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For the last ten months, I have been working on my most recent startup, http://www.LoveMyTool.com http://www.LoveMyTool.com, which in time will become an online

For the last ten months, I have been working on my most recent startup, http://www.LoveMyTool.com http://www.LoveMyTool.com, which in time will become an online marketplace-of-choice for network monitoring tools (sniffers, IDS, etc.). The business model is old fashioned (no Google ad here). My vision is that we will become a virtual tradeshow (a zero carbon footprint version of Interop or NXTcom, which are million dollar physical events). In the future, our revenues will come strictly from participating vendors (same as if they were buying a booth, but now they rent the front page for an hour). We are a long way from that. For now, I am concentrating on building a community. To guide me towards success, I am following the advises given at the Startup School by Paul Graham, Paul Buchheit and David Heinemeier Hansson, which can be summarized as follows … “Make something people want … don’t ignore [people’s] advice … listen [mainly] to yourself … don’t worry too much about money … the secret to making money … is to ask for it.” Notice that there is nothing here that says that you have to be a hacker. It just says that you have to find a problem that is worth solving, keep solving it while listening to your instinct and when you are ready, just ask the customers to pay. In fact, I believe there are two worst things that you can do to ensure failure of a startup which are heavy reliance on VC money and heavy reliance on technology. The focus should be on customer needs. Hacking is just another means to the end. In my case, I use no special software and therefore have no need for a "hacker" as a co-Founder. Every piece of software that I am using are off-the-shelf (Typepad, iLife suite, Slideshare, Youtube, Blip.tv, Omnisio, etc.) and I have managed to build a site with 350 visitors a day and rising (who are interested in buying products that I am showcasing and have spending authority from tens of thousands to millions). And I did the whole thing for $180 ($150 for TypePad and $30 for URL's). Anything is possible here. So if you have a killer idea on how to make money on the web, then go for it. Hackers will follow; they always do.

xenoterracide 18y ago
$180? does that include hosting?
- dennykmiu 18y ago
  http://www.typepad.com/pricing/ http://www.typepad.com/pricing/ You can actually start at $89.50 per year instead of $149.50. The ability to have your own URL is important.
tptacek 18y ago
Denny, I'm a bit confused. What you've built for $180 is a group blog, with a somewhat heavy emphasis on talking to vendors. I'm in your space --- quite directly --- and with an order of magnitude more visitors, I have no idea how I'd go about monetizing my site. I guess it's true that a smart businessperson can create value out of content --- look at John Batelle, Federated Media, and bOING bOING. But: * They actually did have to build stuff * It took them years and years and years to get there * The content they've created is probably harder and riskier to build than software. I'm not disputing the validity of your idea, just the assertion that you're likely to make money with a business plan and $180.
- dennykmiu 18y ago
  tptacek - thank you for the comments. One other lesson that we learned from Startup School is that "advice=limited experience+generalization" so clearly I am not trying to give advice here. But I am trying to answer the original premise of the post which is that "can anyone start a startup without having a hacker as a co-founder?" And my answer is yes and what I tried to do is equate over-reliance on technology with over-reliance on money. In other words, if the original question were "can anyone start a startup without having $500K from a VC as seed money?", the answer would have been yes as well. Keep in mind that I am talking about the initial stage of a startup. In other words, I am talking about going from nothing to something. Once you are done with the initial concept stage and you have a working model of your product and services and you have a workable business model, then everything changes and you are going from something to something more, which is very different again (in other words, I will need a lot more than $180). What I have learned is that success of a startup requires both vision and peripheral vision. Having lots of money and lots of technical talents in the beginning help a great deal in terms of executing your vision, but unfortunately they tend to cloud your peripheral vision. In other words, if you have too much money in the beginning, you are going to spend it pushing the market as opposed to finding an opportunity to get the market to pull you. And by the same token, having a strong "hacker" as a co-Founder also can have the same unintended consequence which is that you are going to hit every nail with the same hammer (in the first year of my previous startup, I had to change out the technical team when it was clear that our initial business idea was incorrect). Again, I am not trying to offer advice here (by generalizing my own limited experience). I am merely trying to answer the original question and my answer is a resounding yes. Anything is possible ... entrepreneurship is the great equalizer. Thanks again.
sanj 18y ago
Slightly offtopic, but the name "LoveMyTool" is just chock full of double entendre for the native english speaker. Hopefully that was your intent.
- dennykmiu 18y ago
  I get this comment at least once if not three times a week. It is a problem but it is a one-time problem and it does have the side benefit that no one would ever forget the brand. Being mildly controversial is actually a feature for a startup. On the other hand, I have done three different startups in the past. My first one was a component startup and the key to success was in creating a unique socket. My second startup was a system startup and the key was in creating a permanent footprint in the network. This one is online media and I believe the key of success is in creating a unique genre. In other words, National Enquiry was the first of a new genre (gossip in prints) and so was the movie Matrix (gung fu fighting in blacks). My hope is that LoveMyTool will be a new genre as well which is what I call "Advocacy Marketing". It is about customers and industry experts giving advice and testimonials on TOOLs that they LOVE. And it is slowly catching on. By the way, (American) English is a very flexible and tolerate language and in some way, I am fortunate that I am not a native speaker because I don't see words and sentences, I see a canvas.
  - stcredzero 18y ago
    "By the way, (American) English is a very flexible and tolerate language..." Sure, but that sentence immediately marks you as a second-rate English speaker. Many will take that as a reason to doubt your thoroughness in other areas.
    - dennykmiu 18y ago
      stcredzero - I don't disagree with you. There is no excuse in not learning to speak and write properly in spite of the fact that for many of us, English is not our first language. And we should try the best we could to make up the difference but it is just one more thing that we have to overcome in our journey as struggling entrepreneurs. But interestingly, my personal experience is that it wasn't until I learn to stutter and I learn to take notes that I start to succeed in startups. In general, people are suspicious of perfection. You have to show flaws or they won't stop looking for them. I actually had better luck when I don't act perfect. "Strategic Stuttering" turns out to be an important skill. Also, people don't understand that I have perfect recall (not perfect memory, just perfect recall) and they think that I am not paying attention when I am not taking notes. So I take notes and now everyone seem much happier.

xenoterracide 18y ago

$180? does that include hosting?

dennykmiu 18y ago
http://www.typepad.com/pricing/ http://www.typepad.com/pricing/ You can actually start at $89.50 per year instead of $149.50. The ability to have your own URL is important.

tptacek 18y ago

Denny, I'm a bit confused. What you've built for $180 is a group blog, with a somewhat heavy emphasis on talking to vendors. I'm in your space --- quite directly --- and with an order of magnitude more visitors, I have no idea how I'd go about monetizing my site. I guess it's true that a smart businessperson can create value out of content --- look at John Batelle, Federated Media, and bOING bOING. But: * They actually did have to build stuff * It took them years and years and years to get there * The content they've created is probably harder and riskier to build than software. I'm not disputing the validity of your idea, just the assertion that you're likely to make money with a business plan and $180.

dennykmiu 18y ago
tptacek - thank you for the comments. One other lesson that we learned from Startup School is that "advice=limited experience+generalization" so clearly I am not trying to give advice here. But I am trying to answer the original premise of the post which is that "can anyone start a startup without having a hacker as a co-founder?" And my answer is yes and what I tried to do is equate over-reliance on technology with over-reliance on money. In other words, if the original question were "can anyone start a startup without having $500K from a VC as seed money?", the answer would have been yes as well. Keep in mind that I am talking about the initial stage of a startup. In other words, I am talking about going from nothing to something. Once you are done with the initial concept stage and you have a working model of your product and services and you have a workable business model, then everything changes and you are going from something to something more, which is very different again (in other words, I will need a lot more than $180). What I have learned is that success of a startup requires both vision and peripheral vision. Having lots of money and lots of technical talents in the beginning help a great deal in terms of executing your vision, but unfortunately they tend to cloud your peripheral vision. In other words, if you have too much money in the beginning, you are going to spend it pushing the market as opposed to finding an opportunity to get the market to pull you. And by the same token, having a strong "hacker" as a co-Founder also can have the same unintended consequence which is that you are going to hit every nail with the same hammer (in the first year of my previous startup, I had to change out the technical team when it was clear that our initial business idea was incorrect). Again, I am not trying to offer advice here (by generalizing my own limited experience). I am merely trying to answer the original question and my answer is a resounding yes. Anything is possible ... entrepreneurship is the great equalizer. Thanks again.

sanj 18y ago

Slightly offtopic, but the name "LoveMyTool" is just chock full of double entendre for the native english speaker. Hopefully that was your intent.

dennykmiu 18y ago
I get this comment at least once if not three times a week. It is a problem but it is a one-time problem and it does have the side benefit that no one would ever forget the brand. Being mildly controversial is actually a feature for a startup. On the other hand, I have done three different startups in the past. My first one was a component startup and the key to success was in creating a unique socket. My second startup was a system startup and the key was in creating a permanent footprint in the network. This one is online media and I believe the key of success is in creating a unique genre. In other words, National Enquiry was the first of a new genre (gossip in prints) and so was the movie Matrix (gung fu fighting in blacks). My hope is that LoveMyTool will be a new genre as well which is what I call "Advocacy Marketing". It is about customers and industry experts giving advice and testimonials on TOOLs that they LOVE. And it is slowly catching on. By the way, (American) English is a very flexible and tolerate language and in some way, I am fortunate that I am not a native speaker because I don't see words and sentences, I see a canvas.
- stcredzero 18y ago
  "By the way, (American) English is a very flexible and tolerate language..." Sure, but that sentence immediately marks you as a second-rate English speaker. Many will take that as a reason to doubt your thoroughness in other areas.
  - dennykmiu 18y ago
    stcredzero - I don't disagree with you. There is no excuse in not learning to speak and write properly in spite of the fact that for many of us, English is not our first language. And we should try the best we could to make up the difference but it is just one more thing that we have to overcome in our journey as struggling entrepreneurs. But interestingly, my personal experience is that it wasn't until I learn to stutter and I learn to take notes that I start to succeed in startups. In general, people are suspicious of perfection. You have to show flaws or they won't stop looking for them. I actually had better luck when I don't act perfect. "Strategic Stuttering" turns out to be an important skill. Also, people don't understand that I have perfect recall (not perfect memory, just perfect recall) and they think that I am not paying attention when I am not taking notes. So I take notes and now everyone seem much happier.