There are other ways to be free that don't require ads!
As long as your revenue engine benefits from lots of traffic, then giving stuff away (which is cheap on the internet) will be one way to get that traffic.
One example is 37 signals. Their blogging (free content given away) gets them traffic, and they can take a shot at converting that into customers for their paid for products. No ad vendor in sight.
I didn't know what Tumbler is and I created an account just to confirm the hack (the security hole is still there). But this got me thinking about another post at HN on how to market your site - I guess a blatant (fake?) security hole is one way to do it.
Uh yeah. You must be part of the same marketing team that advises car manufacturers to stage huge vehicle safety recalls. That'll really get the customers knocking.
Tumblr has a great but small team, just like most of us on this site. As someone who makes mistakes, I offer them empathy and sympathy.
Natural traits like being a magnet for money, talent and attention certainly makes one more likely to succeed as an entrepreneur. I don't have such traits. But desire, work ethic and discipline can be great substitutes - and these are traits that certainly can be learned. It just ends up taking a little longer.
I am quitting my job in 6 weeks to freelance. All this news about the recession is kinda freaky. The wheels are in motion and I am not turning back - recession or not (gulp!).
I think 1 business geek + 1 hacker has better chance of success than 2 business hacker. Paypal was founded on a similar model. However, what often happens is one partner tends to underestimate the hacker - either the business geek finds the hacker useless or vice versa. I guess some level of understanding and respect is an important element in any partnership.
Underestimating "the other's value" is a sign of immaturity and lack of experience. The more I learn about life, the more I appreciate everyone around me more. I'm sure lots of people underestimate civil engineers, car designers, pilots, surgeons, micro-biologists, etc. because life is complex and we have no idea how challenging people's contributions are and how they affect us. Having said that, IMHO it's usually hackers who underestimate everyone else's contributions ... until they get to the point where nobody's signing up for their "thing" or they have people sign up, but nobody's willing to pay them for it. THEN the value of business models, marketing expertise, sales techniques, etc. come into perspective, when they realize all the tweaking in the world doesn't necessarily translate into the handing over of the cash from paying customers.
