from Hacker News

"Make something people want" poster

by vignesh_vs_in on 4/23/13, 4:17 PM with 75 comments

• by wuster on 4/23/13, 5:23 PM

  This smells like the new corporate motivational poster, except for cooler kids. IMO a little pretentious, just make something people want, without the wall ornaments.

• by taytus on 4/23/13, 10:10 PM

  I love the poster and the initiative. Sadly I can't spend $40 in a poster, so I created mine https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8bpjdui1a4myhp/poster.JPG

• by DanielBMarkham on 4/23/13, 5:36 PM

  If you're talking startups, you forgot "that scales"

  People want haircuts. Being a barber doesn't scale.

• by monsur on 4/23/13, 6:20 PM

  I prefer jwz's "How will this software get my users laid?" http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html

• by qeorge on 4/23/13, 7:46 PM

  "Make something people want" may seem obvious, but its still an avoidable and fatal mistake that otherwise smart people frequently make. Put another way: product/market fit is the high order bit.

  I like simple, profound slogans like "Make Something People Want" or "Just Do It". They're profound because of what's not written. By those being the only words on the poster the real point its made - "make something people want - nothing else matters".

  The prints look gorgeous. Can't wait to put mine on the wall!

• by duiker101 on 4/23/13, 4:33 PM

  I get all the revenue will be donated but isn't 40$ a bit too much for an unframed poster?

• by victorhn on 4/23/13, 5:01 PM

  "Make something people want (at a reasoneable price)"

• by pjeide on 4/23/13, 6:02 PM

  I just bought one. I likely wouldn't have done so without the association with Watsi.

  I launched v3 of our product yesterday to an internal audience of about 1000 employees who got to very much enjoy using some new killer features -- none of which the business was fit to imagine.

  I got to make something that people want, even though they didn't know they wanted it. Now I get to put a commemorative poster up.

  *edit: typo

• by bochoh on 4/23/13, 5:17 PM

  "There is a 3-poster limit. If you order more than 3, we will lovingly cancel your order. Please email us if you have a special request for a bulk order."

  I suggest only allowing people to order 3 in the quantity field instead of 9 if three is the max.

• by jreposa on 4/23/13, 5:47 PM

  How about an option to frame it?

• by bdunn on 4/23/13, 6:03 PM

  "Make something that solves a pain that people will pay to fix."

  There you go. The secret to success.

• by nathanappere on 4/23/13, 5:45 PM

  Quick question, how much is given to Watsi (what is the profit exactly) ?

• by mayank on 4/23/13, 7:21 PM

  These look a lot like the posters sprinkled around Facebook HQ:

  http://bluebones.net/2012/09/move-fast-and-break-things/

• by fotoblur on 4/23/13, 6:00 PM

  What do people want?

  "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." - Steve Jobs

• by corin_ on 4/23/13, 6:50 PM

  Could you maybe say a little more about what future projects will be, and/or offer an email list? I'm... curious, at the very least, but I don't really want to follow on Twitter, I just want to see the next announcement, and then perhaps the one after that, and take it from there. And nice job on raising for Watsi - about $10k to them I think?

• by aarondf on 4/23/13, 8:50 PM

  The poster may not appeal to a lot of people, but I certainly think it's pretty cool. Purchased!

  It will look good on the wall with my 2010 radial world cup bracket

  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyperakt/2010-world-cup-...

• by INTPenis on 4/23/13, 5:56 PM

  How about we make something people need?

• by rudyadler on 4/23/13, 5:40 PM

  Poster are selling fast. Only ~200 left!

• by frankdenbow on 4/23/13, 10:38 PM

  Awesome, purchasing mine now. I did a similar design (based on Alexis' marketing course) recently that failed (http://teespring.com/mspl) but may try to bring it back.

  Props for hand screenprinting these, that takes some effort!

• by imroot on 4/23/13, 4:56 PM

  I can't seem to get it to work -- after the "Secure Payment" steps, my screen refreshes with no confirmation or receipt.

• by jpwagner on 4/23/13, 7:27 PM

  didn't inspiration used to be more subtle?

• by bvrlt on 4/23/13, 6:03 PM

  Great idea! It should be more expensive since they are selling quickly and the money is going to charity.

• by rdl on 4/24/13, 7:56 PM

  I hope one of these ends up at the YC office. It looks great.

• by bochoh on 4/23/13, 6:01 PM

  I would pay $40.00 if I could replace your embossed name with mine.

• by vikram360 on 4/23/13, 6:57 PM

  Is that helvetica?

• by martindale on 4/23/13, 10:32 PM

  How ironic.

• by outside1234 on 4/23/13, 7:21 PM

  can we get it without the y-hipsternator advertisement? If so, I'm in.