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Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

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Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#21

Post by zaidf »

newhouseb wrote: post #20
zaidf wrote: post #15

The smartest guys give the illusion that they are very open. But that is only because they have so much to share, they can keep talking(without being boring) and yet not get to the stuff that can really hurt them. That has been my experience. Make no mistake, even the biggest preachers of being open withheld information. I'd like to see a more nuanced discussion about what to share and what not to.

I fall largely into the bucket of "if you can give away your idea in one sentence, then you're toast" but I personally break down my projects into three parts: 1. The idea itself in the way you'd present it to the layman 2. The engineering problems you face in implementing the idea 3. The solution to said problems You can come off as being "open" by disclosing only the first part. If another person overhears (1) in y…

Well put.

I gauge how much to share from person to person, or even town to town. I know being in a college town, I can get away with sharing a lot more, even down to the details because it is rare I am talking to someone who has the motivation or skill to even try to execute.

The same would not be true in Frisco where I know there are serious executors and I'd be a little more wary of the depth I go into.

I have this perspective because I am someone who regularly gets great ideas from listening to other folks talk. I am surprised by the depth they go into and as a consumer, welcome it! But if I were in their shoes, I am not sure I'd share the same information.

Having said all this, very few people anywhere will say that I am a secretive guy. I just try to be deliberate about what I share. I also believe in reciprocation, especially with numbers. And I am happy to lead.

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#22

Post by gruseom »

newhouseb wrote: post #20
zaidf wrote: post #15

The smartest guys give the illusion that they are very open. But that is only because they have so much to share, they can keep talking(without being boring) and yet not get to the stuff that can really hurt them. That has been my experience. Make no mistake, even the biggest preachers of being open withheld information. I'd like to see a more nuanced discussion about what to share and what not to.

I fall largely into the bucket of "if you can give away your idea in one sentence, then you're toast" but I personally break down my projects into three parts: 1. The idea itself in the way you'd present it to the layman 2. The engineering problems you face in implementing the idea 3. The solution to said problems You can come off as being "open" by disclosing only the first part. If another person overhears (1) in y…

Great comment, as is the parent. But I'd question your Google history. PageRank was talked about from the beginning. The list went more like this:

1. Hey everybody, check out this new search engine with a genius algorithm called "PageRank" that returns much more relevant results!

2. ?

3. ?

In other words, Google is a prime example of what zaidf is saying. PageRank was a huge marketing hit. Over 10 years later, it's still the first thing anyone mentions when they talk about Google's competitive edge, yet this has been a fiction for ages and may largely have been so from the beginning. How much of a technical edge was it really, compared to the other things Google did right? That remains totally obscure (see 2 and 3 above).

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#24

Post by zaidf »

gruseom wrote: post #22
newhouseb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fall largely into the bucket of "if you can give away your idea in one sentence, then you're toast" but I personally break down my projects into three parts: 1. The idea itself in the way you'd present it to the layman 2. The engineering problems you face in implementing the idea 3. The solution to said problems You can come off as being "open" by disclosing only the first part. If another person overhears (1) in y…

Great comment, as is the parent. But I'd question your Google history. PageRank was talked about from the beginning. The list went more like this: 1. Hey everybody, check out this new search engine with a genius algorithm called "PageRank" that returns much more relevant results! 2. ? 3. ? In other words, Google is a prime example of what zaidf is saying. PageRank was a huge marketing hit. Over 10 years later, it's s…

With PageRank, I think google gets a lot of leverage from misinformation, which can be as important as the information.

Few people really know much about PageRank beyond the general idea. In Google's case, I think they talked about PageRank more because they had written a paper on it and it was already public whether they talked or not.

But if you observe, beyond the original paper, little is known about PageRank from Google. There are plenty of guesses--right and wrong--that can be pieced together to form a narrative of the changes and evolution in PageRank. But nothing official from Google. And probably for a reason.

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#26

Post by gruseom »

zaidf wrote: post #24
gruseom wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great comment, as is the parent. But I'd question your Google history. PageRank was talked about from the beginning. The list went more like this: 1. Hey everybody, check out this new search engine with a genius algorithm called "PageRank" that returns much more relevant results! 2. ? 3. ? In other words, Google is a prime example of what zaidf is saying. PageRank was a huge marketing hit. Over 10 years later, it's s…

With PageRank, I think google gets a lot of leverage from misinformation, which can be as important as the information. Few people really know much about PageRank beyond the general idea. In Google's case, I think they talked about PageRank more because they had written a paper on it and it was already public whether they talked or not. But if you observe, beyond the original paper, little is known about PageRank fro…

Yes, and not only PageRank: they've done the same thing with BigTable, GFS, etc. They're masters of selective disclosure. Two things one often hears about Google is how open they are and how secretive they are, and what's remarkable is that both are true.

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#27

Post by oujheush »

gruseom wrote: post #22
newhouseb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fall largely into the bucket of "if you can give away your idea in one sentence, then you're toast" but I personally break down my projects into three parts: 1. The idea itself in the way you'd present it to the layman 2. The engineering problems you face in implementing the idea 3. The solution to said problems You can come off as being "open" by disclosing only the first part. If another person overhears (1) in y…

Great comment, as is the parent. But I'd question your Google history. PageRank was talked about from the beginning. The list went more like this: 1. Hey everybody, check out this new search engine with a genius algorithm called "PageRank" that returns much more relevant results! 2. ? 3. ? In other words, Google is a prime example of what zaidf is saying. PageRank was a huge marketing hit. Over 10 years later, it's s…

So,

  1. PageRank
  2. ???
  3. Profit
I solved one of them...

(Worth the potential downvotes.)

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#28

Post by pg »

The most dangerous part of being in stealth mode for a long time is the long time, not the stealth mode.

If you launch fast, as you should, the question of how secretive to be before launching shrinks in importance.

Our advice is generally: you can tell people about some of your plans, and others you should keep secret, but above all, transform them into actions as soon as possible.

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#29

Post by newhouseb »

gruseom wrote: post #22
newhouseb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fall largely into the bucket of "if you can give away your idea in one sentence, then you're toast" but I personally break down my projects into three parts: 1. The idea itself in the way you'd present it to the layman 2. The engineering problems you face in implementing the idea 3. The solution to said problems You can come off as being "open" by disclosing only the first part. If another person overhears (1) in y…

Great comment, as is the parent. But I'd question your Google history. PageRank was talked about from the beginning. The list went more like this: 1. Hey everybody, check out this new search engine with a genius algorithm called "PageRank" that returns much more relevant results! 2. ? 3. ? In other words, Google is a prime example of what zaidf is saying. PageRank was a huge marketing hit. Over 10 years later, it's s…

I don't how much attribution the marketing of PageRank vs the actual effectiveness of PageRank (and undoubtedly other things never made public) deserves in the overall success of Google. I can't really think of a way in which we could easily come to such a conclusion either.

Ask Jeeves (or maybe Yahoo) tried a big "The Algorithm" marketing campaign and that clearly got them nowhere. I think if we're talking about marketing the "I'm feeling lucky" button was more of a boon to virality than PageRank.

Choosing PageRank was probably a slight lapse in integrity in my post, but undoubtedly there's been a whole bunch of other examples in Google's history which do fit the mold (GFS, MapReduce, Pregel, etc).

Re: Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

#30

Post by joshuabaer »

Most startups aren't an invention like electricity. Many new companies these days are pretty easy to re-create once you have a working model to look at - ie. a less competent programmer can probably recreate your site in less than half the time it takes you to make it the first time.

Hopefully you have some other competitive advantages besides just having a good idea. It's those things combined with great execution and some luck that will make you succeed. If its that easy to rip off your idea and do it then being first isn't going to that much of a difference compared to execution and some kind of marketing advantage.

What's more interesting to me as an angel investor than the idea is what problem you are trying to solve. Your first idea of the perfect answer is probably wrong, but if you're trying to solve a valuable problem, you're smart, and you have some other competitive advantage then I might be willing to bet that you'll find the right answer.

With OtherInbox we were in 'stealth mode' for 9 months. We had about 200 alpha testers during that time, but our learning accelerated much faster after going public. In hindsight, I think we would have been better off being more open about it right from the beginning.

Note: Just because you're not in stealth mode doesn't mean you have to drop your pants and tell everything. Every company has confidential information and trade secrets.

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