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Week 6 [30.11-06.12] Business Model of Classic Pirates

Have you ever wondered what pirate earning looks like? For pirates, the most important thing was earnings, we all know that. However, this is a little bit more complicated than the popular movies and tv series show us...


1. Do you think that you would find yourself in such a pirate company?

2. What similarities do you find between a pirate who loots ships and how software thieves are called today? Do you think it is fair to call them that?

3. Maybe today's companies could use the solutions that pirates used in their business model? What would you suggest?

Comments

Viktor Ryś said…

1.
I think I would fit in the best as a quartermaster. His job is interesting and relatively safe also reaping quite a big share in the bounty. I also like how democratic the pirate crew was, it wasn't that common in that times, but understandable because as the video says, other model wouldn't work.

2.
I don't notice much similarities apart from the fact that both of those groups
were/are doing illegal activity that violates. That's the only common thing. If the pirates also did a copy of the bounty, then they most likely wouldn't be criminals.


3.
In small start-ups sure, those are quite agile and flexible that allows it's members to have a bigger say and also if the startup succedes then the first members will get a big amount of shares. However I cannot think of how this would look in a big company.
Karol Michalak said…
1. Do you think that you would find yourself in such a pirate company?
Not sure if my martix is right, but I wouldn't mind doing more support stuff, like quartermaster, surgeon or any other.

2. What similarities do you find between a pirate who loots ships and how software thieves are called today? Do you think it is fair to call them that?
Maybe some, that attack corporations, but many of them are just lazy as they click download button to steal something. Some are like thieves stealing bread from a shop, but will never do anything in order to help the community.

3. Maybe today's companies could use the solutions that pirates used in their business model? What would you suggest?
The part in share sounds great aswell as true freedom, but there is one problem. There are not enough people to protest in order to achieve this and companies would never decide on having less money in hands of people in charge, no matter how good they are in their work.
1. Do you think that you would find yourself in such a pirate company?

No, I'd rather stay on land. Working as a pirate is very risky - you can become disabled or die at sea. Additionally, life on a pirate ship is hard - small spaces, little comfort, poor hygiene, limited freshwater resources ... I believe that this is a high-risk job. If I would prefer to manage such a pirate port. It's probably a safer and more profitable job.

2. What similarities do you find between a pirate who loots ships and how software thieves are called today? Do you think it is fair to call them that?

Similarities - software thieves, just like pirates, steal things that do not belong to them. I believe that such behavior deserves the highest condemnation, the theft of someone else's property is a serious offense. I think it's fair to call them that, they should be severely punished.

3. Maybe today's companies could use the solutions that pirates used in their business model? What would you suggest?

This solution has both advantages and disadvantages. It is known if you belong to a good organization that works practically all the time and achieves success - you receive large salaries and rewards practically all the time. However, when your company is in the pit, implements only small projects, from which there is little money or does not implement projects at all, then you also do not earn. When it comes to employment, it seems to me that there is no compulsion to work. If you want to quit your job, you can do so and no one will chase you. Also, it seems to me that the current model is quite good.
FilipJatelnicki said…
Great questions and great video!
1. Do you think that you would find yourself in such a pirate company?
Well, I feel like I need more structure and the feeling of safety. The thing with the pirate crew is that the rules aren't that strict and it seems to me that they might not care about the weakest whom I might be after battle or so. On the other hand, I cannot fully trust the captain of the non-pirate crew. Nevertheless, it seems to me that it is much better to place a bet on the non-pirate crew.

2. What similarities do you find between a pirate who loots ships and how software thieves are called today? Do you think it is fair to call them that?
They both steal (take somebody's else property) and share it (or not) with other pirates.
3. Maybe today's companies could use the solutions that pirates used in their business model? What would you suggest?
I've heard about similar experiments that everyone across the board has a similar pension. It is a pretty complicated problem. The first thing that spring to my mind is that we are not evaluating one's job on their value for the society (influencers, sportsmen etc. in comparison to for example the nurse). So it is not always the case that we are paying more for more responsibility, but I think we should.

Pirates' business model would probably motivate the employees from every level because they get to share the profit.

1. Do you think that you would find yourself in such a pirate company?
In this video it's very marginally said that pirates was outlaws and murderers. So I guess that depiste of their buisness plan I wouldn't join them.
2. What similarities do you find between a pirate who loots ships and how software thieves are called today? Do you think it is fair to call them that?
One similiarity is that both of them are being outlaws, dodging resposibilities for their actions. Both of them steal. I can't think of any other similarities but I think that it's fair to call them the same because of pejorativity of this word.
3. Maybe today's companies could use the solutions that pirates used in their business model? What would you suggest?
Todays's big companies are very good at dodging responsibility and pirates could learn a lot from them.
Jakub Łukowski said…
1. I think that I would definitely fit in such a company. Setting aside all cruelty and bad things done by pirates, I like the idea of a democratic model where everyone can influence the decisions being made an I like taking a lot of risk for an even bigger profit.

2. I think that stealing software, content or data for your own purpose has nothing to do with being pirate, it is just stealing. Term Pirate would better fit the people that hack and distribute stollen software against big corporations and for their own profit.

3. I think the pirates’ model was and is used by many companies across the globe, specially startups. Most startups in early stage consists of small team that together shares large amount of risk, by doing creative things on their own. All early startup crew members get compensated by getting shares and options.
There is a good movie about Microsoft and Apple “Pirates of Silicon Valley” that shows how different and rouge this companies were comparing to known corporate standards.
I can see many of you are very practical and pragmatic. As a child, I really wanted to be a pirate from a movie, but as I grew up my image of them changed a lot. Like you, I'd rather not risk my life for the treasures. If I had to choose, I would probably agree with Viktor and fill quartermaster's position. It would be challenging, but still relatively safe.

Many of you agree that the term "Pirate" is used correctly against software thieves, and I'm glad we all believe that intellectual property theft is a negative thing. Nevertheless, I think we need a totaly new word for these people. I once heard from my father that in the pre-internet days, software thieves organized themselves into groups. Within such organizations, each member had to offer or deliver software in exchange for access to other stolen programs. These groups can be compared to analog torrents. The software was exchanged on floppy disks and later on CDs that wandered between members endlessly. Today, because of the widespread internet and access to a lot of content, the very act of breaking the law in this way is less tangible and people do not consider it all that harmful.

More or less your opinion is similar. The smaller the company, the easier it is to gain a voice and the democracy that pirates used. Profit sharing is something that Silicon Valley startups have been using for many years. Analyzes of this solution show that all employees are much more motivated to perform their duties and see a direct impact of their work into personal profit.

It is extremely interesting that the captain of the pirate ship was elected by vote. It is hard for me to imagine that in today's company the team would choose its CEO by voting, giving the power to lead the company's development. Nevertheless, I am very curious what the results of such an experiment would be.

Thank you so much for all your comments :)

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