Why would anyone even care about what Parker Conrad thinks about building software?
I appreciate his company building but he is no John Carmack. So sit down bud.
Also why Saas are struggling is not because they were focused on something narrow. It's because they were not innovating and pushing the edge of technology and VCs were funding the same type of company multiple times to reduce risk etc.
Did you read the article. It isn't actually about software, but how to build software businesses.
John Carmack is an absolute legend in multiple ways, but Parker Conrad makes some good points here regarding how to organize a business.
I don't take what he says as gospel, but it may fit in certain situations where you're taking on incumbents, or where there are many players focused on just the small SaSS tools.
In May 2015, Conrad made the news after he revoked a job offer he made to an engineer who asked for advice on the question-and-answer website Quora about whether he should accept a job offer from Zenefits or Uber.
2016, California finds Zenefits almost entirely out of compliance on insurance regulation.
2017, Tennessee fined Zenefits for "a pattern of" failing to self-report compliance issues. Then California fined them $7M for "disobeying insurance laws".
I read it. At this point Techcrunch is paid advertising and as pg said, I could sense PR all over it. Also Rippling is like ok. It's not some amazing business either. Gusto I think did a better job with their software. Rippling's sales team is known to be aggressive and slimy.
I appreciate his company building but he is no John Carmack. So sit down bud.
Also why Saas are struggling is not because they were focused on something narrow. It's because they were not innovating and pushing the edge of technology and VCs were funding the same type of company multiple times to reduce risk etc.