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What I've Learned Founding 3 Tech Companies | betashop

77 points by twapi 16y ago

stpeteartisan 16y ago
excellent list
jscore 16y ago
Noticed your current startup, fabulis, only allows login via FB, what about people without FB accounts?
- betashop 16y ago
  are there such people? j/k. We started with facebook only as a way to help ensure that our users are real people with real names, real pictures, and real friends. This was especially important in building a gay website so that we could set the right tone and not quickly become a porn/hookup/sex site.
ericHosick 16y ago
I think point four is true but difficult to achieve. Most CEOs I work with, who also act as the product manager/owner, have a hard time keeping up with the role of product manager: especially when there are two or more pairs working on their product. Having someone who can share that product vision with you is, in my opinion, really important. This frees up the CEO to focus on other aspects of the business like customer development, funding, etc.
- betashop 16y ago
  This is a tough one. On Jobster I made 2 big mistakes with regard to this. (1) I gave up the chief product role too early in terms of getting too busy with other aspects of running the business to really guide and impact the product. (2) I made the mistake of thinking i could still guide the product when i was actually too busy doing other stuff, and then I failed to give full day-to-day control of the product to Ethan Lowry when he volunteered to help with it. I was too foolish to realize that i had already given up product control but yet unwilling to allow someone else to help me with it. Ethan went on to be the founder of Urban Spoon.
aniket_ray 16y ago
>44. Conferences are generally a waste of time What is the community's take on this? I kind of agree, but sometimes I feel that I feel so because I haven't learned "networking" skills completely yet.
- simonw 16y ago
  As the co-founder of a conference related startup ( http://lanyrd.com/ http://lanyrd.com/ ) I'm very obviously biased here, but I've found conferences incredibly valuable in my career to date. What you get out of them depends very much on how you approach them. Unless you live in the bay area, conferences are going to be the highest concentration of smart, informed peers you'll be exposed to for the whole year. Talk to people! Don't think of it as "networking" - think of it as an opportunity to learn from others (and to share your own knowledge). At most conferences, the hallway track is by far the most valuable. And if you really want to get the most out of conferences, speak at them. Preparing a talk forces you to learn a great deal more about your subject, and presenting guarantees you some excellent conversations afterwards.
aymeric 16y ago
35. Don’t drink on airplanes unless you are on a flight of longer than 8 hours. It ruins you and wastes your time. huh? it seems out of place in comparison to the rest of the list. Did I misunderstand what he meant?
- betashop 16y ago
  It's just been my experience that drinking on airplanes has an adverse effect on productivity in the air and then once on the ground. Let's say you take a flight from SF to Chicago or NYC. You have a couple of drinks on the plane so then you end up getting no real work done on the plane and not even thinking clear enough to get head-work done on the plane. Then when you land, you don't go workout nor do you do any work, so the night is basically shot. And you are more prone to also say, ok i had a couple already today so let's have another one, and then the next morning might even be a rough one. I've also found this especially true for flights from NYC to London. There's nothing worse than landing after a red-eye and a few drinks. It makes the red-eye jetlag so much wose. The best way for me to hop across the pond is to immediately hit the gym upon arrival.
cKirpalani 16y ago
Brilliant List. So real, so today. The best one is number 56 from the list. Mature, but don’t grow up.
ravi123 16y ago
Really nice. Helpful in day to day work activities.
rokhayakebe 16y ago
57(last one). Never Give up.
gacba 16y ago
1. Build something you are personally passionate about. You are your best focus group. The first statement is great. The second is potentially dangerous and stupid if your reality distortion field is strongly polarized against what a real market wants. Do your homework and get real market research. Find a pain point or a genuine need. Believing that you're right and everyone else is wrong is a greased pole to hell in most cases. Caveat emptor.
rmason 16y ago
Totally diaagree with him about conferences. I could nit pick about one or two of the others but based on my experience doing several startups this is an unusually good list.

77 points by twapi 16y ago

stpeteartisan 16y ago

excellent list

jscore 16y ago

Noticed your current startup, fabulis, only allows login via FB, what about people without FB accounts?

betashop 16y ago
are there such people? j/k. We started with facebook only as a way to help ensure that our users are real people with real names, real pictures, and real friends. This was especially important in building a gay website so that we could set the right tone and not quickly become a porn/hookup/sex site.

ericHosick 16y ago

I think point four is true but difficult to achieve. Most CEOs I work with, who also act as the product manager/owner, have a hard time keeping up with the role of product manager: especially when there are two or more pairs working on their product. Having someone who can share that product vision with you is, in my opinion, really important. This frees up the CEO to focus on other aspects of the business like customer development, funding, etc.

betashop 16y ago
This is a tough one. On Jobster I made 2 big mistakes with regard to this. (1) I gave up the chief product role too early in terms of getting too busy with other aspects of running the business to really guide and impact the product. (2) I made the mistake of thinking i could still guide the product when i was actually too busy doing other stuff, and then I failed to give full day-to-day control of the product to Ethan Lowry when he volunteered to help with it. I was too foolish to realize that i had already given up product control but yet unwilling to allow someone else to help me with it. Ethan went on to be the founder of Urban Spoon.

aniket_ray 16y ago

>44. Conferences are generally a waste of time What is the community's take on this? I kind of agree, but sometimes I feel that I feel so because I haven't learned "networking" skills completely yet.

simonw 16y ago
As the co-founder of a conference related startup ( http://lanyrd.com/ http://lanyrd.com/ ) I'm very obviously biased here, but I've found conferences incredibly valuable in my career to date. What you get out of them depends very much on how you approach them. Unless you live in the bay area, conferences are going to be the highest concentration of smart, informed peers you'll be exposed to for the whole year. Talk to people! Don't think of it as "networking" - think of it as an opportunity to learn from others (and to share your own knowledge). At most conferences, the hallway track is by far the most valuable. And if you really want to get the most out of conferences, speak at them. Preparing a talk forces you to learn a great deal more about your subject, and presenting guarantees you some excellent conversations afterwards.

aymeric 16y ago

35. Don’t drink on airplanes unless you are on a flight of longer than 8 hours. It ruins you and wastes your time. huh? it seems out of place in comparison to the rest of the list. Did I misunderstand what he meant?

betashop 16y ago
It's just been my experience that drinking on airplanes has an adverse effect on productivity in the air and then once on the ground. Let's say you take a flight from SF to Chicago or NYC. You have a couple of drinks on the plane so then you end up getting no real work done on the plane and not even thinking clear enough to get head-work done on the plane. Then when you land, you don't go workout nor do you do any work, so the night is basically shot. And you are more prone to also say, ok i had a couple already today so let's have another one, and then the next morning might even be a rough one. I've also found this especially true for flights from NYC to London. There's nothing worse than landing after a red-eye and a few drinks. It makes the red-eye jetlag so much wose. The best way for me to hop across the pond is to immediately hit the gym upon arrival.

cKirpalani 16y ago

Brilliant List. So real, so today. The best one is number 56 from the list. Mature, but don’t grow up.

ravi123 16y ago

Really nice. Helpful in day to day work activities.

rokhayakebe 16y ago

57(last one). Never Give up.

gacba 16y ago

1. Build something you are personally passionate about. You are your best focus group. The first statement is great. The second is potentially dangerous and stupid if your reality distortion field is strongly polarized against what a real market wants. Do your homework and get real market research. Find a pain point or a genuine need. Believing that you're right and everyone else is wrong is a greased pole to hell in most cases. Caveat emptor.

rmason 16y ago

Totally diaagree with him about conferences. I could nit pick about one or two of the others but based on my experience doing several startups this is an unusually good list.