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by ludicity 596 days ago
I also get to spend a lot of time with executives thanks to the blog's success, and part of it isn't just incentives, it's pure confusion. People have no idea what they're buying.

I also get invitations to "sponsor events" now, since people see "director" on LinkedIn and think I have way more money than I do. Their business model seems to be flattering executives by inviting them to events where they can network with other rich people, then ask me for "sponsorship" money so that I can go into the room and brainwash them with my marketing material. I might even try it at some point to see if that's an accurate read.

3 comments

>I also get to spend a lot of time with executives thanks to the blog's success, and part of it isn't just incentives, it's pure confusion. People have no idea what they're buying.

So, 43 years later and Putt's law is alive and well.

Putt's Law: "Technology is dominated by two types of people, those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand." From the book Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat, published in 1981. An updated edition, subtitled How to Win in the Information Age, was published by Wiley-IEEE Press in 2006

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putt%27s_Law_and_the_Successfu...>

If you want to make your consultancy a success, you probably should attend some of these and see if they help you get business.
We're bootstrapped so we unfortunately can't fling money at sponsorships. Or rather, we can, but it would cut into our runway quite a bit, and we have more promising avenues to pursue. If we acquire bad clients, the type that would let themselves be brainwashed and who status-seek by attending these events, that's just going to be as dumb as a regular job but without the luxuries afforded to employees.
I totally get you, but it's worth noting that big, incompetent companies are where most of the money is. Anyways, best of luck with it!
As matt levine likrs to say. High level finance is mostly about seating charts.

In other words, it's about status, not money.