5 ms·
I think the large majority of startups are still in the same paradigm of "sane, good ideas", with founders who are perfectly normal, just smart and usually very
by orthoganol 11y ago
I think the large majority of startups are still in the same paradigm of "sane, good ideas", with founders who are perfectly normal, just smart and usually very optimistic. All of that doesn't qualify as "crazy" as Steve Blank means it, as I read it. But true, crazy visionaries with ideas that most dismiss can build startups (extremely high potential ones), though I can't think of very many that fit that criteria, in part because by dentition (being crazy - in a good way here) has to be very rare.
- paulddraper 11y agoSlack's founder said something along the lines of "The only unusual thing about me is a slightly better then average ability to predict what people's reaction will be."
- derefr 11y agoWhat're a few good examples of "true, crazy visionaries"? The only ones I can think of were academics: Ted Nelson with Project Xanadu, Douglas Engelbart with his Mother of All Demos, etc. You could say Jobs and Wozniak had to be "true, crazy visionaries" to implement Xerox PARC's research in the form of a relatively-cheap desktop microcomputer, but I don't think that's quite right; seeing the potential in a working prototype is a lot easier than having the vision required to build that prototype in the first place.