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How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

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Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#21

Post by [deleted] »

dctoedt wrote: post #15
Charuru wrote: post #10

You don't want to make any absolute statements. Sites like flickr are siren-like ideas that turned out very well. It's always a tough judgement call for when to get distracted. The important thing is to make sure you're pursing this other idea because it's actually something worthwhile not just as an escape from your startup not doing so great... Basically, think about things rationally and not emotionally.

> You don't want to make any absolute statements. All categorical statements are bad, including this one.

[deleted]

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#22

Post by thewordpainter »

kevt wrote: post #13

People usually "fall in love" with ideas, which is why its so hard to pull away from it. Its hard to be rational and objective when you're in love. This isn't so much of an issue in a relationship (in love with a person) because how you feel is what matters. However, in a startup, what matters is how the customers feel, and that love potion will be your Archilles heel if not treated carefully. I generally try to fall…

"I generally try to fall in love with problems before an idea (solution). When the idea comes before the problem, its been disastrous. Customer Development helps, but its still a rough ride." i think that's a great way to put it...the problem will remain until somebody fulfills, but there can be a variety of potential solutions to just about any problem.

reminded me of a quote i tweeted recently & then saw @bmull include today: "As long as I listen to my customers, I never need to have another original idea" -@nielr1 in Do More Faster

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#23

Post by thewordpainter »

mechanical_fish wrote: post #2

Thanks for this link; it could not have arrived at a better time. Need to go paste this into a couple email threads... ;)

no surprise this topic comes from yipit's founder as i think it's pretty ironic that so many of the daily deal startups started as something entirely different.

plenty know about the groupon story, but who remembers when livingsocial was emerging by having people share their top 5 lists on facebook? what about scoutmob which began as a wifi provider?

both of those companies noticed that they were sitting on an large amount of consumer data, and they both figured they could use it to pivot their model towards the emerging group discount space.

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#24

Post by hallmark »

thewordpainter wrote: post #22
kevt wrote: post #13

People usually "fall in love" with ideas, which is why its so hard to pull away from it. Its hard to be rational and objective when you're in love. This isn't so much of an issue in a relationship (in love with a person) because how you feel is what matters. However, in a startup, what matters is how the customers feel, and that love potion will be your Archilles heel if not treated carefully. I generally try to fall…

"I generally try to fall in love with problems before an idea (solution). When the idea comes before the problem, its been disastrous. Customer Development helps, but its still a rough ride." i think that's a great way to put it...the problem will remain until somebody fulfills, but there can be a variety of potential solutions to just about any problem. reminded me of a quote i tweeted recently & then saw @bmull inc…

Sometimes advice sounds perfect for any situation but actually needs to be applied judiciously. It is easy to succumb to the "wow" factor of another person's story of their success. I will use Henry Ford to counter nielr1:

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#25

Post by kevt »

thewordpainter wrote: post #22
kevt wrote: post #13

People usually "fall in love" with ideas, which is why its so hard to pull away from it. Its hard to be rational and objective when you're in love. This isn't so much of an issue in a relationship (in love with a person) because how you feel is what matters. However, in a startup, what matters is how the customers feel, and that love potion will be your Archilles heel if not treated carefully. I generally try to fall…

"I generally try to fall in love with problems before an idea (solution). When the idea comes before the problem, its been disastrous. Customer Development helps, but its still a rough ride." i think that's a great way to put it...the problem will remain until somebody fulfills, but there can be a variety of potential solutions to just about any problem. reminded me of a quote i tweeted recently & then saw @bmull inc…

ha, I just bought that book yesterday (Do More Faster). I'll get to that quote soon.

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#26

Post by wisty »

thewordpainter wrote: post #23
mechanical_fish wrote: post #2

Thanks for this link; it could not have arrived at a better time. Need to go paste this into a couple email threads... ;)

no surprise this topic comes from yipit's founder as i think it's pretty ironic that so many of the daily deal startups started as something entirely different. plenty know about the groupon story, but who remembers when livingsocial was emerging by having people share their top 5 lists on facebook? what about scoutmob which began as a wifi provider? both of those companies noticed that they were sitting on an large…

Or that Twitter started as something completely different? And Microsoft? Google, Apple, and Facebook are counter-counter-examples.

But the point remains - don't be fooled into thinking that the grass is always greener. Unless it really is.

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#27

Post by thewordpainter »

hallmark wrote: post #24
thewordpainter wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I generally try to fall in love with problems before an idea (solution). When the idea comes before the problem, its been disastrous. Customer Development helps, but its still a rough ride." i think that's a great way to put it...the problem will remain until somebody fulfills, but there can be a variety of potential solutions to just about any problem. reminded me of a quote i tweeted recently & then saw @bmull inc…

Sometimes advice sounds perfect for any situation but actually needs to be applied judiciously. It is easy to succumb to the "wow" factor of another person's story of their success. I will use Henry Ford to counter nielr1: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

agreed. the way i interpreted neil's quote was that a startup has a certain trajectory in mind, but once they release and start collecting feedback (surve.io anybody?), then the inspiration for the pivots will come from the users of the product.

of course you can't listen to what everybody says, but as a team, take all of the generated ideas and determine which are the best. i think it removes a lot of the assumptions that are present going in.

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#28

Post by thewordpainter »

kevt wrote: post #25
thewordpainter wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I generally try to fall in love with problems before an idea (solution). When the idea comes before the problem, its been disastrous. Customer Development helps, but its still a rough ride." i think that's a great way to put it...the problem will remain until somebody fulfills, but there can be a variety of potential solutions to just about any problem. reminded me of a quote i tweeted recently & then saw @bmull inc…

ha, I just bought that book yesterday (Do More Faster). I'll get to that quote soon.

great book. get your highlighter out ;)

lots of memorable quotes. stuff that makes complete sense, but until somebody phrases it a certain way, it just never clicks...ya know?

Re: How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

#30

Post by danielayele »

wisty wrote: post #26
thewordpainter wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no surprise this topic comes from yipit's founder as i think it's pretty ironic that so many of the daily deal startups started as something entirely different. plenty know about the groupon story, but who remembers when livingsocial was emerging by having people share their top 5 lists on facebook? what about scoutmob which began as a wifi provider? both of those companies noticed that they were sitting on an large…

Or that Twitter started as something completely different? And Microsoft? Google, Apple, and Facebook are counter-counter-examples. But the point remains - don't be fooled into thinking that the grass is always greener. Unless it really is.

Apple and Facebook also both started as different things than they are now (computer manufacturer, college social network). It becomes increasingly hard to recognize the pivots/changes over time because people tend to be very forgetful/associate brands with their current product or service.
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