Yep.

Writing code does not make for a finished project.

This guy got the deal because he had the user base. I don't know how much of that was luck, how much was smart iterating over a simple idea until it "clicked" with heaps of people, or how much of it was subtle but powerful viral marketing tactics.

You're right, I suspect 75+% of people here could have a working implementation of this in an afternoon. But none of us did. And none of us have over a million DAU. And none of us closed a deal with NYTimes. Josh did. In 4 months. While holding down a day job. Major respect from me.

The idea and code is about as worthless as the idea of selling identical hamburgers everywhere across the globe. An "easy" idea and plan to have. McDonalds out-executed pretty much everyone there.

Didn't an HN user create the ultimate "basic programming exercise" with a bingo card creator? It's never about how simple the implementation is, it's a mix of factors including timing, execution, luck, and finally, implementation.

The coding is easy. Getting the design (one word a day) and sharing right is one of those things that is easy in retrospect.