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Since you are competing against people who will tell you that the feature they want already exists, people who are too honest in this area will quickly get filt

Since you are competing against people who will tell you that the feature they want already exists, people who are too honest in this area will quickly get filtered out of the marketplace. It sucks, but there are lots of markets where the customer says "please lie to me" and gives their business to the person with the most reassuring lie.

tspike 12y ago
This philosophy seems to imply that trust and relationships are worthless in business. If you perpetually promise features that don't exist, you'll eventually promise something that either can't be implemented at all or has to be implemented sloppily to deliver. How can you possibly sustain a long-term business when you're so willing to damage business relationships?
- chaqke 12y ago
  Many startups don't become long-term businesses. However, the startup that (wins a big contract with a big promise && delivers on its promise) certainly has a larger chance to become a long-term business than the ones that short circuit themselves out by not winning contracts.
billmalarky 12y ago
On the flip side I'm sure you've heard the phrase "nothing gets done until someone sells something." There's a lot of cases where you are certain you can build what the customer needs, but you can't spend resources on it until you have a sale in hand.
nostrademons 12y ago
I don't think that's true. In my experience, the very best companies all refuse to do this. If you leak an upcoming Google feature or promise something to a customer that doesn't exist, you get fired. Same at Facebook and Apple, or Blizzard. I do think it's much more common in highly competitive markets with no barriers to entry. Google/Facebook/Apple have pretty strong moats and large diverse markets, and can afford to release products "when they're done" and not talk about them until then. People in very competitive, low-margin markets often need the sale now. But then, people in the latter type of markets quickly get filtered out of the marketplace regardless of what they do.
- danielweber 12y ago
  Google and Blizzard are selling mass-market products. When selling enterprise software, you can find yourself facing checklists of "product must do X." (Even if the customer will never ever ever use X.)

tspike 12y ago

This philosophy seems to imply that trust and relationships are worthless in business. If you perpetually promise features that don't exist, you'll eventually promise something that either can't be implemented at all or has to be implemented sloppily to deliver. How can you possibly sustain a long-term business when you're so willing to damage business relationships?

chaqke 12y ago
Many startups don't become long-term businesses. However, the startup that (wins a big contract with a big promise && delivers on its promise) certainly has a larger chance to become a long-term business than the ones that short circuit themselves out by not winning contracts.

billmalarky 12y ago

On the flip side I'm sure you've heard the phrase "nothing gets done until someone sells something." There's a lot of cases where you are certain you can build what the customer needs, but you can't spend resources on it until you have a sale in hand.

nostrademons 12y ago

I don't think that's true. In my experience, the very best companies all refuse to do this. If you leak an upcoming Google feature or promise something to a customer that doesn't exist, you get fired. Same at Facebook and Apple, or Blizzard. I do think it's much more common in highly competitive markets with no barriers to entry. Google/Facebook/Apple have pretty strong moats and large diverse markets, and can afford to release products "when they're done" and not talk about them until then. People in very competitive, low-margin markets often need the sale now. But then, people in the latter type of markets quickly get filtered out of the marketplace regardless of what they do.

danielweber 12y ago
Google and Blizzard are selling mass-market products. When selling enterprise software, you can find yourself facing checklists of "product must do X." (Even if the customer will never ever ever use X.)