31–40 of 42 posts
I used to think that somehow kicking around ideas on places like HN made the ideas better, when in fact all they did was create ideas that hackers thought were cool. Different thing entirely.
You only know an idea is good or bad once you start executing. The market is always different from what you imagine (or want it to be)
I made many mistakes, the common pattern in all mistakes was WISHFUL THINKING. I think a really good businessman operates without ANY wishful thinking. I came to the conclusion that a good business plan (which by the way should be typed up and hung on the wall so that it is explicit) contains no more than one "wishful" part. VC money might allow for more, I don't know. Anyways, for me it was: * not doing customer dev…
I think pretty much everyone interested in startups knows what "customer development" is by now :)
By the time I realized my mistake, I was ready to move on to another startup. Wasn't able to create passion for a core business and the technology wasn't enough.
My mistake: a lack of passion for the core business model. Focused on the technology I am passionate about, drove the startup through this passion and technology, failed to focus on and understand what the core demographic truly wanted. By the time I realized my mistake, I was ready to move on to another startup. Wasn't able to create passion for a core business and the technology wasn't enough.
My mistake: a lack of passion for the core business model. Focused on the technology I am passionate about, drove the startup through this passion and technology, failed to focus on and understand what the core demographic truly wanted. By the time I realized my mistake, I was ready to move on to another startup. Wasn't able to create passion for a core business and the technology wasn't enough.
* Build for your customer, not for yourself. * Make one thing very good, ignore trying to do hundreds of features at launch.
* Build for your customer, not for yourself. * Make one thing very good, ignore trying to do hundreds of features at launch.
Rebuttal: Be your own customer.
Learning from others' faults is better. Oh, and don't forget to pass along what you have learned on your own anyway. Open-sourcing is not just about software ^_^
I'm not an entrepreneur yet, thus I can't pass along my wisdom. The fault I will try to avoid with all my strength when I will become one, will be thinking that hacking are just about software. I will try to keep myself surrounded by marketing hackers, communication hackers and so forth, everyone respecting the skills of each other.
Have fun ^_^