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I've been involved in several startups, a couple winners and a couple losers. Like all things in life I've found that the simplest principles are often the hard

by sky_rw 9y ago

I've been involved in several startups, a couple winners and a couple losers. Like all things in life I've found that the simplest principles are often the hardest ones to grok. It's like jumping into a Indy Car, and you think "Just go straight and then turn left". Turns out when you are going 200mph at a concrete wall the simple things become a lot more complex.

csallen 9y ago
A lot of the simple advice needs further unpacking, too. I've seen founders interpret "Make something people want" in all sorts of ways, as belied by their behavior: - "Make something nobody wants, then keep adding features until something magical happens." - "Copy another app that people already use, but add 'better' or 'faster' or 'easier' or 'prettier' in my marketing copy." - "Survey my users and build whatever they tell me, no questions asked." - "Build features that align with my own personal vision of what the product should look like, then hope that other people want it." - "Create 1/5th of an ambitious product that people want." - "Do an excellent job solving a trivial pain point that nobody cares about solving." - "Make something completely new and unique that the world has never seen before, regardless of whether or not anybody wants it."
- freehunter 9y ago
  >"Build features that align with my own personal vision of what the product should look like, then hope that other people want it." To be fair this is by far the most common startup advice. Make a product for yourself, because if you've having a problem others likely are too. The only place you fall into a trap here is if you're both unwilling to change the design in the future and you're wrong about the design.
  - zbentley 9y ago
    > The only place you fall into a trap here is if you're both unwilling to change the design in the future and you're wrong about the design. I'd change the "and" to an "or": is if you're unwilling to change the design in the future or you're wrong about the design. This is because: 1. Even if you're right about the design, and can make people want it, the market (which drives what people want/can be made to want) may change. You will have to change, usually sooner than you think; a great vision doesn't prevent the need for that. 2. If you're wrong about the design or don't have a good sense for "what is needed/works", no number of pivots will save you, because each pivot will likely be to something that people either don't need or doesn't work. A failure in either is a kiss of death.
    - freehunter 9y ago
      Fair enough. I was thinking along the lines of Apple, where Steve Jobs knew exactly what he wanted and was very reluctant to bow to market pressure or critics because his vision was always the right vision. Or Basecamp, refusing to add new features or at least putting new features into spin-off companies to not compromise their initial vision. Either of these companies received a death sentence the day they were created... except they were right, so they succeeded. Your comment shows its not black and white, there are many shades of grey in between.
- josephjrobison 9y ago
  Wow that’s a great summary and so true. Totally agree that the short quippy phrases that people repeat are actually dangerous if that’s all you go by. There’s layers of meaning and they can be interpreted in so many ways as you show. “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
- joewadcan 9y ago
  Super true. I wonder if this (more granular) decision making is so unique to circumstances like team, idea, and market... that folks can only give the more generic advice without steering someone down a wrong path.
overcast 9y ago
Particularly when you use terms like "grok" that 99.9% of the population don't understand. You need to build products for the general population, not your tech friends.
- sky_rw 9y ago
  That might explain why my bespoke fedora startup failed.
- murftown 9y ago
  I wonder how many people know/use that word. I hear it a lot in my circles, and not just (nor mostly) from technical people. Stranger in a Strange Land (where "grok" comes from) is a great book btw for those who haven't read it.
  - overcast 9y ago
    The only place I've encountered that word, is from reading the book, and on online tech forums. No one in my 37 years of life, has ever said that, and I've been in the IT/Web side of things for the last 20.
  - mng2 9y ago
    I recall seeing it on Slashdot back in the day (and guessing its meaning by context), but I first heard it in person from an older physicist, probably the right age to have been reading Heinlein as a youth.

by sky_rw 9y ago

csallen 9y ago

A lot of the simple advice needs further unpacking, too. I've seen founders interpret "Make something people want" in all sorts of ways, as belied by their behavior: - "Make something nobody wants, then keep adding features until something magical happens." - "Copy another app that people already use, but add 'better' or 'faster' or 'easier' or 'prettier' in my marketing copy." - "Survey my users and build whatever they tell me, no questions asked." - "Build features that align with my own personal vision of what the product should look like, then hope that other people want it." - "Create 1/5th of an ambitious product that people want." - "Do an excellent job solving a trivial pain point that nobody cares about solving." - "Make something completely new and unique that the world has never seen before, regardless of whether or not anybody wants it."

freehunter 9y ago
>"Build features that align with my own personal vision of what the product should look like, then hope that other people want it." To be fair this is by far the most common startup advice. Make a product for yourself, because if you've having a problem others likely are too. The only place you fall into a trap here is if you're both unwilling to change the design in the future and you're wrong about the design.
- zbentley 9y ago
  > The only place you fall into a trap here is if you're both unwilling to change the design in the future and you're wrong about the design. I'd change the "and" to an "or": is if you're unwilling to change the design in the future or you're wrong about the design. This is because: 1. Even if you're right about the design, and can make people want it, the market (which drives what people want/can be made to want) may change. You will have to change, usually sooner than you think; a great vision doesn't prevent the need for that. 2. If you're wrong about the design or don't have a good sense for "what is needed/works", no number of pivots will save you, because each pivot will likely be to something that people either don't need or doesn't work. A failure in either is a kiss of death.
  - freehunter 9y ago
    Fair enough. I was thinking along the lines of Apple, where Steve Jobs knew exactly what he wanted and was very reluctant to bow to market pressure or critics because his vision was always the right vision. Or Basecamp, refusing to add new features or at least putting new features into spin-off companies to not compromise their initial vision. Either of these companies received a death sentence the day they were created... except they were right, so they succeeded. Your comment shows its not black and white, there are many shades of grey in between.
josephjrobison 9y ago
Wow that’s a great summary and so true. Totally agree that the short quippy phrases that people repeat are actually dangerous if that’s all you go by. There’s layers of meaning and they can be interpreted in so many ways as you show. “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
joewadcan 9y ago
Super true. I wonder if this (more granular) decision making is so unique to circumstances like team, idea, and market... that folks can only give the more generic advice without steering someone down a wrong path.

overcast 9y ago

Particularly when you use terms like "grok" that 99.9% of the population don't understand. You need to build products for the general population, not your tech friends.

sky_rw 9y ago
That might explain why my bespoke fedora startup failed.
murftown 9y ago
I wonder how many people know/use that word. I hear it a lot in my circles, and not just (nor mostly) from technical people. Stranger in a Strange Land (where "grok" comes from) is a great book btw for those who haven't read it.
- overcast 9y ago
  The only place I've encountered that word, is from reading the book, and on online tech forums. No one in my 37 years of life, has ever said that, and I've been in the IT/Web side of things for the last 20.
- mng2 9y ago
  I recall seeing it on Slashdot back in the day (and guessing its meaning by context), but I first heard it in person from an older physicist, probably the right age to have been reading Heinlein as a youth.