Ray Grieselhuber has some interesting thoughts on how Google has trained us all to think like marketers.

The crux of his post:

Google (and others, of course) have successfully trained an entire generation of technologists to think like marketers and that might not be a good thing… Primarily, [the problem] is this: hackers these days have a tendency to view their applications as marketing channels, best or most easily monetized by some sort of advertising / affiliate reward / product upsell.

I don’t think we can chastise Google for this - they never intended to create the new wave of marketing, and do generally remain focused on delivering the best possible product to their users. However, the astounding success of many advertising-powered startups naturally encourages chinese math amongst young hackers, possibly distracting them from great products that they could be making for a smaller number of users.

I don’t think Ray should be concerned that seasoned entrepreneurs could become corrupted - they tend to be product-focused, and ultimately determine an appropriate avenue for monetization. But younger entrepreneurs and hackers may be better served by building products that are worth paying for.

It might not sound appealing to serve x customers rather than 1000x users, but there’s no greater vindication of your concept than having people pay you for it.