"tables" destroyed me. so perfect. "Shoes will be taken off" re-doing the server-farm scene for gavin and action jack Gavin waving the opossum off lmao
I wonder if they will pivot to Dinesh's video chat app. Can't think of much else that will save them.
I don't want Kirk Fogg to ding me on the verbiage but whatever shit Erlich said about it being Richard's plane and he could fly them into the side of the mountain was hilarious
As a right brain guy who went through a left brain curriculum, I can tell you the issue they set up is extremely plausible in the real world. Programmers build shit for people like themselves all the time, without regard to actually having to explain, entice, and sell their functionality in the marketplace to people who think "debugging" is what an exterminator does in their basements.
I enjoyed the episode, but admittedly it was dumb to me that they spent no energy trying to simplify the interface, and all of the energy on teaching people to use what they came up with initially. It would never go like that in the real world.
Yea not sure how they are going to recover from this one. The only option is finding funding to simplify the interface right? It was obvious that Richard's attempt at educating people wasn't going to work. His cockiness about pied piper being only what he wants is gonna be the death of them.
The guy who leads the focus groups is such a great minor character. "I don't know what you're so excited about, the data was corrupted the second he walked in there" as he stuffs his face with pizza
Careful, guys. Beowulf50 says we're not allowed to talk about the Silicon Valley plot in the Silicon Valley thread.
Totally agree. I work in tech and constantly argue with our programmers that if I asked for a "Honda Civic" solution that they should give me the "honda civic". While the ferrari is nice... it's not what I asked for or payed for.
Problem is you would be ok with the Ferrari. What the developers really want to give you is a Pontiac Aztek
I think a more apt analogy would be you asking for a Honda Civic because you have a business need to get people from Point A to Point B, and the programmers built you a teleportation device instead; but didn't give you the instruction manual on how to use it. Then when they did give you the manual after you asked for it, it was in hexadecimal.
I work in tech too. My boss says "perfect is the enemy of good" all the time, relating to how much time/effort/sophistication we put in an app. People don't always want the perfect solution. They just want one that works and fills a need.
Are you talking about the end where the Indian guy sits down at the computer? If so I thought so as well. Made me want to learn more about computer folk living in India, what their lives are like, how they fit into our picture of the internet and tech world
Should have always been business facing. Even licensing it to handset manufacturers would have been much smarter than "Hey Average American, here is an app that will shrink your files!" So maybe that will be their move.
When this arc ends they should come back with a new cast True Detective style and tell the internet success story of you and GFA. I can already picture how the Chick Fil A set would look
Could be, considering... Jared: "I don't think he even realizes what he has here. He's using it for some silly songwriter app." Gavin: "All these guys are like that. They're all about consumer-facing." ...was an exchange in the very first episode of the series and continued to be a point of contention through Action Jack's reign.
The preview showed Richard signing a piece of paper, does he have to sign a new agreement every time they reach a new level of funding? I wonder if he is going to find out that Jared is artificially inflating their daily active user numbers and then lie to Laurie about it to get the money. If not then disregard and carry on.
I don't think Jared's plan can get them to a quarter of a million DAUs, which is what they said they needed to unlock the next round.
Bit part, but Laurie audibly saying "clink clink clink" instead of clinking her spoon on her wine glass at the download party got me good.
We are getting a new boss at work. Second worst part -- on initial meeting she seems like a chick doing a Laurie impression. Worst part -- none of my coworkers watch Silicon Valley
Pivot to business facing makes a lot of sense and has been foreshadowed a lot. Would also provide a new wrinkle in the company being more beholden to corporate interests, etc. Maybe they enter into a licensing agreement with Action Jack and Gavin or something. Just spitballing. I just find it a little hard to believe the interface can't be simplified at all. Richard's strategy was beyond stupid, and that money would have been much better spent redesigning the app than trying to change public perception. All in all, I think things went to shit a little too quickly for this to be "the end" for Pied Piper. They'll figure something out or there will be some retarded Deus Ex Machina that turns the whole thing around. Either way, top 3 show on TV right now (and they all happen to be on HBO on Sunday Nights).
don't think it's the interface, they just don't know what it actually is for/does. a simpler interface wouldn't change that IMO
Did anyone else see this coming a few episodes ago when they released the beta? I immediately thought... well, if they're only distributing it among programmer / engineer friends, they're fucked.
A simpler interface isn't the issue. If anything, they're too simple. Users are asking about all the legacy stuff (download buttons, taking up space on the phone, etc.) that they had grown accustomed to, which Pied Piper rendered irrelevant or redundant. The interface isn't the obstacle; it's that people don't actually have a clue what Pied Piper does or how to take advantage of it with their content.
Gotcha, that makes sense. In that case, the "Tables" ad is extra funny. Not just because its ridiculous, but because they blew all their money on a stereotypical Silicon Valley ad that mirrors all the shit they mocked Hooli for in Season 1 and hand none left to show people how it actually worked.