skmurphy

224 ms·

2041.
by skmurphy 19y ago
For me the opportunity is for an app that would allow a small group (e.g. of founders) to create an integrated view of their contacts: answer the question who knows someone at X? But I agree with gnaritas that turning over the keys to your
2042.
by skmurphy 19y ago
I think the YC audience may be more diverse than you realize--there may be many with families and some with grandchildren. Also, starting a family and starting a start-up are both a process. Is it less work when you have 12 employees and a
2043.
by skmurphy 19y ago
No person's dying words have ever been "I wish I had spent more time at the office." It seems to me this article serious confuses ends and means. You have to set priorities for everything that you do in life, but postponing marriage and sta
2044.
by skmurphy 19y ago
A recession is the best time to start a firm. Most companies make more mistakes and develop more bad habits when times are easy than when times are tough. It may take tough times to uncover the bad habits you developed and the unrealistic a
2045.
by skmurphy 19y ago
Creating a company is the administrivia aspect, determining how to make money (and a profit) separates a hobby from a business. The single largest business risk you face is whether a market exists for your product. Before you finish coding
2046.
by skmurphy 19y ago
A number of folks have already suggested that you need to be introduced, and that's normally the best way to proceed. It seems like you can make progress without additional funding, just at a slower rate. Is your partner really committed to
2047.
by skmurphy 19y ago
The book the "Artist's Way at Work" by Mark Bryan, Julia Cameron, and Catherine Allen offers an approach called "morning pages" that is similar to a log but helps to overcome writers block (as well as act as a refinery for written pieces st
2048.
by skmurphy 19y ago
"But I am wondering - are they for real?" They will really take your money. If you've exhausted all of your social capital and none of your friends, folks you have prior shared success with (e.g old bosess, co-workers, team members, custome
2049.
by skmurphy 19y ago
This is a great list. I think an alternative to #1 is that ad driven sites tend to promote more page views and page refreshes, which tend to lower productivity compared to a well designed subscription driven site (so they value their employ
2050.
by skmurphy 19y ago
This should really link here: http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml... It has a more complete version of the table and the blog appears to be just a verbatim copy of the article. That being said it's a good article
2051.
by skmurphy 19y ago
It's well thought out article. One key insight that Benjamin Hill offers is that anti-features are often driven by business model requirements. If a competitor "un-implements them" (enabling the feature) it's hard for the original firm to f
2052.
by skmurphy 19y ago
The denial of death.
2053.
by skmurphy 19y ago
What would you do if you had users but they weren't requesting any new functionality? Do you have your own plans for what you want to add or would you start working on something else? Also, how do you know your users are happy?
2054.
by skmurphy 19y ago
This is a good sales process overview. Startups typically face two additional challenge with their early sales: they can't be sure if they have the right product (or an adequate feature set) and they can't be sure if they have the right mes
2055.
by skmurphy 19y ago
If you don't have any reference customers you are going to need to find a department manager who is in a lot of pain. It's very hard for an early stage startup to sell to a large corporation, but it can be done if you find someone with budg
2056.
by skmurphy 19y ago
I have a couple of suggestions: 1. Be very clear on who your customer is (who will pay for your product). If you want your friends or advisors to recommend prospects you are going to need to get very specific on characteristics (preferably
2057.
by skmurphy 19y ago
I agree with optimal's comment: Don't throw any files away for at least six months. Let your emotions cool down, there may be quite a bit that can be salvaged or recycled. Write up a personal list of lessons learned, so that you can transla
2058.
by skmurphy 19y ago
Don't do 50-50; do 51-49 so there is a clear majority partner. It can be you or the other person but you need a way to avoid deadlock. You can involve a third person and go 49-49-2 so that you have a tie-breaker (or 49.99-49.99-0.02). Packa
2059.
by skmurphy 19y ago
One thing not mentioned is to send it to yourself. That seems to trigger most of the emotional/regret glands associated with the send button, it stores the content of the message verbatim, and you can review it in the morning and really sen