3 ms·

> lack of vision and direction. I've seen this play out more than once during my career and startups with otherwise great concepts end up treading water becaus

by ljm 1y ago

> lack of vision and direction. I've seen this play out more than once during my career and startups with otherwise great concepts end up treading water because the founding team or leadership fails to execute. Being a charismatic sales person might work wonders in terms of attracting funding and talent but it's not enough if you lack the capability to follow through with it. I'd wager that lots of the latest batch of startups that want do-it-all 'product engineers' will collapse for the exact same reason: delegating vision.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
I've been a "shipper," all my adult life. It's always been my job to Make Things Happen, as opposed to "Make Things Look Like They're Happening." A lot of "Making Things Happen" is boring and un-sexy, but absolutely crucial. I'm always surprised, when I run into folks that are awesome at schmoozing and getting folks to come to the party (I'm not so good at that stuff), and may be extremely creative and talented, but lack the follow-through, to make their dreams a reality. It's usually when folks like that, team up with folks like me, that magic happens. Rarely, you have it in one person.
- codethief 1y ago
  > I've been a "shipper," all my adult life. Have you just always been one (say, for as long as you can think) or did you become one? In the latter case, I'd be very interested in hearing your story of how that happened if you don't mind sharing it. :)
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
    Became one. The "story" is fairly simple: I always worked for companies that were intensely product-focused. My mentors were always "shippers." The last 27 years of my career, was at one of the world's leading optical companies. They were a true customer- and product-oriented company, and I learned a lot from them. However, the flip side of this, is that I learned a relatively conservative approach, eschewing some level of creativity. Like I said, the ideal pairing is an ADD idealist, with a “by the book” realist. For me, there's a real, personal joy, in "finishing." It makes all the "boring" stuff worth it.
    - codethief 1y ago
      Thanks so much!
- ljm 1y ago
  The key piece to that is creativity. I've encountered a fair few people who basically just have the sales nous and the cash, like the Silicon Valley version of "I've got an idea for an app," but the money isn't put to good use in building an effective team and you essentially have to bring all of the vision, direction and creativity to the table so the founder can take the credit and cash out on it all a few years later. The other side of that is when the startup struggles, it's the product and eng team's fault and not the founder's. This is fine if it's clear up-front that they're just bankrolling the op and not actually leading it.
culi 1y ago
PP has been around for over a decade and has successfully built a pretty global community as a non profit. Here's an attempt to map out that community: https://community.preciousplastic.com/map https://community.preciousplastic.com/map

by ljm 1y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago

I've been a "shipper," all my adult life. It's always been my job to Make Things Happen, as opposed to "Make Things Look Like They're Happening." A lot of "Making Things Happen" is boring and un-sexy, but absolutely crucial. I'm always surprised, when I run into folks that are awesome at schmoozing and getting folks to come to the party (I'm not so good at that stuff), and may be extremely creative and talented, but lack the follow-through, to make their dreams a reality. It's usually when folks like that, team up with folks like me, that magic happens. Rarely, you have it in one person.

codethief 1y ago
> I've been a "shipper," all my adult life. Have you just always been one (say, for as long as you can think) or did you become one? In the latter case, I'd be very interested in hearing your story of how that happened if you don't mind sharing it. :)
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  Became one. The "story" is fairly simple: I always worked for companies that were intensely product-focused. My mentors were always "shippers." The last 27 years of my career, was at one of the world's leading optical companies. They were a true customer- and product-oriented company, and I learned a lot from them. However, the flip side of this, is that I learned a relatively conservative approach, eschewing some level of creativity. Like I said, the ideal pairing is an ADD idealist, with a “by the book” realist. For me, there's a real, personal joy, in "finishing." It makes all the "boring" stuff worth it.
  - codethief 1y ago
    Thanks so much!
ljm 1y ago
The key piece to that is creativity. I've encountered a fair few people who basically just have the sales nous and the cash, like the Silicon Valley version of "I've got an idea for an app," but the money isn't put to good use in building an effective team and you essentially have to bring all of the vision, direction and creativity to the table so the founder can take the credit and cash out on it all a few years later. The other side of that is when the startup struggles, it's the product and eng team's fault and not the founder's. This is fine if it's clear up-front that they're just bankrolling the op and not actually leading it.

culi 1y ago

PP has been around for over a decade and has successfully built a pretty global community as a non profit. Here's an attempt to map out that community: https://community.preciousplastic.com/map https://community.preciousplastic.com/map