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I'm probably just struggling to disagree at this point. :-) On the other hand, there's already a lot of information "out there"; I spent years considering the i

I'm probably just struggling to disagree at this point. :-) On the other hand, there's already a lot of information "out there"; I spent years considering the idea of starting and running a business before doing it. Other people don't. To each their own. If your post was intended to be about iteration, I didn't get that from it. I read "failure" -- especially since the post linked to the whole sordid affair over fundable.com, which has failed in pretty much every sense of the word -- to imply the demise of the company (and the demoralisation of the founder[s]). For failing quickly -- and iterating, and hopefully learning from the failures -- there are numerous proverbs from Go [1] (the game, not the neophyte language). I also recall reading a very good essay recently, something along the lines of "fail as quickly as possible", but can't find it now. So, the advice is already out there, for those that would heed it anyway. [1]: e.g. http://senseis.xmp.net/?LoseYourFirst50GamesAsQuicklyAsPossible http://senseis.xmp.net/?LoseYourFirst50GamesAsQuicklyAsPossi...

DanielBMarkham 17y ago
Disagreeing is good :) That's the benefit of the blog+HN approach. You can write an article and then do Q&A in a public forum. It is the best of both worlds. Hopefully by disagreeing we'll explain what we're talking about more. I remember reading Founders At Work. One of the points that one of the founders made was "don't try to read too many business books" His point, I think, was that it was really easy to fill your head with lots of great ideas. And executing was more important than all of them. There was a saying I heard once: work on sales and all your other problems will take care of themselves. It doesn't mean that other things aren't important, just that there are some key metrics for any business. I've spent a lot of time reading a lot of books (and HN) about startups. I think finally it's all congealed with me -- I got it. Perhaps I am sadly disillusioned, but I don't scratch my head like I used to any more. When I read an article like the one I read today, I don't think "What kind of idiots wouldn't invest in such a cool idea?" Instead I think "Wonder why the community has failed this person such that he expects something much different than what he got?" I'm done commenting, though. We've probably beaten this horse to death by now :-)

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

Disagreeing is good :) That's the benefit of the blog+HN approach. You can write an article and then do Q&A in a public forum. It is the best of both worlds. Hopefully by disagreeing we'll explain what we're talking about more. I remember reading Founders At Work. One of the points that one of the founders made was "don't try to read too many business books" His point, I think, was that it was really easy to fill your head with lots of great ideas. And executing was more important than all of them. There was a saying I heard once: work on sales and all your other problems will take care of themselves. It doesn't mean that other things aren't important, just that there are some key metrics for any business. I've spent a lot of time reading a lot of books (and HN) about startups. I think finally it's all congealed with me -- I got it. Perhaps I am sadly disillusioned, but I don't scratch my head like I used to any more. When I read an article like the one I read today, I don't think "What kind of idiots wouldn't invest in such a cool idea?" Instead I think "Wonder why the community has failed this person such that he expects something much different than what he got?" I'm done commenting, though. We've probably beaten this horse to death by now :-)