It seems quite normal for very popular Youtubers to branch out and not be dependant on one source of income, while simultaneously leveraging their marketing reach.
The daily goal tracker she developed is really neat, and I would love to own. The profit margin on it must be insane though at the price.
I dunno about that profit margin. Don't underestimate how expensive developing products is as low scale. It would not surprise me if the margin is pretty normal.
Simone actually has a pretty good video that covers her costs to run the product business. TL;DW, not very much profit, especially at the beginning/low volumes.
It actually sounded like she was running it at a loss. Or rather that if there was any profit, it was because she was taking pretty much no salary out of the company.
I really hope it succeeds but I think this is one case where someone with good marketing and sales skills could help her out a lot while she's able to focus on product.
Since a daily activity once checked presumably never become unchecked, this could be just a big sheet of hexagons you can color in when the activity is done. Yes, you need to print out a new one once a year, but that's pretty trivial cost and time wise compared to the calendar gadget. Granted, the calendar is a cool gadget.
Tried that and didn’t work for me. I do hope it works for others.
Sometimes we do need custom tools even for the most basic needs. Mine is built to track not only that I did it but it allows me to comment on it. I can then go back and read through different entries. It’s super useful.
One of the use cases is tracking medications. I then share the notes with my GP (they appreciate things being timestamped).
Btw, love your website!
I use it for multiple things like writing. I will just create an entry to track it and then just write away. I also track when I work on my projects. One button click and it records the time when I start working on my car for example. Then I can track how much I spend on it and calculate how much a given repair or modification might take to complete.
Few things make me so cynical as a successful entertainer doling out "do what you love" advice. It's what the audience wants to hear, but your life isn't going to work out like that of your celebrity friend.
Weird, it doesn't look like "do what you love" to me. It looks like "make things that you want." My read of it is such that the "make things other people want" part is implied.
The bar is much higher when you're making something you wouldn't personally use. It's certainly possible, and occasionally profitable, to do just that, but boy are things easier if you're solving a problem you happen to also have.
I don't think it's meant as "do what you love". More like, the best way to come up with successful inventions is to invent things that you yourself need.
The rest of that quote very clearly demonstrates this isn’t “do what you love and money and fame will be yours” advice:
> A lot of people make things that they think that other people want, but the main target audience, at least for myself, is me. I trust that if I find something interesting, there are probably other people who do too.
It's a pretty fluffy article as far as IEEE Spectrum goes. Especially when we had her video recently where she breaks down how awful physical product development really is:
Acknowledge the difficulty and sacrifice needed to follow the path of self-oriented creativity, and that most people do not have the resources to pursue it.
However, that advice doesn't please the audience, so few entertainers will give it.
I mean, a successful business would produce items that other people want, rather than what the founder/employees want. Sure, if a founder would appreciate and use the item that they make, that's really a good indicator, but it's not your personal plaything, it's a profit-making business, so the primary objective should be making useful things that people will purchase, regardless of the tastes of the founders/employees, yes?
That being said, I've enjoyed Simone's wit and creativity for several years. I tuned in after one of my friends mentioned her, and she's been tenacious throughout her personal health journey and the vagaries of making ridiculous stuff on-camera. I feel like it's great that she's branching out to making stuff for other people to have.
But annoyingly sometimes this is great advice. It's not that dissimilar to YC's make something people want, but it relies on you having taste/needs/wants that are an addressable market. Which is sometimes true.
I think there’s an appreciable gap between how applicable to the masses “if you have a niche but expensive problem, fix it, others may be excited to solve it with money” and “just sell $500 arduino advent calendars. when you’re famous you can raise half a million dollars on a 6 month waitlist for $200 wire coat hangers” is
Giertz did live in her native Sweden until 2016, but she now lives in these United States.
Her citizenship is not mentioned in Wikipedia, so her health insurance coverage may be a matter of private, personal funds, because she probably has neither Medicaid nor FTE with benefits.
Her American accent always amazes me. You'd never guess she was making Swedish content in Sweden until only a few years ago.
I would hope she has health insurance. Whenever I was self-employed I still made sure I had a private plan of some sort, and she has a whole company with employees, so it would be pretty easy for her to get a group plan.
It seems quite normal for very popular Youtubers to branch out and not be dependant on one source of income, while simultaneously leveraging their marketing reach.
The daily goal tracker she developed is really neat, and I would love to own. The profit margin on it must be insane though at the price.
https://yetch-shop.fourthwall.com/en-nzd/products/every-day-...
Actually, she spoke about that recently in a video, she's still at a loss on that product, mentioned here https://youtu.be/iEAShZ8TJCs?t=269
I dunno about that profit margin. Don't underestimate how expensive developing products is as low scale. It would not surprise me if the margin is pretty normal.
Simone actually has a pretty good video that covers her costs to run the product business. TL;DW, not very much profit, especially at the beginning/low volumes.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=iEAShZ8TJCs
It actually sounded like she was running it at a loss. Or rather that if there was any profit, it was because she was taking pretty much no salary out of the company.
I really hope it succeeds but I think this is one case where someone with good marketing and sales skills could help her out a lot while she's able to focus on product.
I have a software version of this that was built for my own purposes. I plan on opening it up but let me tell you habit tracking works awesome.
Since a daily activity once checked presumably never become unchecked, this could be just a big sheet of hexagons you can color in when the activity is done. Yes, you need to print out a new one once a year, but that's pretty trivial cost and time wise compared to the calendar gadget. Granted, the calendar is a cool gadget.
Tried that and didn’t work for me. I do hope it works for others.
Sometimes we do need custom tools even for the most basic needs. Mine is built to track not only that I did it but it allows me to comment on it. I can then go back and read through different entries. It’s super useful.
One of the use cases is tracking medications. I then share the notes with my GP (they appreciate things being timestamped).
Btw, love your website!
I use it for multiple things like writing. I will just create an entry to track it and then just write away. I also track when I work on my projects. One button click and it records the time when I start working on my car for example. Then I can track how much I spend on it and calculate how much a given repair or modification might take to complete.
Yes, I love tracking things …
I wish Tesla produced her "truckla" instead of the cyber truck.
They didn't want the phrase "shitty robots" in their headline I guess? Too bad xD
Am I missing anything or was that an _extremely_ short interview. 3 questions? I kept looking for a "read more" link or something.
It's a very short interview, feels empty of substance. Just go watch her videos or something.
This video covers the same topic, and it's a video from Simone. Much better and has a lot more content and substance:
"Was starting a product business a mistake?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEAShZ8TJCs
I'm so glad she's doing well.
> What advice do you have for aspiring inventors?
> Giertz: Make things that you want.
Few things make me so cynical as a successful entertainer doling out "do what you love" advice. It's what the audience wants to hear, but your life isn't going to work out like that of your celebrity friend.
Weird, it doesn't look like "do what you love" to me. It looks like "make things that you want." My read of it is such that the "make things other people want" part is implied.
The bar is much higher when you're making something you wouldn't personally use. It's certainly possible, and occasionally profitable, to do just that, but boy are things easier if you're solving a problem you happen to also have.
I don't think it's meant as "do what you love". More like, the best way to come up with successful inventions is to invent things that you yourself need.
The rest of that quote very clearly demonstrates this isn’t “do what you love and money and fame will be yours” advice:
> A lot of people make things that they think that other people want, but the main target audience, at least for myself, is me. I trust that if I find something interesting, there are probably other people who do too.
See also “dog fooding”
It's a pretty fluffy article as far as IEEE Spectrum goes. Especially when we had her video recently where she breaks down how awful physical product development really is:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38292915
What is the alternative?
Acknowledge the difficulty and sacrifice needed to follow the path of self-oriented creativity, and that most people do not have the resources to pursue it.
However, that advice doesn't please the audience, so few entertainers will give it.
I mean, a successful business would produce items that other people want, rather than what the founder/employees want. Sure, if a founder would appreciate and use the item that they make, that's really a good indicator, but it's not your personal plaything, it's a profit-making business, so the primary objective should be making useful things that people will purchase, regardless of the tastes of the founders/employees, yes?
That being said, I've enjoyed Simone's wit and creativity for several years. I tuned in after one of my friends mentioned her, and she's been tenacious throughout her personal health journey and the vagaries of making ridiculous stuff on-camera. I feel like it's great that she's branching out to making stuff for other people to have.
But annoyingly sometimes this is great advice. It's not that dissimilar to YC's make something people want, but it relies on you having taste/needs/wants that are an addressable market. Which is sometimes true.
Isn't this roughly the same advice as Paul Graham? https://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
I think there’s an appreciable gap between how applicable to the masses “if you have a niche but expensive problem, fix it, others may be excited to solve it with money” and “just sell $500 arduino advent calendars. when you’re famous you can raise half a million dollars on a 6 month waitlist for $200 wire coat hangers” is
I don't know about the advent calendar, but the coathangers are definitely solving a niche problem, seems reasonably applicable.
She’s cool.
How does this article not mention anywhere that she had brain cancer?
That's almost certainly the answer to the headline.
(We changed the headline to the less baity HTML doc title.)
Well it has a dramatic impact if you live in a place where cancer can bankrupt you, not so much if you're Swedish maybe?
According to Wikipedia, She currently lives in LA.
Life-threatening illnesses have a dramatic impact on people beyond financially.
Giertz did live in her native Sweden until 2016, but she now lives in these United States.
Her citizenship is not mentioned in Wikipedia, so her health insurance coverage may be a matter of private, personal funds, because she probably has neither Medicaid nor FTE with benefits.
Her American accent always amazes me. You'd never guess she was making Swedish content in Sweden until only a few years ago.
I would hope she has health insurance. Whenever I was self-employed I still made sure I had a private plan of some sort, and she has a whole company with employees, so it would be pretty easy for her to get a group plan.
She should just sell robotic chindogu goods, current stuff in the shop is kinda boring /s