leak under the pressure of GOOG/MSFT/AMZN/META when they turn their collective eyes toward acquiring Kagi's user base. And I'm not ready to believe that.
As C.A.R. Hoare so aptly put it, "There is nothing a mere scientist can say that will stand against the flood of a hundred million dollars.".
They aren’t asking you to believe they are going to make it long term. They are asking you to believe that this month they can give you more than $10 of value in exchange for their $10 subscription.
The problem I have with Kagi (within the status quo) is that it attracts high-value users, and it exists in a system that refuses to settle for anything less than milking those users for every penny. It's not that I think the idea is bad or the founder is dishonest, it's that Kagi is ultimately asking me to believe that it can construct a vessel that won't spring a leak under the pressure of GOOG/MSFT/AMZN/META when they turn their collective eyes toward acquiring Kagi's user base. And I'm not ready to believe that.
As C.A.R. Hoare so aptly put it, "There is nothing a mere scientist can say that will stand against the flood of a hundred million dollars.".