> If you want to be as profitable as Google or Facebook, you probably do need some rockstars, but you also need to be developing a technology or business that produces tremendous amounts of value.
Definitely agree on this.
> You can’t just hire rockstars to work on something low margin or without significant demand and expect because they’re amazing engineers that you’ll make a lot of money.
This isn't what I'm trying to argue though — I think when you reach for the ceiling instead of avoid a floor, you're more likely to find those tremendous business value opportunities. Consider what Google shipped/built under Schmidt, "20% time," "Don't be evil," and "we're a different kind of company" vs… the last 10 years?
I'm not saying "being wild and creative makes a bad business good," I'm saying "embracing some narratives of a creative industry may increase output and be more cost-effective, even if playing "outside the playbook of the 0% era" is scary."
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On another note, I'm regretting that "rockstars" is in the title . It was meant to support the idea that tech was more of a "creatives" industry (and the organic use of that to mean "great talent" is a symptom of that); but I think my "break playbook and embrace creativity" is being read as "let's go back to rockstars/ninjas! Genius hackers who don't sleep and don't care about HR!!!!" which is… not how I feel haha.
