Top all-time · #2040
Andrew Chen
Personal blog · andrewchen.comstartupsbusinesswriting
Andrew Chen writes andrewchen, a personal blog at andrewchen.com about startups, business and writing. Since 2021, 39 different Hacker News readers have linked it 50 times, most often “The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs (2012)”. The last post was in 2024, but the archive is still widely read.
Most-linked posts?
- The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs (2012)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-10-14
- What to do when product growth stalls3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-08-10
- How to design a referral program3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-08-08
- Creator Economy 2.0: What we’ve learned, why it’s hard, and what’s next2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-08-21
- The Power User Curve2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-01-18
- /after-the-techcrunch-bump-life-in-the-trough-of-sorrow/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-10-23
- /wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ColdStartProb_9780062969743_AS0928_cc20_Final.pdf2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-09-27
- The Next Next Job, a framework for making big career decisions2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-08-18
- What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-11-27
- What today's social apps can learn from Web 2.0, revolution from 15 years ago2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-08-24
What Hacker News says?
Teams should identify their drivers of key metrics and do power user analysis based on this. A halfway decent analytics team should be thinking this way. Ultimately, analytics are just a view into the business. This thread is complaining about doctors not using microscopes when diagnosing system issues - sometimes a narrow slice is important, sometimes you need to zoom out. If you focus on your "early adopters" or p…
Comment linking /power-user-curve/
on “But what if I want a faster horse?”Submitted The worst users come from referral programs, free trials, coupons as a story · 182 points
HN discussion>To your second point, every social context that gets 'cool' eventually gets LCDed into mediocrity (even HN). The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs by Andrew Chen illustrates and details this very well: https://andrewchen.com/the-law-of-shitty-clickthroughs/
Comment linking /the-law-of-shitty-clickthroughs/
on “I am endlessly fascinated with content tagging systems”Submitted How to design a referral program as a story · 146 points
HN discussionYou can thank the capital side of the equation for this. Example: https://andrewchen.com/this-is-what-free-ad-supported-uber-r... They used to hide it, but because so much money is being made there's no point anymore.
Comment linking /this-is-what-free-ad-supported-uber-rides-might-look-like-mockups-economics-and-analysis/
on “Microsoft pushes ahead with controversial ‘buy now, pay later’ feature for Edge”Submitted The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs (2012) as a story · 62 points
HN discussionI've worked for startups, both under an agency and as a contractor, and IMHO the problem isn't how well a startup executes, it's how much runway it has. Or some combination of those things. We can always gain experience and improve our execution, but funding is (sadly) still an open problem. I adore HN obviously, but am concerned about the idea of mentorship as a prerequisite to success. Truthfully, I was far more c…
Comment linking /how-to-design-a-referral-program/
on “Want to found a startup? Work at one first”Submitted The Next Next Job, a framework for making big career decisions as a story · 4 points
HN discussionFacebook could have been Epic Games if they didn't blow up their platform. From 2013: https://andrewchen.com/why-developers-are-leaving-the-facebo...
Comment linking /why-developers-are-leaving-the-facebook-platform/
on “Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name”Submitted How to Break into Silicon Valley as a story · 3 points
HN discussionRelatedly, and more important for startup founders, is that more features may not actually drive increased adoption (e.g. David Bland's product death cycle https://andrewchen.com/this-is-the-product-death-cycle-why-i... ).
Comment linking /this-is-the-product-death-cycle-why-it-happens-and-how-to-break-out-of-it/
on “The more features you add”Submitted Startups are Cheaper to Build, but more expensive to grow as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSo are you fishing for ideas now? I'm not going to "prove myself" here so that you can give me the blessing to ask a valid question. In sibling comment I mentioned DAO, but those are a bit out of reach for more than just the technology are far to immature. Everything else sounds like the next new future fallacy [1]. But no, your "libertarian" ideals won't flourish when you sprinkle in a little crypto and run your se…
Comment linking /the-next-feature-fallacy-the-fallacy-that-the-next-new-feature-will-suddenly-make-people-use-your-product/
on “How to send $ETH in 19 lines of Python”Submitted Why the Best Way to Drive Viral Growth to Increase Retention and Engagement as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI think what you're describing is the law of shitty clickthroughts [1] Every marketing channel goes through it, and TikTok is at the beginning of the whole process. [1] https://andrewchen.com/the-law-of-shitty-clickthroughs/
Comment linking /the-law-of-shitty-clickthroughs/
on “TikTok is becoming Amazon for Gen Z”Submitted What today's social apps can learn from Web 2.0, revolution from 15 years ago as a story · 3 points
HN discussionHere’s the PDF version of that book - nice of the author to publish it for free http://andrewchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ColdStartPr...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ColdStartProb_9780062969743_AS0928_cc20_Final.pdf
on “"Hacker News" for retro computing and gaming”Submitted The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs as a story · 2 points
HN discussionapparently there's a PDF (maybe of some draft) on his website -- https://andrewchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ColdStartP...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ColdStartProb_9780062969743_AS0928_cc20_Final.pdf
on “Ask HN: How to solve the cold start problem for two-sided marketplace?”Submitted Creator Economy 2.0: What we’ve learned, why it’s hard, and what’s next as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIn Short: Product Market Fit In Brief: https://andrewchen.com/after-the-techcrunch-bump-life-in-the...
Comment linking /after-the-techcrunch-bump-life-in-the-trough-of-sorrow/
on “Ask HN: Startups that slow-burned before taking off, what caused the inflection?”Submitted The Next Next Job, a framework for making big career decisions as a story · 2 points
HN discussionrelevant link for dating startup economics for investors: https://andrewchen.com/why-investors-dont-fund-dating/ and the HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9606572
Comment linking /why-investors-dont-fund-dating/
on “Tyranny of the Marginal User: why software gets worse, not better, over time”Submitted What to do when product growth stalls as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://andrewchen.com/the-death-of-rss-in-a-single-graph/ I'm a big RSS user so I'm sorry to disagree with your optimism.
Comment linking /the-death-of-rss-in-a-single-graph/
on “Joe Rogan renews; no exclusivity”Submitted How to Design a Referral Program as a story · 2 points
HN discussionLooks great! I've had the same issue as you with many projects - so many people leave the marketing till the end so don't beat yourself up about it now. (Hopefully you will have learned a lesson haha!) Lets look at what you could do: - Start in one local area - ideally one near you or one that you know. Make it work there and then expand. - See if you can engage any local groups which might engage with the idea - I…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ColdStartProb_9780062969743_AS0928_cc20_Final.pdf
on “Ask HN: I spent months building an app and now I don't know how to get users”Submitted Startups are cheaper to build, but more expensive to grow as a story · 2 points
HN discussion"Does this have a chance of working?" It's a start for sure. But personally I'd suggest changing your mindset a bit from the idea that you'll come out of the code cave for a month to grit your teeth and do marketing. Granted, this is much better than just staying in the cave. But really to run a successful business I think you need to accept at a deep level that marketing, making money, and growing the business is n…
Comment linking /after-the-techcrunch-bump-life-in-the-trough-of-sorrow/
on “Software Disenchantment”Submitted The Power User Curve as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
