I guess maxklein himself would be the right person to answer this. He can't be that hard to reach.
Which raises the question, why didn't you ask him directly? Or did you? Is this a show-move because you know what those apps are, and you want to "expose him" for making cheap spammy apps (note: I have no evidence whatsoever that maxklein makes spammy apps, but your post does seem to have some undertones of that)?
his blog posts are great. more over, particularly after a very xkcd-ish comic he made about starting out, i associated him with success stories like patio11 (whose recent mixergy interview really inspires me).
but i just can't seem to figure out what exactly he does (whereas patio11 is incredibly transparent).
there's nothing sinister about my curiosity. when i get inspired by someone else's success, i want to know as much about the context and details of that success as possible. otherwise it just becomes frustrating.
Yeah I made that comment before I read "My business model is easy to duplicate and posting something like this is not good for me." So, while such an interview might be of interest to people of HN, it doesn't sound like Max would agree to it in the first place.
Alternatively, perhaps exit applied Occam's Razor and concluded that maxklein is either a fiction or a fraud, and calling him out in public seems like an apt way to expose the lie?
This is what doesn't add up. If you want to make money, why would you post anything and risk killing the golden goose? If you want to share your wisdom or experience, why do so in a vague, watered down fashion? Why not just wait, and publish when you can back up your posts with hard facts?
When I started my blog, the explanation was in one of my first posts, but let me explain again - on the one hand I am doing something that makes me quick cash. On the other hand, I am building an audience with my blog. Then I use the quick cash to build more substantial products and use the audience I built with my blog to market my new products.
Comments
I guess maxklein himself would be the right person to answer this. He can't be that hard to reach.
Which raises the question, why didn't you ask him directly? Or did you? Is this a show-move because you know what those apps are, and you want to "expose him" for making cheap spammy apps (note: I have no evidence whatsoever that maxklein makes spammy apps, but your post does seem to have some undertones of that)?
Or maybe I'm just overly imaginative tonight.
As we say in French, mystère et boule de gomme...
i've asked him twice in the comment threads
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1171696
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1344398
his blog posts are great. more over, particularly after a very xkcd-ish comic he made about starting out, i associated him with success stories like patio11 (whose recent mixergy interview really inspires me).
but i just can't seem to figure out what exactly he does (whereas patio11 is incredibly transparent).
there's nothing sinister about my curiosity. when i get inspired by someone else's success, i want to know as much about the context and details of that success as possible. otherwise it just becomes frustrating.
I've told Max in the past that he has an open invitation to Mixergy. He's not ready.
(When I first asked Patio11 for an interview, he asked me to wait too.)
Well, send me an email and we can talk.
sounds like a mixergy interview is in order...
What would a Mixergy interview accomplish? Max doesn't want to talk about what he makes on a forum, why would he want to do it on video?
Yeah I made that comment before I read "My business model is easy to duplicate and posting something like this is not good for me." So, while such an interview might be of interest to people of HN, it doesn't sound like Max would agree to it in the first place.
Alternatively, perhaps exit applied Occam's Razor and concluded that maxklein is either a fiction or a fraud, and calling him out in public seems like an apt way to expose the lie?
I'm not a fraud, a fair number of people have seen the numbers directly and know the business, I've just tried to keep the number low for now.
Why the secrecy then? Why the vague anecdotes? To what end?
Because there is very little space for competition in what I am doing, and two or three enterprising souls could destroy my profits
If it's so obvious and trivial to duplicate, why don't you have scads of competitors already? You can't be operating in a vacuum.
Because the other companies in the niche are not posting blog entries like I am. It's not "obvious" but it's easy to copy.
This is what doesn't add up. If you want to make money, why would you post anything and risk killing the golden goose? If you want to share your wisdom or experience, why do so in a vague, watered down fashion? Why not just wait, and publish when you can back up your posts with hard facts?
When I started my blog, the explanation was in one of my first posts, but let me explain again - on the one hand I am doing something that makes me quick cash. On the other hand, I am building an audience with my blog. Then I use the quick cash to build more substantial products and use the audience I built with my blog to market my new products.
That was my plan, and I'm currently executing it.
"If you want to make money, why would you post anything and risk killing the golden goose?"
"If you want to share your wisdom or experience, why do so in a vague, watered down fashion?"
Seems to me that your two questions here almost answer each other.