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Read The Economist religiously. It will make you better faster. You can read the Economist if you'd like, but it won't make you a better entrepreneur. Instead,
by akulkarni 6y ago
Read The Economist religiously. It will make you better faster.
You can read the Economist if you'd like, but it won't make you a better entrepreneur. Instead, find people who are smarter than you (in your area), do everything you can to convince them to spare you some of their time, and then be a humble (but discerning) sponge of information.
The challenge in fast changing markets is that the best information isn't written down anywhere (and especially not in magazines!), but that it's locked inside people's heads.
At least, this is what has worked for me (TimescaleDB founder)!
- hardwaresofton 6y agoVery much agree with this point but for a different reason -- reading The Economist might be nice to get your feet wet with business/markets/investment-oriented thinking, but the vast majority of the stories you read in there are just not going to be relevant. Cocoa tariffs in some far flung place that are influencing the price of hot chocolate just aren't going to be relevant to your database SaaS, though it's certainly an interesting article, and that's the kind of interesting but not really relevant article that the economist often has. Also, generally the Financial Times is the better standard for strictly business related journalism AFAIK, maybe they're neck-in-neck. Spending 30 minutes to learn from someone in your field about how to get your next lead or which part of the internet you should be advertising to is a much better use of your time.
- mraza007 6y agoThis is my favorite comment and I totally agree with you and more you talk to different people the more you discover and that discovery leads to some of the best ideas. Just curious on what’s the best way to do market research for the product
- akulkarni 6y agoJust curious on what’s the best way to do market research for the product This is tricky - there is no one right answer. I would start by building something that you need ("scratch your own itch" as some people say). It's much easier to build the right thing when you need that thing. But also good to "sanity check" your instincts by checking in with people whom you respect and whom you think will understand the market better than you (which is what my parent comment is trying to get at).
- mraza007 6y agoHey I totally agree with you and thanks for the advise I really appreciate as I’m currently early in my career and have been thinking about alot of ideas just need to put those ideas into execution and try to see what works and what doesn’t
- sbelskie 6y agoI really like the Economist, but I cannot possibly imagine one’s decision to read it or not has any bearing on entrepreneurial success.
- sky_rw 6y agoI learned this bit of insight from you directly several years ago and reflect on it often. The first thing you did when we sat down was start grilling me on my views of tech trends and emerging areas of innovation. I was caught a bit off guard and gave terrible answers, but adopting that attitude of curiosity has helped me tremendously to find my market and grow my business.
- akulkarni 6y agoNice! I agree that curiosity is an incredibly valuable trait, especially in an entrepreneur. (In fact, one of our company values at TimescaleDB is, "Be a student in both work and life".) BTW - who is this? My apologies, I don't recognize the username :-)
- itisit 6y agoI learned this at a young age: "The reporter follows the actor." Which are you?
- shin_lao 6y agoAgreed, that part struck me as odd. I think it's making the job more intellectual than it is. I would add to your list: spend as much time as possible with customers and figure out the actual pain.