Who's their compliance officer and what are their qualifications? Without that kind of disclosure, they have forced me to conclude that they are full of shit. Without basic information and contact info about their compliance structure, they have no business making this kind of claim. It's just press release nonsense.
It's probably some combination of people downloading the app and signing up for the free service. It is most likely not a reflection of how people use the app on a regular basis or pay for the service.
Good luck, guys. It's a tough row to hoe considering all of the major agricultural machine manufacturers (Case, Deere, etc.) have some variation of this service coupled with world-wide dealer networks to sell it. If you think you're going to be able to wedge yourself between farmers and the dealers that they have been dealing with for years and in some cases generations, best of luck with that.
Interesting idea, but the best they can hope for is a talent acquisition buy-out.
The thing that immediately jumps to mind after reading this article is my grandfather's stories about the old mining towns. These were places where the local employer (the mining company) had so much political clout that they became de facto dictators and pretty much did whatever they wanted with impunity. The lack of accountability led to business practices that were devastating to the locals. Miners were doing dangerous work in ridiculously unsafe conditions. When they weren't working, the company used various tactics to manipulate them into not leaving. The most well-known being the Company Store, which sold goods at prices that were just beyond what the miners could afford (surprisingly easy when the owner of the store is the same company who signs the paychecks.) But they were very willing to give credit. Nobody complained because that would earn a visit from some thugs in the mood for breaking fingers and kneecaps.
This arrangement strikes me as the Company Town on a massive scale. Without a legal framework that exists outside of their own best interests, I don't see how this kind of thing doesn't devolve into the Company Town.
I would expect "entrepreneurial solutions to government" to be at best neutral on human rights. Protecting human rights requires a great deal of political will to codify and then enforce. And it usually goes against the perceived best interests of the powers that be. It took a hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation (and the 14th Amendment) for the US to codify equal rights for minorities. On a cultural level, we still have way too many people who pine for the days when they could lynch a black man with no repercussions. I see no reason to think this enterprise would be able to muster the kind of political morality and will to go out of their way to protect human rights.
Yes, the Framers were a sort of political entrepreneur. They were the type of political entrepreneurs who allowed slavery to exist and came up with the 3/5ths compromise.
Learning how to code has about as much real-world utility as learning how to rebuild an engine block. It's necessary to know if you're in the industry. It's interesting information if you like that sort of thing. For everyone else, it's a non-factor. They'll never be in a position where coding will solve a problem for them. Even if they are made aware of a potential solution involving code, they won't be bothered to try. Knowing how to change the oil in your car is a far cry from wanting to change the oil in your car.
AKA: Laziness. (Edited to fix spelling pointed out by child comment. Thanks.)
I don't require perfection, just competence. If you don't care enough about your output to make it easily understandable (I don't have to put effort into deciphering your words), why should I care about it?
Ironically, if you'd spell-checked your comment, you would have seen the word you were looking for was "laziness". On the other hand, there's no easy mechanical way of noticing that a small word ("have") was omitted, which is one of the typos for which Zee was being criticized. So what you did is actually lazier than what he did. But I don't look down on you for this typo either. Both your comment and Zee's are pretty easy to understand.
Nobody's perfect. I make mistakes like this all the time, and I'm a professional editor. It's not incompetence — I simply don't have the time to carefully reread, spellcheck and grammar-check everything I write to make sure it's all flawless. And I know many intelligent people who make more mistakes than I do. So when I see somebody get called on a typo, but it's perfectly clear what they were saying in spite of the typo, I find it a bit petty.
It wasn't a typo. It was just a garden-variety spelling error. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll try to remember the correct spelling in the future.
I guess I hold myself to a higher standard than you do. I have old-fashioned ideas. Writers should be competent enough in the fundamentals that even their informal remarks meet a certain standard of composition. When you are a good writer, you put the same level of care into your work regardless of the purpose. Quite frankly, a writer who thinks, "The editor will catch it," doesn't deserve to be paid for the job. It's bad craft.
I must be reading this differently than a lot of people. I don't think he's talking about actual business people. People with demonstrated experience, skill, and/or ability.
It sounds more like he's talking about the idea tourist. The guy who truly believes that the secret to start-up success is:
1. Have an idea.
2. . . .
3. Make money.
I think we can all agree that the idea tourist is annoying. If all you bring to the table is something as ephemeral as an idea, just keep walking. I've got no time for you.
It's all on him. He could have avoided the whole thing if he just had the foresight to keep a few hundred bucks in his account as a reserve against charge-backs.
It looks like Square adhered strictly to their end of the terms of service. They did exactly what they always said they would do. Jason is the one who screwed up and then demanded special treatment and then got huffy when they didn't give him special treatment.
