> Commit to regular posts on LinkedIn and Twitter, even if I think I'm cringe every time I do it. Is this what people that create all Twitter and LinkedIn cringe content tell themselves? Why do it? You really can't come up with any way to market your company that feels good? Can't you think a bit more about the problem and frame it as "what can I do that is net positive, doesn't make me feel like crap while doing it…
It's weird, because it's not even cargo cult since all the really succesful founders I know don't ever post on LinkedIn
Escape the complete corruption and chaos that is Charleston, SC. I was recently arrested for waving hello to a police officer with presentable clothing on. That is how corrupt this place is. You could argue Detroit is worse, but at at least lead levels are detectable. This place you don't realize how corrupt it is until you follow your parents out to the suburbs here on your last paycheck to be recycled into the service industry forever, while you freeze and die on the streets without support.
The honest answer? There are some people who have climbed to relative positions of power not by producing value but by playing the business social metagame. It's not about having the best quality product, there are two ways to reach those people. They need to either see you as a means to an end for them (caveat: they only deal in shallow self-promotional narratives, not nuance or detail), or they need to see you as o…
That's not an honest answer. The question is why _you_ are doing it.
As in, why am I not paying someone?
For menial tasks I typically do them myself for a while before I outsource them. I like to understand what's going on.
Escape the complete corruption and chaos that is Charleston, SC. I was recently arrested for waving hello to a police officer with presentable clothing on. That is how corrupt this place is. You could argue Detroit is worse, but at at least lead levels are detectable. This place you don't realize how corrupt it is until you follow your parents out to the suburbs here on your last paycheck to be recycled into the serv…
I left there in 2018 for the EU. Never looked back. That place is messed up.
To finally figure out how to effectively design and test MVPs / prototypes without overdoing it. I think this has been a bane of my startup life for pretty much whole ~14 years I've been doing it.
+1. I'm in the same boat. Making a conscious effort to build quick and dirty prototypes when needed and only build them after I get a potential customer to jump into Figma with me and spend an hour of their time designing something with me. If they're willing to do that the hypothesis is they actually really do want it.
That is todays Mantra it seems. But there is no second chance to correct a first impression, if your rushed prototype was too rushed and no one gets the value beneath the flaws. It really depends on your product and market.
- Splitting my time 50/50 between building and business.
- Holding myself and my co-founders accountable with metrics. If we say we're going to reach out to potential customers there will be a number/time_period involved.
- Doing with intention with a direct goal and deadline instead of just generally building.
Last year I spent 90% of my time coding. The last 2 months of the year I talked to more businesses than I have in the last 3 years and started to see progress in idea development. My team just bought ZoomInfo and we're setting up HubSpot. My #1 goal is to spend time on the business and not just code 60 hours a week.
>I need to continue to increase my presence there I am curious why you are concluding this if you dislike it so much? I am not judging here, I definitely recognize the feeling..
The honest answer? There are some people who have climbed to relative positions of power not by producing value but by playing the business social metagame. It's not about having the best quality product, there are two ways to reach those people. They need to either see you as a means to an end for them (caveat: they only deal in shallow self-promotional narratives, not nuance or detail), or they need to see you as o…
To finally figure out how to effectively design and test MVPs / prototypes without overdoing it. I think this has been a bane of my startup life for pretty much whole ~14 years I've been doing it.
As someone who’s on research, I do hundreds of prototypes each year. My time optimizations include having a backing hypothesis for each prototype, and prototyping one hypothesis at a time, even if two hypothesis touch on the same domain problem, I spin a fresh new prototype for each. Usually I’m able to validate the hypothesis even before finishing the prototype, as merely getting the hands on the process reveals the answer. Also, each hypothesis lend itself to some specific kind of prototype. Some things will be amenable to code prototypes, others to statecharts, others to visual designs, etc. so getting intimate with your toolset is essential for productivity, as most time is spent with these tools. Even simple things like mastering keyboard shortcuts represent significant productivity gains. But building is not the hardest part, by far. The hardest part, for which there’s hardly any optimization is this: how to filter and select an hypothesis to begin with? Overall, I would recommend getting good at prototyping in general (as a mindset thing) and not simply trying to quickly make a particular prototype.
To finally figure out how to effectively design and test MVPs / prototypes without overdoing it. I think this has been a bane of my startup life for pretty much whole ~14 years I've been doing it.
As someone who’s on research, I do hundreds of prototypes each year. My time optimizations include having a backing hypothesis for each prototype, and prototyping one hypothesis at a time, even if two hypothesis touch on the same domain problem, I spin a fresh new prototype for each. Usually I’m able to validate the hypothesis even before finishing the prototype, as merely getting the hands on the process reveals the…
Having a research background - for me, doing this in research was always easier. Because you generally have very straightforward ways to validate your hypotheses.
Validating things with customers - in my experience - can be extremely tricky as they might not even know what they want