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roarcher | on: Tinybox – A powerful computer for deep learning
It doesn't matter if it's a joke. The non-technical manager or VP making this purchase will not understand it and will expect poor treatment from this vendor, an expectation that will be reinforced by numerous other things on this page. There is no reason to include it at all.
kube-system | parent | next
It doesn’t read as if they actually care about broad appeal, given their plain refusal to accommodate traditional procurement processes
pegasus | root | parent
So they're only interested in taking on customers who are OK with being treated poorly?
kube-system | root | parent
Anyone who can’t deal with their procurement process isn’t a customer.

There’s nothing remotely unusual about being selective about who or how to bring on new customer in B2B sales.

Their preference is for more simplicity than normal —- many businesses make it much harder

vkazanov | parent
It seems that you work a lot with managers who have no clue what they are buying and why.

I mean, you're not wrong: buying enterprise software from Oracle or Microsoft or Salesforce is pure pain.

But nobody expects buying niche hardware from a tiny vendor to involve the usual 128 pre/post sale meetings and 256 hours of professional services.

Also, relevant VP buying these things usually do understand the difference between AMD and Nvidia stacks really well. Like, really-really well.

roarcher | root | parent
> It seems that you work a lot with managers who have no clue what they are buying and why.

There are certain quirks of this platform's user base that always make me laugh. For example, HNers absolutely love to imply something condescending about the other guy's workplace in order to make their point.

Watch this, I can do it too: Working with managers who make $65,000 (or $10 million) purchases with no more due diligence than reading a marketing page and clicking "Buy it now" is not the flex you think it is.

vkazanov | root | parent
I was involved in it-related deals on both purchasing and selling sides. Sums involved were larger than both numbers you mentioned.

And I honestly see almost no correlation between the amount of negotiation involved, and value received.

Some of the most useful things we've integrated were either free or meant that only the "buy it now" button had to be clicked.

Some of the absolutely worst systems I had to work with were purchased after making a call to that "let us know" number.

This tiny guy is mostly saying that he doesnt have the time for enterprise bla-bla. I am not sure he can organise enterprise sales with this attitude but can definitely relate to it!