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Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

miguelgfierro.com

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Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#51

Post by dermur »

heliodor wrote: post #5

Reading the abstract reminded me that so many people don't understand effective communication. The academic essay style is a travesty of global proportions. Effective communication would start with the conclusion section, then the body, and leave the intro out. Make your statement quickly, and then expand upon it for whoever wants to keep reading. Saying, "in this essay I will tell you what I learned" is not going to…

Maybe it's because I'm reading so many, but it feels like ICO whitepapers have helped revive this style too...

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#52

Post by kokey »

nyrulez wrote: post #18
not_a_moth wrote: post #4

The author opens by nobly asserting "I take all responsibility for the failure" yet then, everything that follows is how his co-founder screwed him who he is now suing. Feels kind of inauthentic overall.

How is that incompatible? If you partner with a crook, can't you take a responsibility for making that mistake (of not seeing the signs) but still call the other person out for being a crook? Taking responsibility is different from saying other did no wrong.

I have to play devil's advocate here, because we know one side of the story. Perhaps the partner is not a crook, perhaps he was just not rich enough, hence why he was the recipient of a small salary in the first year and was unable to come up with further money to put into the company since his family didn't have any to risk, and why when the company generated actual revenue gave his family members opportunities to work with him. It sounds like the company's revenue consisted of one big customer and it folded when that customer was lost, but there's very little details of why that happened.

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#53

Post by probably_wrong »

segmondy wrote: post #30
heliodor wrote: post #5

Reading the abstract reminded me that so many people don't understand effective communication. The academic essay style is a travesty of global proportions. Effective communication would start with the conclusion section, then the body, and leave the intro out. Make your statement quickly, and then expand upon it for whoever wants to keep reading. Saying, "in this essay I will tell you what I learned" is not going to…

Give him a break, it's obvious that English is not his first language. The article is about mistake and learning about his startup, but you have moved the topic to his style of writing. Seriously, you do realize HN is worldwide right and many of us don't speak English as first languages?

I don't think it's a first/second language issue, but rather a "how to present ideas in written form" issue. The GP is not criticizing typos, but rather the way in which the article is structured. If the post were written in Spanish it would have the same issues - just in Spanish rather than English.

I actually think the (quite nice) blog formatting might be partially at fault: whenever I read a paper, I expect a certain style of writing and ideas presented in a certain way. By presenting it visually as a paper and then using a casual blog style, my first thought is not "this blog post is okay" but rather "this paper is bad".

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#54

Post by brazzy »

not_a_moth wrote: post #4

The author opens by nobly asserting "I take all responsibility for the failure" yet then, everything that follows is how his co-founder screwed him who he is now suing. Feels kind of inauthentic overall.

> everything that follows is how his co-founder screwed him

No. It's the part that takes up the most space, but there are a number of other, perfectly useful conclusions, like "you need a product and customers, not a technology", and "adapting to customer needs brings you succees".

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#55

Post by janOsch »

It seems that this startup was successful in finding product market fit but was killed because of co-founders mismatch.

I am planning to start a business with my fiancée, we have been together for 10 years, and we complement each other nicely in terms of skills. What are your experiences with that?

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#56

Post by sritrisna »

fanzhang wrote: post #45
rsp1984 wrote: post #7

If you are trying to start a startup with a friend, think about this, do you really know this person? are you confident that under high levels of pressure this person is going to help you or is he going to break apart? I started a startup with my best friend whom I knew for several years. The startup succeeded (kind of, we got acqui-hired by BigTech) but the friendship turned into a deep alienation in the process. St…

Can someone with historical experience starting a company with both a friend and a nonfriend comment about this? We get a lot of advice (e.g. pg) to start a company with friends, but we also get a lot of comments one way or the other, but without personal experience in both. Can someone who have been on both sides talk about it? I certainly have not been on both sides.

Contrary to the advice which is out there I believe the focus shouldn't be on friend or none-friend, but the 'person' and the 'relationship'. Being a founder is incredibly stressful, so you need to find someone who's got your back. In my case, it's my brother because I wouldn't trust anyone else with it, besides our parents.

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#57

Post by iamgopal »

I started with friends and end up with hurted relationship. (Advice given to me by my father years before that never start company with friends even when you both feel to be technically compatible.) Lesson learned, learn lesson when given from experience.

Re: Top Mistakes and Learnings from My Startup: Postmortem Samsamia

#60

Post by plinkplonk »

rsp1984 wrote: post #7

If you are trying to start a startup with a friend, think about this, do you really know this person? are you confident that under high levels of pressure this person is going to help you or is he going to break apart? I started a startup with my best friend whom I knew for several years. The startup succeeded (kind of, we got acqui-hired by BigTech) but the friendship turned into a deep alienation in the process. St…

"Startup pressure can bring out the true character of a person. The problem though is that you may not know the true character of someone until startup pressure is applied -- even if that someone is your best friend."

This is true enough, but it need not be 'startup pressure' that reveals character. Many life situations can apply the same or greater quantum of pressure. So if you are going to do stressful startups with a friend, see if you have gone through hell before and come out on the other side still friends.

Tangentially life crises are very revealing of who your true friends are. Likewise romantic partners. When you are going through hell, just look around to see who is still there, and who ran for the hills.

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