I have noticed that startup ideas advanced by the type of folks that might read HN are already pretty minimalist compared to the pre-Lean Startup era. That's no

I have noticed that startup ideas advanced by the type of folks that might read HN are already pretty minimalist compared to the pre-Lean Startup era. That's not to say that there aren't glaring exceptions and abuses of perfectly good investment capital, just that our dials are set to "what are the blocking features required, and that's it". For me that started with reading the 37signals blog; HN/MVP/4 Steps came later. On the other hand, I assure you that non-technical founders that approach us for development help are not on the MVP train yet in 2012. They want it all, on desktop and every mobile platform. Helping them scale down is one of the most valuable things we can do for them. The takeaway for me is that I find myself largely agreeing with this article. I've been involved with projects that released too soon and it wasn't that the early adopters were forgiving or not. No, they just came once and were silently let down by what we couldn't yet quite do and never returned. Those early members were not ransoms but carefully chosen for their background and interest in our domain. It turns out that when you blow your first impression with the folks you need for your Tipping Point... it's hard to move the needle after that. The answer is obvious: an Eric Ries vs Malcolm Gladwell cage match.