In an interview with YouTube, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell criticized modern venture capitalism, which first attracts investments and then thinks about what to do with them.
During a conversation with blogger Zalkar Saliev, who positions himself as an interviewer with successful Americans, the Steam owner gave advice to people starting a business. In short, he urged them to ignore the most common model in today’s notional Silicon Valley. The full interview is not yet available, but there are selected fragments.
«I see a lot of people who get into situations thinking that they only need a presentation document for venture capital funds to raise capital. And that’s a very sloppy start for an organization. If you create value for people, capital will come to you. Probably in smaller quantities than it would have otherwise,» says Newell.
He suggests creating something that is really useful and works with the available funds, and then looking for ways to grow. However, most modern corporations and startups operate in a way that Gabe does not approve of. A striking example is the presentation of Siri’s virtually non-existent capabilities, which Apple has already received a lawsuit. The following words summarize the situation very well:
«Having a huge amount of capital and then saying: «Oh, all those lies we told in our presentation, now we need to hire a whole bunch of people to move this trajectory», I think that’s a great way to destroy a bunch of money and waste a bunch of people’s time», — adds the gaming billionaire.
Gabe Newell calls for creating something that customers need, relying on them and taking their opinions into account, rather than trying to forcefully sell a product that is fictional and disconnected from their needs.
«The key is to ignore all the extraneous factors and just focus on «how do we make our customers happier», right? If you listen to your customers and focus on them, it’s incredibly easy to build a business. The focus should always be on your customers, on your partners, and on your employees. And then everything will fall into place over time».
Feeling that someone is planning to sell something you don’t need or something he doesn’t haveis a very common problem in the modern technological world. A striking example is the recent enhanced implementation of virtual reality, which subsequently has given way to artificial intelligence. On the contrary, the Steam game store has become exactly what was expected in its time, and subsequently made Valve a small company with huge revenues and wages.
Source: PC Gamer
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