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Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

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Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#81

Post by ssrs »

- Sell! Even if you dont have a product, you need to sell. 'Build 'em and they will come' : I've never seen this happen.

- Always be hiring. Every person you meet, always be fitting them into a hiring pipeline.

- You have to be 360-degree. You may focus on areas that are core competencies but you cannot 'divorce' yourself from areas you have no idea about. You need to upgrade and have meaningful discussions with folks you put in positions of responsibility.

- Dont wait for the perfect person to show up! Start with whoever you get, often folks you did not think much of will surprise you.

- Be clear about redlines and communicate them clearly. If people violate red lines, let all hell break loose. Else be nice and chill.

- No one shows up to work and says 'ok let me do the worst possible job today'. every one does the best he/she can in their personal contexts. if it is not enough, communicate clearly. help where can.

- Be transparent with your team. Be fair to them. These are still valued.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#82

Post by XCSme »

- The cheaper you price your product, the cheaper customers you attract. I get a lot more support tickets for customers that paid $45 than those that paid $1500. Discounts often lead to the same issues.

- Your competition is not better. Even if your competitor has 1000 employees, that doesn't make them better, they more likely work a lot slower and less efficient than a smaller company. Also, a big company is more likely to ruin a perfectly good product trying too hard to squeeze profits.

- If a customer wants a refund, just accept it, even if they try to scam you. Often times, the trouble of trying to convince a customer not to leave is not worth it. Also, if the customer feels trapped, they are unlikely to buy from you in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#83

Post by tnolet »

williamtwild wrote: post #64
tnolet wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sales fixes everything. Very hard to learn for engineers and designers often.

Unless the product you are selling is defective.

There are always bugs. Turns out almost all customers are ok with bugs.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#84

Post by throwaway787544 »

elric wrote: post #71
cosmodisk wrote: post #61

1) You almost certainly can charge more 2) No matter what business relationships you have with other companies, but they will always save them first 3) Being known for paying on time can do wonders when the going gets tough. 4) Get rid of toxic assholes asap no matter how valuable 5) You aren't aware of the tech that exists and can help your business, do seeks for advise 6) Better service is only possible when the en…

As someone who has been an arsehole and has worked with a fair share of them, I've come to realize that arseholes in a workplace are often a product of their environment. Anyone who is sufficiently overworked, undercompensated, interrupted, or mismanaged, is likely to become an arsehole given enough time.

Or they leave

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#85

Post by traceroute66 »

Employees / Contractors / Customers / Suppliers are NOT your friends.

I'm not saying you need to become the "boss from hell", but you should always maintain that arms-length relationship.

It is inevitable that one day they will let you down or they will withhold information from you or any other number of things. If you did not maintain the arms-length relationship with them, then you will take it personally and it will be painful.

There is truth in the old saying, don't mix work & pleasure.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#86

Post by fourseventy »

andreisbc wrote: post #28

As a dev i've always known my hunch when it comes to compromises. Never let the business team ruin your experience building cool rock-solid code. I'd rather resign than to compromise anymore. I know there should be a sweet spot between "perfect" and "working". Even a junior can pull-off a "working" app. But when it starts to scale, all those hasty bad decisions will bite your ass. Never skip planning, plan as long as…

No offense but this is awful advice for a startup.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#87

Post by throwaway787544 »

andreisbc wrote: post #28

As a dev i've always known my hunch when it comes to compromises. Never let the business team ruin your experience building cool rock-solid code. I'd rather resign than to compromise anymore. I know there should be a sweet spot between "perfect" and "working". Even a junior can pull-off a "working" app. But when it starts to scale, all those hasty bad decisions will bite your ass. Never skip planning, plan as long as…

> if i have 24h to chop a tree, i'd sharpen my axe 23h.

It doesn't get sharper if you sharpen it indefinitely. You'll be wasting time and metal.

There's always a point of diminishing returns. Just get the tree down, because another task is waiting.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#89

Post by tuhins »

No-one cares if you fail and in the absence of unethical behavior, your identity and your company's identity are distinct. As a founder you think the world has its gaze on you and inflict enormous amounts of pressure on yourself. If things aren't going well, it's completely fine. If it's time to kill it, even better. Fail fast, fail often, and take care of yourself so you can run it again.

Re: Ask HN: Important nonobvious startup/business lessons you've learned?

#90

Post by [deleted] »

fourseventy wrote: post #86
andreisbc wrote: post #28

As a dev i've always known my hunch when it comes to compromises. Never let the business team ruin your experience building cool rock-solid code. I'd rather resign than to compromise anymore. I know there should be a sweet spot between "perfect" and "working". Even a junior can pull-off a "working" app. But when it starts to scale, all those hasty bad decisions will bite your ass. Never skip planning, plan as long as…

No offense but this is awful advice for a startup.

[deleted]
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