4 ms·

I hesitate to recommend the Steve Martin line to non-performers. I've known several entrepreneurs who have sunk a year or years of their lives into codebases a

by zach 15y ago

I hesitate to recommend the Steve Martin line to non-performers. I've known several entrepreneurs who have sunk a year or years of their lives into codebases and eternally-half-built products instead of businesses. Including myself at 20! It's actually a common affliction among game developers looking to become entrepreneurs. They have an artistic vision, no concept of hustle, and just want to put their head down until they get something amazing. It's the artistic E-myth, The Thief and the Cobbler syndrome. It's an important message because a lot of people today are probably still in this mode of thinking. I really need to write a blog post about it.

staunch 15y ago
If you define being "good" as having a quality product that's growing revenue/users successfully then the Steve Martin idea works perfectly. Plenty of people have grown amazing businesses without being able to attract the attention of TechCrunch or Google's M&A guys.
- zach 15y ago
  Absolutely agree. We're all passionate about great products here, right? And stories where great products win despite all odds are what I want to tell my kids at night. But I'm going to be honest, given a lone founder, I'd prefer to invest in one with great connections and ability to excite people but who is a little clueless (though passionate) about the product. I know that's heresy, but hear me out here. Entrepreneurs almost by definition go into fields where there's a huge gap between how crummy things are and how much better they can be with a little work. And we know that a startup is not going to be as able to define a market as a huge company is. And it's actually better for them not to come in with a lot of assumptions about a fully-formed product that customers "must" love. So it's honestly pretty important to get someone out there who is going to put the work into making those relationships and selling the product. I know people should rarely concern themselves with improving on their weaknesses, but I think this is one of the few counterexamples. Product and technology wonks really need to know they need to step up their bizdev game or have a co-founder who can do it to succeed as a startup. To bring this back around to the topic at hand, learn from Dan! He was tireless in presenting Ontela to everyone who would listen to his pitch, and got really good at communicating the best message. And he got some good practice presenting to audiences at conferences before he went into startups (Dan, forgive me for this one): http://www.google.com/search?q=dan+shapiro+they+wanted+to+stone+him http://www.google.com/search?q=dan+shapiro+they+wanted+to+st...

by zach 15y ago

staunch 15y ago

If you define being "good" as having a quality product that's growing revenue/users successfully then the Steve Martin idea works perfectly. Plenty of people have grown amazing businesses without being able to attract the attention of TechCrunch or Google's M&A guys.

zach 15y ago
Absolutely agree. We're all passionate about great products here, right? And stories where great products win despite all odds are what I want to tell my kids at night. But I'm going to be honest, given a lone founder, I'd prefer to invest in one with great connections and ability to excite people but who is a little clueless (though passionate) about the product. I know that's heresy, but hear me out here. Entrepreneurs almost by definition go into fields where there's a huge gap between how crummy things are and how much better they can be with a little work. And we know that a startup is not going to be as able to define a market as a huge company is. And it's actually better for them not to come in with a lot of assumptions about a fully-formed product that customers "must" love. So it's honestly pretty important to get someone out there who is going to put the work into making those relationships and selling the product. I know people should rarely concern themselves with improving on their weaknesses, but I think this is one of the few counterexamples. Product and technology wonks really need to know they need to step up their bizdev game or have a co-founder who can do it to succeed as a startup. To bring this back around to the topic at hand, learn from Dan! He was tireless in presenting Ontela to everyone who would listen to his pitch, and got really good at communicating the best message. And he got some good practice presenting to audiences at conferences before he went into startups (Dan, forgive me for this one): http://www.google.com/search?q=dan+shapiro+they+wanted+to+stone+him http://www.google.com/search?q=dan+shapiro+they+wanted+to+st...