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First and third are very hard. I always have the idea of creating a startup myself, but I lack of network to find a good co-founder, specifically building the a

by yeukhon 10y ago

First and third are very hard. I always have the idea of creating a startup myself, but I lack of network to find a good co-founder, specifically building the application with me (I can't do front-end and mobile). A lot of amazing ideas came out with some nice demo. Being really picky about frontend, I am not thrilled to present a shitty-looking application without some sane user-interface. I get that idea is more important because once I have a solid idea and funding I can hire professionals to do the job. I also get that a shitty-looking application with functional feature is better than a nice webpage with nothing usable. That leads to the third, which is to iterate fast. I spend a lot of time thinking how to evolve my idea because I have to convince VC for "future", not the present, but often my idea just die with "someone is already doing it", or "it can't really sustain in the long run or can't really work because of X reason." I always seem to have some really solid examples to defeat my own idea. Ugh.

apinstein 10y ago
1. It's very difficult to make a sane user interface without letting customers try whatever you come up with. Tweaks are always needed. If your app is like most, a small portion is the most used, and you simply focus your energy improving that section. Also, your first customers are early adopters and are very capable of using bad interfaces. You get this, but you aren't doing it! This is why he wrote this, heed the advice :) Also, don't ever stop a startup because someone else is doing it. Name an industry with only one company... With only 10!! If anything it validates the market. At my first startup we consciously decided not to build a new product that was going to face many other entrants, despite the fact that we were experts in that domain. Guess what - the next year, 3 of the top 10 best sellers were in that category! Expensive lesson learned. And in case you think "well why should I follow pg's advice," then go read a copy of Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki. Same basic ideas, only about 20 years before! Good luck.
swalsh 10y ago
Try something different. Instead of starting with an idea, building some of it, and than trying to iterate. Why not just go straight to "step 4". Learn some marketing, learn how to network, go out and talk to people. Instead of starting with an idea, start with a customer. Go to the customer, figure out what they need, than go to step 1.

by yeukhon 10y ago

apinstein 10y ago

1. It's very difficult to make a sane user interface without letting customers try whatever you come up with. Tweaks are always needed. If your app is like most, a small portion is the most used, and you simply focus your energy improving that section. Also, your first customers are early adopters and are very capable of using bad interfaces. You get this, but you aren't doing it! This is why he wrote this, heed the advice :) Also, don't ever stop a startup because someone else is doing it. Name an industry with only one company... With only 10!! If anything it validates the market. At my first startup we consciously decided not to build a new product that was going to face many other entrants, despite the fact that we were experts in that domain. Guess what - the next year, 3 of the top 10 best sellers were in that category! Expensive lesson learned. And in case you think "well why should I follow pg's advice," then go read a copy of Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki. Same basic ideas, only about 20 years before! Good luck.

swalsh 10y ago

Try something different. Instead of starting with an idea, building some of it, and than trying to iterate. Why not just go straight to "step 4". Learn some marketing, learn how to network, go out and talk to people. Instead of starting with an idea, start with a customer. Go to the customer, figure out what they need, than go to step 1.