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My thoughts... - What does a builder sound like? Aren't we all just trying to speak to customers? Are builders naturally better at that? - "Co-authored notebo

by drupeek 14y ago

My thoughts... - What does a builder sound like? Aren't we all just trying to speak to customers? Are builders naturally better at that? - "Co-authored notebooks" and "one author per note" are not contradictions at all. They speak to entirely different units (notes and notebooks). - While you are correct that you and the startup may have different systems for categorizing, that's exactly the problem we're trying to point to. The siloed nature of how we capture and categorize information. In closing, I am trying to speak to customers... not engineers. Thank you for the feedback. I know it took time to write.

ynniv 14y ago
What does a builder sound like? "When I write in emacs, it's inconvenient to share that with my team. When I write in the Wiki... well, I don't write in the wiki because it's annoying. I have been more productive doing X, and I think you will too." In closing, I am trying to speak to customers... not engineers. That's marketing speak for "I don't know who my customer is". You are pitching to a customer who is an engineer, so you should be speaking to engineers. Thank you for the feedback. I know it took time to write. That's what we do here... this sounds hollow.
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  I couldn't disagree with this comment more. You are not trying to sell your product to YC, you are trying to sell your company to YC. You do that by understanding your product and your customer and how you will bring the two together. Not by pretending some person in YC is suddenly your ideal customer and shifting your entire pitch around that. That's what we do here... this sounds hollow. Wow. Nice.
scott_s 14y ago
"Builders" have a common language - jargon - about how things work. It's specific and concretely describes the thing in question, usually through implied behavior. Once we communicate what something is, it's easy for us to understand how it can be used. Sometimes, with a few primers, we can figure out the use before we're told. In other words, don't tell me you have a "delicious, round edible item with just the right amount of firmness and sweetness to be pleasant to eat." Just tell me you have an apple, and I'll figure out the rest.
- drupeek 14y ago
  Should Steve Jobs have said: a) It's a tablet b) It's an iPad, or c) It's for consuming content in a relaxed and portable way? Honest question. I'm curious what your approach would have been.
  - ken 14y ago
    I think the point is that it's hard to imagine anyone at Apple -- a salesman like Jobs, the designers or software engineers, or even a greeter at an Apple retail store -- saying the phrase "bottom-up approach to knowledge management". (I don't even know what that means.) The iPod, at least, was "1000 songs in your pocket", i.e., none of the above.
  - ynniv 14y ago
    It's for Indirect grammar is comparatively weak. It isn't "for consuming", it "consumes". consuming content No one "consumes content". They read, listen, watch, and play. relaxed A good writer conveys by action, not by description. If you say that a joke is funny, it is not funny. portable He wouldn't need to say this while holding the device in his hand. And he further conveyed this by describing the product's battery life. So to conclude, Jobs would have said (and may have, I don't remember): d) Here's a book (thumb, thumb), and here's a movie (play). Isn't that great? Try saying that for your product.
  - scott_s 14y ago
    Honest answer: depends on his audience. But I would never pick c), even for a consumer. It's not specific. No one wants to "consume content." They want to "read the newspaper" or "watch videos" or "listen to music." Those actions are, of course, consuming content, but you want to use words and phrases that allow people to imagine using your product. "Consuming content" does not cause me to think of myself using it.
  - prawn 14y ago
    I don't know if Jobs would have stuck with market-specific terms in the primary pitch (tablet) or yet been able to drive things on their terms (iPad). I think it would've been termed a "way" of doing something. e.g., iPad is the simple and easy way to enjoy the things that matter to you.
mikeleeorg 14y ago
I think the fundamental issue here is that PG tends to interview from an engineer's perspective. For your business, you should absolutely speak to customers. For an interview with YC, you should absolutely speak to the interviewers (PG, et al), who, in this case, happen to think like engineers. The language you use should change according to your audience.
ErrantX 14y ago
Aren't we all just trying to speak to customers? In a YC interview? If you considered YC a customer then you definitely went about it the wrong way. The sales pitch is fine for a certain style of customer. It's not in this context. The point I am trying to make is that you should be speaking in pg's language; not the language of a corporate salesman.

by drupeek 14y ago

ynniv 14y ago

What does a builder sound like? "When I write in emacs, it's inconvenient to share that with my team. When I write in the Wiki... well, I don't write in the wiki because it's annoying. I have been more productive doing X, and I think you will too." In closing, I am trying to speak to customers... not engineers. That's marketing speak for "I don't know who my customer is". You are pitching to a customer who is an engineer, so you should be speaking to engineers. Thank you for the feedback. I know it took time to write. That's what we do here... this sounds hollow.

SoftwareMaven 14y ago
I couldn't disagree with this comment more. You are not trying to sell your product to YC, you are trying to sell your company to YC. You do that by understanding your product and your customer and how you will bring the two together. Not by pretending some person in YC is suddenly your ideal customer and shifting your entire pitch around that. That's what we do here... this sounds hollow. Wow. Nice.

scott_s 14y ago

"Builders" have a common language - jargon - about how things work. It's specific and concretely describes the thing in question, usually through implied behavior. Once we communicate what something is, it's easy for us to understand how it can be used. Sometimes, with a few primers, we can figure out the use before we're told. In other words, don't tell me you have a "delicious, round edible item with just the right amount of firmness and sweetness to be pleasant to eat." Just tell me you have an apple, and I'll figure out the rest.

drupeek 14y ago
Should Steve Jobs have said: a) It's a tablet b) It's an iPad, or c) It's for consuming content in a relaxed and portable way? Honest question. I'm curious what your approach would have been.
- ken 14y ago
  I think the point is that it's hard to imagine anyone at Apple -- a salesman like Jobs, the designers or software engineers, or even a greeter at an Apple retail store -- saying the phrase "bottom-up approach to knowledge management". (I don't even know what that means.) The iPod, at least, was "1000 songs in your pocket", i.e., none of the above.
- ynniv 14y ago
  It's for Indirect grammar is comparatively weak. It isn't "for consuming", it "consumes". consuming content No one "consumes content". They read, listen, watch, and play. relaxed A good writer conveys by action, not by description. If you say that a joke is funny, it is not funny. portable He wouldn't need to say this while holding the device in his hand. And he further conveyed this by describing the product's battery life. So to conclude, Jobs would have said (and may have, I don't remember): d) Here's a book (thumb, thumb), and here's a movie (play). Isn't that great? Try saying that for your product.
- scott_s 14y ago
  Honest answer: depends on his audience. But I would never pick c), even for a consumer. It's not specific. No one wants to "consume content." They want to "read the newspaper" or "watch videos" or "listen to music." Those actions are, of course, consuming content, but you want to use words and phrases that allow people to imagine using your product. "Consuming content" does not cause me to think of myself using it.
- prawn 14y ago
  I don't know if Jobs would have stuck with market-specific terms in the primary pitch (tablet) or yet been able to drive things on their terms (iPad). I think it would've been termed a "way" of doing something. e.g., iPad is the simple and easy way to enjoy the things that matter to you.

mikeleeorg 14y ago

I think the fundamental issue here is that PG tends to interview from an engineer's perspective. For your business, you should absolutely speak to customers. For an interview with YC, you should absolutely speak to the interviewers (PG, et al), who, in this case, happen to think like engineers. The language you use should change according to your audience.

ErrantX 14y ago

Aren't we all just trying to speak to customers? In a YC interview? If you considered YC a customer then you definitely went about it the wrong way. The sales pitch is fine for a certain style of customer. It's not in this context. The point I am trying to make is that you should be speaking in pg's language; not the language of a corporate salesman.