Same reaction. They might be super transparent and everyone (in the comments at the bottom of the post) are in awe of it, but these numbers just make no sense.
I don't get it. What's the point of your post? You don't think there's any value in sharing how they did it? You really think they might bet copied and eventually failed because they shared their stories on HN or something?
> You don't think there's any value in sharing how they did it?
There is great value in it. Greater still for the wrong people.
> You really think they might bet copied and eventually failed because they shared their stories on HN or something?
I don't 'think' this, I know this for a fact, I've seen it 3 times up close now. And I fully expect there to be a fourth within a week, see the current HN homepage.
Maybe a difference could be made in how they explain how they did it. It might be possible to share some valuable lesson learned without exposing the business.
I personally find valuable to see examples of people next to me who managed to succeed. It means to me that it could not just be a dream.
It's obviously not what you meant, and it'll obviously take more than a week, but I think Mark Zuckerberg being in the news for getting one billion dollars, cash, for just a small portion of his stock in his hardly monetized social network is...just asking for trouble.
Luck, Friends, probably in that order. Also giving people a demo, releasing on a slow(er) news day, releasing right about the time people get off work, making something for developers and giving it away for free.
