software developers can get 1000s of curious people to look at their work for the mere cost of pasting the link in relevant places.
if some of these people become customers, you’re in business for basically $0. then if something is broken, confusing, insufficient, you’ll be sent a live chat and therefore given a chance to address it.
new Mexican restaurant
a new spot opened in my town, Spanish name i can’t remember. i went for lunch, had a margarita and burrito. steak was not good, free chips were very thin and not salty. i will probably never go back.
if just a couple hundred locals share my experience, this restaurant may not survive.
offline feedback loops
one time somebody had an idea to fix this. they called it a Suggestion Box. i have not seen one lately and i’m not sure restaurant managers even open their box, much less share notes with their team and make changes.
but people want to express themselves, and they want to help their neighbor. so they write immutable, negative reviews on Yelp or Google. a few months later the restaurant dies, then we wonder why the only burrito option in town is Chipotle.
rethinking iterations
Paul Graham, a once cogent thinker, wrote in Hackers and Painters that masterpieces under x-ray show evidence of multiple iterations before completion.
there is no reason a restaurant shouldn’t be able to iterate on recipes, pricing, service, music, and air conditioning with the same flexibility as a painting or an app.
your next startup
someone should build a solution to this issue, and i might be able to help fund it. let me know if you’re passionate about reducing the entrepreneur failure rate, preventing people from losing their life savings, and slowing the spread of boring franchises.