# Create value, not extract it Created: 2022_05_15 23:21 Tags: [[Advice]] [[Startup]] [[Business]] When I think of several large tech companies, I see large groups of people that are out to _capture_ a market, trying to _extract_ value from it to _steal_ market share. The language used to describe these actions reflects the lack of morals and exposes the real priorities of these groups. This extractive mentality often leads to a focus on short-term profits and a disregard for the long-term health and well-being of employees, customers, and society at large. ## A side rant on Advertising The industries of advertising & marketing are an example of this. They exist primarily to sell products, whether they are truly helpful to the consumer or not, in the name of sales. As a result, advertising is often used to _manipulate_ and _deceive_ consumers into buying things that they may not actually need. It often feels like a constant barrage of lies and manipulation. However, I do recognize that advertising can also serve a useful purpose by raising awareness for products that may actually be helpful and beneficial. The problem is that this is often the exception rather than the rule. To advertise effectively you obviously need a product to sell and a person to sell it to. But to sell the product to the person, the person has to be willing to buy it, to buy it they need a reason, a value proposition. Does the product solve a problem that the person has? Provide some sort of benefit that the person values? So, the advertiser crafts their message, but the message that works for one audience may not persuade another. Now there are two options, craft a generic message that attempts to capture the largest market possible or make multiple messages but for specific market segments. To gather these market segments they can either seek subgroups of people, at events, forums & such, or they can go for huge advertising platforms that can route your message to the right person via profiling that person from data. An advertiser's dream scenario would be like the movie Inception, where they are able to successfully execute a plan to make someone think that it was their own idea to buy a product. It is death by a thousand paper cuts, constant manipulation & literal propaganda. ## Getting back to the point I'd much rather be a part of something which tries to actually [[Grow the pie]] as opposed to crowding others out of it. In places that I work / will work, it should not be out to steal people's data and sell to the highest bidder, sell you stuff that you don't want or need, or aid in an escapist consumption culture. Extraction of value is done for two reasons: it is easy with the proliferation of data marketing & because it is effective at getting eyeballs to see the message. The alternative is difficult, coming up with a compelling product that not only makes you money but is actually **useful** to the buyer. It is easier to extract value from people by using some convoluted mental gymnastics to try to say that it is actually helpful to people. ## References - [[Grow the pie]]