This might be somewhat naive, but isn't the whole conversation on HN centered around the idea that we should be trying to make stuff that doesn't have to be sold? Something that people simply want? Where does this article fit in? I've never seen a facebook commercial on TV, or a youtube commercial. Or a MetaFilter commercial...
With my startup, I often have people telling me I should invest in radio outreach, print up business cards etc and do more marketing. This advice is all well-intentioned, and some of it is very good (like having decent business cards), but we've been doing a radio thing (free mind, you) for the last 3 months and haven't seen any fruit at all from it. I dunno. I think my time's better spent making the product better.
Also, as a journalist, that's about the lamest, least informative blog post I've ever read on a newspaper site.
Nothing sells itself. Even if people "simply want" it, you still have to sell if you want to be the leader in your space (and in some spaces being the leader is the only position worth having).
With my startup, I often have people telling me I should invest in radio outreach, print up business cards etc and do more marketing. This advice is all well-intentioned, and some of it is very good (like having decent business cards), but we've been doing a radio thing (free mind, you) for the last 3 months and haven't seen any fruit at all from it. I dunno. I think my time's better spent making the product better.
Also, as a journalist, that's about the lamest, least informative blog post I've ever read on a newspaper site.