Why Learn From The Past If You're Just Going To Repeat It?

from the haven't-we-seen-this-before? dept

Just a month ago we were pointing out that the press seemed to have fallen down on the job in noting the history of failures for online “swapping” services — of which there have been plenty over the years. Add the NY Times to the list, as they’ve written up a story on yet another such service, which sounds almost identical to similar services that were everywhere in the late 90s, without once mentioning the history littered with failures in the space. Of course, on the good side, the founders of this particular swapping startup are at least doing it on the side, keeping their full time jobs going. Of course, if that’s the case… it makes you wonder why it’s important enough for the NY Times to be covering it?


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Comments on “Why Learn From The Past If You're Just Going To Repeat It?”

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8 Comments
suv4x4 (user link) says:

That's it!

That’s exactly what I’ve been repeating to my History class teacher but naaah!

By the way, nothing remains static in time. You never know if trying enough times won’t turn a hopelessly retarded idea into a get-rich-quick scheme…

Selling pixels for $10 bucks anyone? Never worked before, then worked one, and now will never work again (or maybe it will in few years again?)

Jezsik says:

Words crossed out?

A word crossed out, I believe, is way of making a bit of a joke. A recent article said something about the FCC spending time doing something. A word in front of spending was crossed out, wasting. It was as if the author first called a spade a spade but then decided to tone it down (but still letting us in on the orginal thought). It’s like saying “He’s very cheap … uh, I mean thrifty.”

I suspect the pixel bit refers to http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com.

dani (user link) says:

Success is not based on the dea alone

How many “new” businesses start each day in the “real” physical world? And how many of those are actually new ideas that have never been tried before?

There’s more to business than coming up with a good idea. How an idea is marketed makes a big difference (and these people were able to somehow convince the NY Times to run their press release)

And I’ve said before, customer service is the BIGGEST part of a company’s success. If this new swapping service meets customer needs better than any of the past failures, and makes a point of making their customers feel important, they may surprise you.

A good business is not just a “good idea”. It’s convincing people they need or want what you offer. A good marketing, sales, cusomer service team can make any idea a success…

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