I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
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I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
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Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#2> Investors are professional bullshit detectors.
Are they though? It's hard to believe that after Theranos, Nikola, Solar roadways, crypto scams, WeWork, Juicero, etc.
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#3> Investors are professional bullshit detectors. Are they though? It's hard to believe that after Theranos, Nikola, Solar roadways, crypto scams, WeWork, Juicero, etc.
Thanks for reading :)
I do believe that investors are pro bullshit detectors. You mentioned some great misses but even Steph Curry misses open threes every once in a while and he's a professional 3-point shooter.
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#4> Investors are professional bullshit detectors. Are they though? It's hard to believe that after Theranos, Nikola, Solar roadways, crypto scams, WeWork, Juicero, etc.
Thanks for reading :) I do believe that investors are pro bullshit detectors. You mentioned some great misses but even Steph Curry misses open threes every once in a while and he's a professional 3-point shooter.
Aren't investors known to miss far more (10 to 1 or more) than hit, and just rely on those successes to cover the losses?
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#5This is very good advice.
Of particular note - if you're solving a consumer or business problem that isn't of itself 'technology' - then almost assuredly your 'implementation' is next to worthless until it's mature.
The entire problem lies in the overall user experience, and the customer development channels.
Technical ability is a nice asset, but in most situations it's just labour, like the ability to use a hammer and saw effectively - it's kind of a commodity.
#1 is good as well, thanks to the author, these are important lessons.
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#6> Investors are professional bullshit detectors. Are they though? It's hard to believe that after Theranos, Nikola, Solar roadways, crypto scams, WeWork, Juicero, etc.
I'm to the point anymore that when I see 'startup' I think 'relatively useless internet site that sells data to advertisers'.
I agree that some of these folks half-addled. The Theranos gang of Schultz, Mattis, Kissinger should be no more listened to than the drunk at the end of the bar. Late-stage capitalism gives you creatures like David Boies.
To be fair a real scam has serious panache. I'd have to put the Pixelon corporate party at the very top of the list.
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#7> I thought I wouldn’t get valuable feedback on lousy prototypes.
That's some really good advice that I should take myself
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#8> When I finally did user interviews, I uncovered that an unusually high amount of people have “travel funds”: separate bank accounts they use for travel. I ran a statistically significant survey for the United States. I found that more than 25 million adults in the U.S. use a separate bank account for travel, but almost no one I talked to had automated and optimized their process for transferring money into and out of their travel fund.
That's surprising. I would have suspected that more than 75% pay for their travel on a credit card. They decide to travel first, then pay for whatever piles up later. Or maybe they just let the balance accrue.
How did you conduct a "statistically significant survey" on this for the US? Maybe there's a startup idea there.
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#9> When I finally did user interviews, I uncovered that an unusually high amount of people have “travel funds”: separate bank accounts they use for travel. I ran a statistically significant survey for the United States. I found that more than 25 million adults in the U.S. use a separate bank account for travel, but almost no one I talked to had automated and optimized their process for transferring money into and out…
Typically this just means the naive approach: 385 or so people assumed to be randomly sampled, which yields results at 95% confidence with a 5% margin of error.
Re: I Failed My Startup and Tactical Advice So You Don’t Fail Yours (2 of 4)
#10> When I finally did user interviews, I uncovered that an unusually high amount of people have “travel funds”: separate bank accounts they use for travel. I ran a statistically significant survey for the United States. I found that more than 25 million adults in the U.S. use a separate bank account for travel, but almost no one I talked to had automated and optimized their process for transferring money into and out…
I used Google Surveys which handles the cleaning of responses for representative sampling for U.S. 1,500 people took the survey but only 1,128 were recorded after cleaning.