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Guy Kawasaki’s 10 Questions to Ask Before You Join a Startup

50 points by psogle 17y ago

dlevine 17y ago
What was your primary motivation for starting this company?
rokhayakebe 17y ago
1- What are we going to build? Can we build it? 2- Does the (potential) market size justify the resources we will invest in it? 3- Can it create enough revenue to support development, and turn a profit by MM/YY?
- alaskamiller 17y ago
  1. What are we doing? 2. Can it be done? 3. Should it be done? 4. Will it be worth it? 5. How do we make it better?
- gizmo 17y ago
  Nice questions, but any startup that claims to know the answers is lying. 1. When the company knows exactly what they're going to build, I'm going to be worried the idea is somebody's "brainchild", and that any suggested changes to the product will be met with a lot of resistance. No plan is said to survive contact with the enemy. This also applies for product concepts and the first (potential) customers. The second half of the question (Can we build it?), will always be answered in the affirmative. We're hopelessly optimistic that way. Questions 2 and 3 are questions that are very important, but what's the point of asking when you can't tell if the answer is a realistic forecast or some numbers pulled out of nowhere? A company that has absolutely no idea about market size, or the revenue model can still stumble upon a working business model. Questions that can only be answered in hindsight won't give you the information you need before you join.
  - mgenzel 17y ago
    I think the point of asking such questions is to see whether they have even thought of the difficult issues. It's not the answer, it's the thought process (just like the questions they'll ask you, theoretically).
jlees 17y ago
What am I going to do, will I have the freedom to do it or will I be working on somebody's baby, and can you pay me?
devin 17y ago
Yay! Not a fluff post about how "passion" will magically line your pockets with dough. Real advice from one of the true visionaries out there.
- devin 17y ago
  Really? A down vote for this?
netsp 17y ago
Will a startup honestly answer all of these questions?
- potatolicious 17y ago
  That's the point - if they don't, run.
redorb 17y ago
#11: is Guy Kawasaki on the board or associated with your company. (serious) I wouldn't be on a start up with him; seems too willing to whore his name out for anything, perhaps I just respected his earlier days more than I do currently.
quizbiz 17y ago
I must say that http://www.mint.com/blog/ http://www.mint.com/blog/ is incredibly well done.

50 points by psogle 17y ago

What was your primary motivation for starting this company?

1- What are we going to build? Can we build it? 2- Does the (potential) market size justify the resources we will invest in it? 3- Can it create enough revenue to support development, and turn a profit by MM/YY?

alaskamiller 17y ago
1. What are we doing? 2. Can it be done? 3. Should it be done? 4. Will it be worth it? 5. How do we make it better?
gizmo 17y ago
Nice questions, but any startup that claims to know the answers is lying. 1. When the company knows exactly what they're going to build, I'm going to be worried the idea is somebody's "brainchild", and that any suggested changes to the product will be met with a lot of resistance. No plan is said to survive contact with the enemy. This also applies for product concepts and the first (potential) customers. The second half of the question (Can we build it?), will always be answered in the affirmative. We're hopelessly optimistic that way. Questions 2 and 3 are questions that are very important, but what's the point of asking when you can't tell if the answer is a realistic forecast or some numbers pulled out of nowhere? A company that has absolutely no idea about market size, or the revenue model can still stumble upon a working business model. Questions that can only be answered in hindsight won't give you the information you need before you join.
- mgenzel 17y ago
  I think the point of asking such questions is to see whether they have even thought of the difficult issues. It's not the answer, it's the thought process (just like the questions they'll ask you, theoretically).

jlees 17y ago

What am I going to do, will I have the freedom to do it or will I be working on somebody's baby, and can you pay me?

devin 17y ago

Yay! Not a fluff post about how "passion" will magically line your pockets with dough. Real advice from one of the true visionaries out there.

devin 17y ago
Really? A down vote for this?

netsp 17y ago

Will a startup honestly answer all of these questions?

potatolicious 17y ago
That's the point - if they don't, run.

redorb 17y ago

#11: is Guy Kawasaki on the board or associated with your company. (serious) I wouldn't be on a start up with him; seems too willing to whore his name out for anything, perhaps I just respected his earlier days more than I do currently.

quizbiz 17y ago

I must say that http://www.mint.com/blog/ http://www.mint.com/blog/ is incredibly well done.