What hackers don’t know about business

Maybe somebody can translate the last paragraph into English for me. I read the preceding paragraph several times and I'm coming up empty:<p><pre><code> Based on our experiences at Filepicker.io we learned that it is important to delineate the differences when planning initiatives that drive growth, the amount of resources needed and the profile of team members required to drive the initiatives. </code></pre> While we're going for pompous titles, how about "What newly minted MBAs don't know about writing"?

<i>Marketing is about getting the word out.</i> <i>Think about ads and blog posts.</i><p>That just sounds like advertising &#38; PR. There is a lot more to marketing. To crib the definition from Wikipedia (which sounds pretty close to the one I learned):<p><pre><code> Marketing is "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."[1] </code></pre> From the same page, another way of looking at it is:<p><pre><code> Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the customer. </code></pre> "Getting the word out" is important, yes, but that's not all there is to marketing.<p>[1]: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing</a>

I think the name "Filepicker.io" is severely limiting. When I hear "Filepicker.io", I think "easy-to-use library for handling user file uploads." That is rather narrower than their description of the service on their blog: "Filepicker.io helps developers connect to their users' content."<p>Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the Filepicker.io blog. I have never used their product, but from their website, API docs, and blog they seem like a well-run startup with a value-adding service.<p>Nonetheless, they are hurting themselves with such a specific name. It creates the negative perception of "Feature, Not A Company" that Mark Suster talked about on his blog: <a href="http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/08/22/fnac-feature-not-a-company/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/08/22/fnac-feature-n...</a>

&#62; <i>...many in the software community don’t understand the differences between Marketing, Distribution, Sales, or Business Development.</i><p>Many in the 'business community' don't understand the differences as well. Not being an ass or making assumptions - I'm speaking from first hand experience here.

a complexity theory error: "Just as you can reduce all NP hard problems to 3-SAT..."<p>you can reduce all NP problems to 3-SAT because 3-SAT is NP complete. you cannot reduce all NP hard problems to 3-SAT. for example, all problems in NP reduce to SUCCINCT-SAT, an NEXP-complete (and therefore NP-hard) set. good luck reducing SUCCINCT-SAT to 3-SAT (despite how little progress in separation of classes we've made, the time hierarchy theorem still indicates this is impossible)

I'll tell you what, I'd much rather be working amongst a team of engineers who are learning to run a business than a team of MBA types who are learning the ins and outs of software development. I'd put my money on a team of engineers every time too. But I also steer clear of anyone who describes themself as a "hacker". Code is a craft, MacGuyvering something together is no way to build a sustainable business.

The easiest way to grasp the difference is to think of the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action paradigm.<p>This link has a basic primer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA_(marketing)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA_(marketing)</a>

So <i>this</i> is what business people mean when they say programmers need to understand business?<p>Apart from not knowing the exact nomenclature, it's embarrassing if programmers don't know these things. It's pretty much common sense.<p>But now we know.<p>So, when will business people understand software development?

Most hackers I know understand all this, but minus the fancy business school acronyms.

I couldn't get past this sentence: "If it costs you more to get a customer then you can possible make from them, your business is going to fail."<p>Seriously learn some English man.<p>The worst part about this is you're arguing that programmers should learn business directly after stating that you argue about business managers not needing to learn programming... Seriously where is your logic sir?<p>Maybe you can write an article about why you think business managers do not need to learn programming (something I would agree with as a programmer), and make sure you have it edited before posting.

Doesn't LTV stand for "[customer] life time value," i.e. the amount of money you'll be able to generate from a customer during his/her time with your business, and not "long term value"?

when marketing Filepicker to enterprise users, how successful was referrals/friends/valley connections vs coldcalling, percentage-wise?

Part of wisdom is knowing that the typical hacker and the typical customer are alien species, who cannot speak each other's language.

And the death of the word 'hacker' continues...

Very true.

This is why some schools are taking new approaches to integrating business and computer science curriculum. Their graduates leave understanding business basics, have worked in teams and even for clients on contracted projects.