5 ms·

A funny story linked to this book. Having read half the book at the time it came out, I noticed that there is pretty much nothing in common between all the var

by DenisM 11y ago

A funny story linked to this book. Having read half the book at the time it came out, I noticed that there is pretty much nothing in common between all the various founders. In particular founders of RIM and Craigslist are people from different planets. I complained loudly about it, and eventually a friend pointed out that there was something I overlooked - they have all tried. Somehow that turned out to be a profound revelation to me. Combined with another push from a colleague, who's said "Denis, you always talk about these ideas you had, how come you never do much with them", that got me to start doing things rather than thinking about them.

briholt 11y ago
"Showing up is half the battle"
- nothrabannosir 11y ago
  "The surprise is half the battle. Many things are half the battle, losing is half the battle. Let's think about what's the whole battle."
  - briholt 11y ago
    Understanding the battle is three halves the battle.
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  "the other half is actually winning"
  - fezz 11y ago
    And there's short term winning and long term winning. You can win short term as a founder and screw things up long term.
    - Retra 11y ago
      I'm curious what inspires people to go three levels deep into a game of tautological platitudes.
      - jsprogrammer 11y ago
        Increases the absurdity, which increases the chances someone will notice the flaws, instead of blindly integrating useless platitudes.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- marincounty 11y ago
  Years ago, I heard Woody Allen say that line, "80% of life is showing up." I think he was trying to be modest, but it's true. On the other hand, I have been around truly talented individuals whom are crazy, shut-ins, had horrid childhoods, or just anti-social. I sometimes think they make up the real talent, but will never get discovered? What I like about this tech economy is the poor kid can still make a lot of money if they have the right combination of skills, ideas, and salesmanship? My generation was pretty much, going to a in-demand professional school, or having a rich father who would back you. A rich-caring father is still the an important factor though. It seems like poor kids are given one chance of making it big. The rich kid can fail a few times? I gotten more flack for bringing up rich kids, but I grew up in a wealthy/blue collar community.(Weird combination of families.) If you didn't ruin your brain at UC Santa Cruz, and had a somewhat understanding father; you are wealthy right now. I just saw it happen too many times to not be true. I can list rich father success stories at nausium. The one that kills me is the inventor of the disposable dental pick.(you know--those white tooth picks you see thrown everywhere?). This kid's father invented all the products for this company. This kids father was a dentist and saw the need for consumer dental products. This kid had a sailboat in high school. This kid went to a private college, but was bored. His dad decided set him up in a nice office, a nice car, a nice house, a bigger sailboat, and speedboat, funding, prototypes, the best contacts(networking), and paid help. This kid just needed to --show up--at a few trade show meetings(first class only), and make a marketing pitch to Target. Well, the company, after the Target account is worth millions. The irony is I think the kid moved the company to the Midwest in order to get away from dad? Dad was overly nice, and just wanted to be a part of his son's life?
  - hkmurakami 11y ago
    The tech industry overall is rapidly becoming more professional. In many places, looking and sounding "right" can outweigh superior technical skill. I wouldn't be entirely shocked if some day, most of the industry renders those "outcasts" as unwelcome.
    - drumdance 11y ago
      Eh, maybe. Tech goes in cycles. I remember waaaaay back in the early 90s when IBM bought Lotus. Mitch Kapor commented that software was no longer startup industry. It had become corporatized. In the meantime the outcasts found new stuff to build.
- unclebucknasty 11y ago
  Maybe in some spaces at some point in history, but certainly not in today's hyper-competitive startup scene, wherein showing up is the merest of prerequisites. Showing up means you have plenty of company.
  - Swizec 11y ago
    > Showing up means you have plenty of company. And yet you are probably in the top 0.1% if not 0.01% of the human race. That's still 7,000,000 people though.
melling 11y ago
The idea that most people just talk a lot and don't take action has been rediscovered for thousand of years. They should cover that in the Introduction. It's #52 on this enjoyable list. "That was not "your idea" unless you shipped something, otherwise I invented Facebook, Nest and Oculus Rift" http://www.talkingquickly.co.uk/2015/04/what-id-tell-myself-about-startups/ http://www.talkingquickly.co.uk/2015/04/what-id-tell-myself-... Just keep telling yourself you don't have an idea until you ship.
- DenisM 11y ago
  I want you to appreciate the cruel irony of this situation. My problem was the gap between knowing and doing, but if I read about it, which I did quite often, I wouldn't be able to take advantage of this knowledge due to... that same gap!
  - gull 11y ago
    If I followed this correctly, the gap is between talking and doing, not between reading and doing. Reading is not the problem.
- svantana 11y ago
  I'm fond of saying that founders don't need an idea, they need a plan. An idea is just a pie in the sky, but a plan can be executed and is therefore more easily dismissed as unrealistic or flawed. So if anyone wants to tell me their plan I'm all ears :)
DateK 11y ago
Dear Denis, now lets do something, seriously.

by DenisM 11y ago

briholt 11y ago

"Showing up is half the battle"

nothrabannosir 11y ago
"The surprise is half the battle. Many things are half the battle, losing is half the battle. Let's think about what's the whole battle."
- briholt 11y ago
  Understanding the battle is three halves the battle.
jsprogrammer 11y ago
"the other half is actually winning"
- fezz 11y ago
  And there's short term winning and long term winning. You can win short term as a founder and screw things up long term.
  - Retra 11y ago
    I'm curious what inspires people to go three levels deep into a game of tautological platitudes.
    - jsprogrammer 11y ago
      Increases the absurdity, which increases the chances someone will notice the flaws, instead of blindly integrating useless platitudes.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
marincounty 11y ago
Years ago, I heard Woody Allen say that line, "80% of life is showing up." I think he was trying to be modest, but it's true. On the other hand, I have been around truly talented individuals whom are crazy, shut-ins, had horrid childhoods, or just anti-social. I sometimes think they make up the real talent, but will never get discovered? What I like about this tech economy is the poor kid can still make a lot of money if they have the right combination of skills, ideas, and salesmanship? My generation was pretty much, going to a in-demand professional school, or having a rich father who would back you. A rich-caring father is still the an important factor though. It seems like poor kids are given one chance of making it big. The rich kid can fail a few times? I gotten more flack for bringing up rich kids, but I grew up in a wealthy/blue collar community.(Weird combination of families.) If you didn't ruin your brain at UC Santa Cruz, and had a somewhat understanding father; you are wealthy right now. I just saw it happen too many times to not be true. I can list rich father success stories at nausium. The one that kills me is the inventor of the disposable dental pick.(you know--those white tooth picks you see thrown everywhere?). This kid's father invented all the products for this company. This kids father was a dentist and saw the need for consumer dental products. This kid had a sailboat in high school. This kid went to a private college, but was bored. His dad decided set him up in a nice office, a nice car, a nice house, a bigger sailboat, and speedboat, funding, prototypes, the best contacts(networking), and paid help. This kid just needed to --show up--at a few trade show meetings(first class only), and make a marketing pitch to Target. Well, the company, after the Target account is worth millions. The irony is I think the kid moved the company to the Midwest in order to get away from dad? Dad was overly nice, and just wanted to be a part of his son's life?
- hkmurakami 11y ago
  The tech industry overall is rapidly becoming more professional. In many places, looking and sounding "right" can outweigh superior technical skill. I wouldn't be entirely shocked if some day, most of the industry renders those "outcasts" as unwelcome.
  - drumdance 11y ago
    Eh, maybe. Tech goes in cycles. I remember waaaaay back in the early 90s when IBM bought Lotus. Mitch Kapor commented that software was no longer startup industry. It had become corporatized. In the meantime the outcasts found new stuff to build.
unclebucknasty 11y ago
Maybe in some spaces at some point in history, but certainly not in today's hyper-competitive startup scene, wherein showing up is the merest of prerequisites. Showing up means you have plenty of company.
- Swizec 11y ago
  > Showing up means you have plenty of company. And yet you are probably in the top 0.1% if not 0.01% of the human race. That's still 7,000,000 people though.

melling 11y ago

The idea that most people just talk a lot and don't take action has been rediscovered for thousand of years. They should cover that in the Introduction. It's #52 on this enjoyable list. "That was not "your idea" unless you shipped something, otherwise I invented Facebook, Nest and Oculus Rift" http://www.talkingquickly.co.uk/2015/04/what-id-tell-myself-about-startups/ http://www.talkingquickly.co.uk/2015/04/what-id-tell-myself-... Just keep telling yourself you don't have an idea until you ship.

DenisM 11y ago
I want you to appreciate the cruel irony of this situation. My problem was the gap between knowing and doing, but if I read about it, which I did quite often, I wouldn't be able to take advantage of this knowledge due to... that same gap!
- gull 11y ago
  If I followed this correctly, the gap is between talking and doing, not between reading and doing. Reading is not the problem.
svantana 11y ago
I'm fond of saying that founders don't need an idea, they need a plan. An idea is just a pie in the sky, but a plan can be executed and is therefore more easily dismissed as unrealistic or flawed. So if anyone wants to tell me their plan I'm all ears :)

DateK 11y ago

Dear Denis, now lets do something, seriously.