4 ms·

i do a 1h free for startups, this means i talk a lot with startups of all kinds. sometimes i talk with early stage founders - very, very clever and very passio

by franze 11y ago

i do a 1h free for startups, this means i talk a lot with startups of all kinds. sometimes i talk with early stage founders - very, very clever and very passionate people - who have figured everything out. they know what product they will build, what their website will look like, what they URLs will look like, what their marketing campaign will look like, how they will get investment, what their customers will be like. i call this a "perfect start-up" perfect start-ups fail. always. sometimes fast, usually it takes them a long, hard, crappy time. sometimes i talk with early stage founders - very, very clever and very passionate people - who have an idea. they don't know what their product will look like, don't know what their website will look like, don't know what their marketing campaign will look like, don't know how they will get investment, don't know what their customers will be like. they don't even know if their idea is great or shit. i call these "interesting people" they are clever, passionate, willing to listen, willing to work hard ... and sometimes, only sometimes, they succeed.

danieltillett 11y ago
Franze what do you do for startups? Sounds interesting.
- dest 11y ago
  you could check the links in his/her HN profile
  - pc86 11y ago
    His
d--b 11y ago
Here though it is clear that they were in the second category. They said they pivoted several times, changed their customer targets, tried many things and it didn't work out. It's not like they started with a "know-it-all" attitude, it's just that they tried, failed, iterated and failed again until they could not do it anymore. I say congrats for trying.
- jnbiche 11y ago
  > It's not like they started with a "know-it-all" attitude, Well, they hired a (presumably competent) web design firm and then told them to implement a truly horrific site wireframe design, replete with a font in the same family as comic sans. It takes a certain amount of hubris - or ignorance - to think you can design an effective, attractive website for a growing business (and in the fashion industry, to boot!) with zero training or background in web development or graphic design.
  - czbond 11y ago
    To be fair, i am guessing the design was in 2009'ish, when they started, rather than in the last few years.
    - yaakovkarda 11y ago
      Wireframes we drawn were meant to be a design guide, they never made it to production of course ;—)
kaizendad 11y ago
I used to do 1h free with startups (free for them only, the government paid me), and I echo your impression of "perfect start-ups" (which is a better name than I ever thought of). For whatever reason, I only saw the perfect start-ups when they were hurtling towards launch; then they'd come to me and ask a question like "how do I sell my product?" or "I've mortgaged my house, when will I start to be able to make payments from my company?" Those were always sad. I loved the "interesting people" -- they still had time to do something useful. Before you launch a startup, you have unlimited time (it's rarely true that you must be the first entrant in a market to succeed, so time is on your side). I would always tell them to do a "feasibility analysis" -- a long document in which you: 1. Clearly state what it is your company does 2. Clearly state who your customer is 3. Clearly state why they will value you 4. Are specific about what you're assuming about your customer, competition, wider economy, etc., that will drive you to success 5. Validate that your customer exists and shares your perception of what value is 6. Validate that all of your assumptions are true These usually took about 3 months of part-time work for the entrepreneur to complete, and, if they had a feasible start-up, they usually had customers in hand by the end of the process. If it wasn't a feasible start-up, they had the chance to pivot or just walk away, before spending any real money or real time. I love the idea of Getwear, and I really love the frank discussion of their failure. I'm sad that everything Yaakov writes probably could've been determined in a feasibility analysis.

by franze 11y ago

danieltillett 11y ago

Franze what do you do for startups? Sounds interesting.

dest 11y ago
you could check the links in his/her HN profile
- pc86 11y ago
  His

d--b 11y ago

Here though it is clear that they were in the second category. They said they pivoted several times, changed their customer targets, tried many things and it didn't work out. It's not like they started with a "know-it-all" attitude, it's just that they tried, failed, iterated and failed again until they could not do it anymore. I say congrats for trying.

jnbiche 11y ago
> It's not like they started with a "know-it-all" attitude, Well, they hired a (presumably competent) web design firm and then told them to implement a truly horrific site wireframe design, replete with a font in the same family as comic sans. It takes a certain amount of hubris - or ignorance - to think you can design an effective, attractive website for a growing business (and in the fashion industry, to boot!) with zero training or background in web development or graphic design.
- czbond 11y ago
  To be fair, i am guessing the design was in 2009'ish, when they started, rather than in the last few years.
  - yaakovkarda 11y ago
    Wireframes we drawn were meant to be a design guide, they never made it to production of course ;—)

kaizendad 11y ago

I used to do 1h free with startups (free for them only, the government paid me), and I echo your impression of "perfect start-ups" (which is a better name than I ever thought of). For whatever reason, I only saw the perfect start-ups when they were hurtling towards launch; then they'd come to me and ask a question like "how do I sell my product?" or "I've mortgaged my house, when will I start to be able to make payments from my company?" Those were always sad. I loved the "interesting people" -- they still had time to do something useful. Before you launch a startup, you have unlimited time (it's rarely true that you must be the first entrant in a market to succeed, so time is on your side). I would always tell them to do a "feasibility analysis" -- a long document in which you: 1. Clearly state what it is your company does 2. Clearly state who your customer is 3. Clearly state why they will value you 4. Are specific about what you're assuming about your customer, competition, wider economy, etc., that will drive you to success 5. Validate that your customer exists and shares your perception of what value is 6. Validate that all of your assumptions are true These usually took about 3 months of part-time work for the entrepreneur to complete, and, if they had a feasible start-up, they usually had customers in hand by the end of the process. If it wasn't a feasible start-up, they had the chance to pivot or just walk away, before spending any real money or real time. I love the idea of Getwear, and I really love the frank discussion of their failure. I'm sad that everything Yaakov writes probably could've been determined in a feasibility analysis.