It's important to solve problems, but if you want to win at this startup game, how you solve those problems can make or break you. In most cases there others s

It's important to solve problems, but if you want to win at this startup game, how you solve those problems can make or break you. In most cases there others solving the same problem. If you are the team bringing a better solution to market faster, with better design, higher quality, less maintenance, lower infrastructure costs, fewer developers - you win easier and earlier. But, that takes some dabbling and experimenting. In the end, it's really about working with high quality people. A team of focused, pragmatic, informed, and disciplined people can take the right new tool and become an order of magnitude better. And, they can take the wrong new tool and know when to shelve it quickly. The winners in this game aren't writing COBOL against mainframes - even though that would probably yield a sufficient solution eventually.