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Fat startup: Learn the lessons of my failed Lean Startup

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Re: Fat startup: Learn the lessons of my failed Lean Startup

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But since anyone hoping to make a new product should be talking to his real potential customers, why would he not talk to them directly , instead of say, trying to get them to use WTF? Anyone other than his real-life potential customers giving him feedback is.. well, not going to give him the feedback he needs, no matter how well-intentioned he is. Then there's the issue of someone potentially stealing your idea, etc…

What WTF provides is the ability to come up with an idea and get a quick gauge as to whether it has merit (it works with projects at various stages from new ideas to coming up with new features for existing projects and anything in-between). For example, you have likely heard of "Facebook killer" apps and "New way to organize your inbox"-type ideas in the past and the general reaction is "Oh ffs, not another clone" b…

Well, if I have a good idea, post it there and get a lot of positive feedback, wouldn't that downright encourage someone to implement the idea now that it's (supposedly) been validated?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hoping WTF will not succeed. It's just that as someone who's just wasted several years of his life on products that went nowhere, I'm a bit skeptical.

"The Lean Startup" seems like the way to go, but that involves speaking directly to your potential customers, because they're the only ones who know what they really need. Apparently it's really freaking difficult to confirm that you've really got a product-worthy idea on your hands, even if you're talking to potential customers.

Re: Fat startup: Learn the lessons of my failed Lean Startup

#72
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, yes, yes. There are so many things they did that are obviously wrong from the Lean Startup perspective. And then he goes and blames the Lean Startup material, rather than their understanding of it. For example, his notion that product management is supposed to be casual and erratic is not what the Lean Startup approach suggests. The essence of the approach is in proving that customers really need something befor…

No, it's not just a question of Lean Startup education. I am questioning the rituals. The world doesn't work according to a theory, however much you might wish it does. Clients couldn't care less about Lean Startup, MVP, XP, unit tests etc. This idea that you can experiment on clients (in my humble experience) is a dangerous delusion. The comment about "couldn't fathom" is unprofessional (and ludicrous given my resum…

What rituals? Extreme Programming and Lean are inspect-and-adapt processes. You might start with something out of the book, but then you are supposed to tweak relentlessly. If you are doing it in a ritualistic fashion, you're already doing it wrong.

The client never cares about what methods you use. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use any methods.

I agree that experimenting is dangerous: any powerful tool is dangerous. But it has worked for too many people to call it a delusion.

Regarding "couldn't fathom", I'm glad to substitute "didn't fathom". But you certainly didn't understand them, and many other people did.

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