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What does a startup absolutely have to do? It isn't creating the most elegantly designed piece of software in the world. It's creating value for the customer.

What does a startup absolutely have to do? It isn't creating the most elegantly designed piece of software in the world. It's creating value for the customer. Along the way to delivering that value, sometimes a less than perfect solution is chosen (often because of resources--time, money, or lack of human resources) OR the perfect solution is chosen, but the product changes and that solution no longer is perfect. Technical debt should be managed, but it can't be eliminated... unless you want to give up producing anything new, and just work on polishing your previous work forever. When will it kill your startup? If it turns out that your product is NOT what your customer actually wants, but the shortcuts (tech debt) you took prevent you from making the necessary adjustments to meet your customers needs.

Yadi 11y ago
Thanks. Indeed, I agree with you regarding how startups are about "creating value for the customer." But I think at some point, this might become very difficult due to the technical debt when the startup can't deliver more value than it promised.
- rgbrenner 11y ago
  That's definitely true of technical debt.. There are two issues here: 1) A competitive issue.. a company will less tech debt will be able to improve their product faster. That is a risk, but it depends on the competitive landscape how much risk that amounts to. 2) When you say "startup can't deliver more value than it promised".. this is more a variation on my original point. The issue isn't "delivering more value", but that the value that has been delivered is insufficient to meet customer needs. Above that, "delivering more value" is a growth issue (your ability to meet the needs of additional segments of the market). And it's certainly true that startups with less tech debt can improve their product faster -- ie: grow faster.
  - Yadi 11y ago
    Thanks :)! Lots of good clarified points.

Yadi 11y ago

Thanks. Indeed, I agree with you regarding how startups are about "creating value for the customer." But I think at some point, this might become very difficult due to the technical debt when the startup can't deliver more value than it promised.

rgbrenner 11y ago
That's definitely true of technical debt.. There are two issues here: 1) A competitive issue.. a company will less tech debt will be able to improve their product faster. That is a risk, but it depends on the competitive landscape how much risk that amounts to. 2) When you say "startup can't deliver more value than it promised".. this is more a variation on my original point. The issue isn't "delivering more value", but that the value that has been delivered is insufficient to meet customer needs. Above that, "delivering more value" is a growth issue (your ability to meet the needs of additional segments of the market). And it's certainly true that startups with less tech debt can improve their product faster -- ie: grow faster.
- Yadi 11y ago
  Thanks :)! Lots of good clarified points.