I think it's because you're looking at it like this:
1) BCC (And the AB testing, SEO, etc)
2) Appointment Reminder
3) ???
4) Mentoring / coaching / training
The part 3 was consulting, where people paid him money for 4, but presumably there's some NDAs prohibiting write ups the same as BCC. Appointment Reminder has always been a bit more secretive because of Patrick deciding between taking investment or bootstrapping. By not knowing the middle you think it's a huge change, but it's really not.
Ramit Seethi you can look at a similar way. How did he jump from a book in 2009 to having several products on what basically amounts to life coaching (dream job, earning money on the side, resume improvements, etc)? In only 3 years since the book he's convinced individuals to drop $2-15k on the promise that he can help them get a better job. To me that seems like a bigger jump than what Patrick has done, but I don't know the middle.
> How did he jump from a book in 2009 to having several products on what basically amounts to life coaching (dream job, earning money on the side, resume improvements, etc)?
The funny thing about Hacker News is you never know who's going to be reading your posts. Hi! I'm the person who convinced Ramit to quit his day job and do this blogging/product thing full time several years ago. I also know Patrick personally and it's an interesting comparison you are making between the two of them.
> In only 3 years since the book he's convinced individuals to drop $2-15k on the promise that he can help them get a better job.
I understand the skepticism around Ramit's products, especially from the HN crowd. However, knowing Ramit and having been through his products as a reviewer, they are stellar, and the results he gets for his students are meticulously documented. That's not to say they're for everyone--as an entrepreneur myself, I didn't get as much value as a job-seeker would have, and Ramit is probably a couple years away from creating a product geared toward entrepreneurs.
Knowing both Ramit and Patrick, the main similarity I see is both have a deeply analytical mind. Neither takes anything for granted, and they're both fanatical testers...not just with marketing copy, but also with their products. Ramit goes to ridiculous levels to make sure his products are bar none the best out there. He spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on salaries and hiring the best people so that his products can be the top of their class.
Patrick is a bit different, as he got burned on consulting (I'm sure he'll tell that story when he's ready) and went back to focusing on products. He's newer to the info product segment than Ramit, and a little more gun-shy when it comes to aggressive sales. (Ramit uses more aggressive sales tactics because he strongly feels--and has the testimonials to back it up--that he does have the best stuff out there.) Patrick is more cautious, as a geek first and foremost, and someone who built up his list through Hacker News and other geek-oriented websites.
In neither case would I hesitate to buy one of their products that was aimed in my direction or endorse them for other folks in their respective target markets. Both Patrick and Ramit operate from a foundation of integrity and putting the best stuff out there. I'm fortunate to count both of them as friends and mentors.
I didn't mean for the comment to seem skeptical of what either has done. With regards to Ramit, I know he's fantastic at sales -- I've actually bought one of his products and found it worth the cost. I assume his other products are of similar quality, because it takes a lot of proof to get some of those sales he's making.
I was just bringing up that it seems like a huge jump to someone working a 9-5 corporate job, and I'm just mentally penciling in "hustle" in how he got from A to B, because I haven't followed his story the whole way, the same as the OP hadn't been following Patrick. I like learning from the story of progression more than a "do this that and the other, but not that."
The "jump" is seldom more than a decision to change your path. Robert Ringer's Leapfrog Theory states: "No one has an obligation—moral, legal, or otherwise—to 'work his way up through the ranks.' Every human being possesses an inalienable right to make a unilateral decision to redirect his career and begin operating on a higher level at any time he believes he is prepared to do so."
1) BCC (And the AB testing, SEO, etc)
2) Appointment Reminder
3) ???
4) Mentoring / coaching / training
The part 3 was consulting, where people paid him money for 4, but presumably there's some NDAs prohibiting write ups the same as BCC. Appointment Reminder has always been a bit more secretive because of Patrick deciding between taking investment or bootstrapping. By not knowing the middle you think it's a huge change, but it's really not.
Ramit Seethi you can look at a similar way. How did he jump from a book in 2009 to having several products on what basically amounts to life coaching (dream job, earning money on the side, resume improvements, etc)? In only 3 years since the book he's convinced individuals to drop $2-15k on the promise that he can help them get a better job. To me that seems like a bigger jump than what Patrick has done, but I don't know the middle.