[callmeed]

Wait, what? You're writing a rant about other entrepreneurs not solving problems when your startup is "google alerts for video games and movies" with no apparent business model?

>> You need to be a painkiller, not a vitamin.

If you read that article, he actually says "very few are (painkillers)" ... being a vitamin isn't bad, it's just easier to market a painkiller ...

>> I feel like an asshole for saying all this, because I never want to talk badly about fellow entrepreneurs.

The fact that you have to add this to your post is a good clue that it may have been unwarranted or poorly worded.

Look, my startups don't cure cancer but I like to think they solve problems for people. If people ask me for honest advice about their startup or pitch, I will definitely give it. But I don't go to conferences and then publicly rip the participants (or most of them).

[bpatrianakos]

Going to a conference and then publicly ripping the participants (while being or not being a hypocrite about it) is just about as trendy as starting a startup. I bet there will be 199 more posts strewn about HN just like this by the time the conference is done.

Edit: I want to add that everyone loves to repeat all the smart things they read on other blogs on their own blogs in some vain attempt to seem wise but how many people actually get it or even follow their own advice? Saying something isn't the same as doing it.

[willholloway]

> Wait, what? You're writing a rant about other entrepreneurs not solving problems when your startup is "google alerts for video games and movies" with no apparent business model?

I see a clear business model. If you have thousands of people that want to know about upcoming movies and games you have a valuable asset for film and game studios.

[Pongo_the_Great]

To second this, perhaps a little more solidly:

Q) Who owns Reddit? Q) Who owns the Gawker<->Jezebel<->"to infinity and beyond" series of sites

...

And so on. Then add the 6 major players, and the actual Corporations who have entire multi-million dollar departments of people doing this stuff, and handing it off to other major companies. You know, those old school "Mad Men" type establishments. Then the other tiers of viral media, advertising and so on. Then the "cool" players who get free stuff before the market to generate desire.

The OP needs some serious perspective. In the eyes of everyone looking at your site, you're not an entrepreneur, you've just told everyone you know 0% about how the market works.

>Painful. This shit flies with HN? Interesting.