Medium posts by Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, best known for the essay 'We Don't Sell Saddles Here'.
HN links it for that essay on selling what a product enables rather than the product, usually when discussing marketing and product positioning.
> If you discovered the tool on Hacker News and it's less than 18 months old — 'Danger, Will Robinson!'
You shouldn't fear new things. Keep it simple, keep it smart, and embrace what works for your team. Don't shun things because they're old, don't shun things because they're new. Shun complexity.
How about a real-world examples? Slack, Google Docs, and ZenHub. All of these added value right out the gate.
I first read about Slack in February 2014 on Hacker News.
* We Don’t Sell Saddles Here – Medium || https://medium.com/@stewart/we-dont-sell-saddles-here-4c59524d650d#.b9koamhnq
Started playing with it, then started using it. It's helped my team move much faster. Slack added value. No reason not to use it. Same for ZenHub, same for Zapier, same for Docker, same for a bunch of other tools where I can say, first-hand, that being an early-adopter paid off vs. using something "tried and true."
Oh, and on that note, I freakin love Marker! (=
* Marker - Annotated Screenshots Sent to any Bug Tracking Tool || https://getmarker.io/
> I've always got the impression from their marketing material that the Europeans are selling a product, whereas the Americans are always selling a lifestyle.
Reminds me of “We Don’t Sell Saddles Here” by Stewart Butterfield around the time Slack launched.
https://medium.com/@stewart/we-dont-sell-saddles-here-4c59524d650d
Not sure, but perhaps you are referencing the article from Stewart Butterfield, We Don’t Sell Saddles Here: https://medium.com/@stewart/we-dont-sell-saddles-here-4c59524d650d