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The first 18 months of a startup

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Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“It’s like Stadia but for Chrome”

Showerthoughts: why not stream the entire OS at this point, with a dedicated storage? Like an EC2 with a desktop environment that you can access in a VNC-like way but with the resolution, FPS and input responsiveness similar to what Stadia/Mighty offers. Which will allow you to play Cyberpunk (Stadia) + browsing the web (Mighty) + do whatever else you want, like using After Effects (?).

Congratulations, you just re-invented the terminal.

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#12
There are some useful nuggets here, but every company and founder are different. Having run three different accelerator programs I have learned to STOP assuming what makes a good or bad idea. Some of the companies I thought were certain for failure have raised multiple rounds, found product market fit, and are growing just fine. The first 18 months of a startup should include one thing, "GET SOMEONE TO PAY FOR YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE!" Everything else is just iteration.

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#13
post #3

No opinion on the thread, but his current startup involves streaming a chrome instance from the cloud, which feels very "Internet in 2021"

“It’s like Stadia but for Chrome”

Isn't Stadia in chrome? As, it's some kind of extension?

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Showerthoughts: why not stream the entire OS at this point, with a dedicated storage? Like an EC2 with a desktop environment that you can access in a VNC-like way but with the resolution, FPS and input responsiveness similar to what Stadia/Mighty offers. Which will allow you to play Cyberpunk (Stadia) + browsing the web (Mighty) + do whatever else you want, like using After Effects (?).

Congratulations, you just re-invented the terminal.

I can't play Cyberpunk in 4k 60+ FPS in my terminal.

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#15
post #5

As an early employee of several small startups that have grown to decent sizes, I'll never take the advice of a successful founder (I'll use it when it works). After hiring hundreds of people the most knowledgeable people were the ones who worked on successful teams at failing companies, and very few founders go through that experience in the same way as non-founders do. Founder advice is for founders.

I'll second this one as a founder and early employee at a couple of the recent IPOs. The definition of "successful" here must be that the product and revenue succeeded, not that the team did well within the company. Otherwise, you're just filtering for politicians.

The reason this works is that you're identifying the individuals who are able to make success happen while having the deck stacked against them. People who have this skill and are in a successful company tend to have better experiences and can be more valuable. But it's also harder for you to identify.

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“It’s like Stadia but for Chrome”

Showerthoughts: why not stream the entire OS at this point, with a dedicated storage? Like an EC2 with a desktop environment that you can access in a VNC-like way but with the resolution, FPS and input responsiveness similar to what Stadia/Mighty offers. Which will allow you to play Cyberpunk (Stadia) + browsing the web (Mighty) + do whatever else you want, like using After Effects (?).

Since you'll need an OS (a minimal one but still) on the client side, you can reduce the bandwidth required by sending paint commands to draw the UI locally (on the client) and just send the resources on the wire as well as updates. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#17
post #5

As an early employee of several small startups that have grown to decent sizes, I'll never take the advice of a successful founder (I'll use it when it works). After hiring hundreds of people the most knowledgeable people were the ones who worked on successful teams at failing companies, and very few founders go through that experience in the same way as non-founders do. Founder advice is for founders.

The advise on how to take advise. In that case I would need to see advise takers that has failed a few times taking advise from successful founders giving advise before taking your advise.

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#19
> Rolling out of bed in my pajamas and getting back to work with things precisely as I left them was the most underestimated superpower that brought me joy, focus, and speed—I had forgotten how much goes into getting ready for work.

There will be so much resistance to going back to the office.

Re: The first 18 months of a startup

#20

There are some useful nuggets here, but every company and founder are different. Having run three different accelerator programs I have learned to STOP assuming what makes a good or bad idea. Some of the companies I thought were certain for failure have raised multiple rounds, found product market fit, and are growing just fine. The first 18 months of a startup should include one thing, "GET SOMEONE TO PAY FOR YOUR P…

It’s obvious that a promising startup can fail, eg great idea but bad execution.

It’s really not obvious that an unpromising startup could succeed, though.

What were the main factors in those unpromising startups doing well?

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