The idea maze
cdixon.org
The idea maze
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: The idea maze
#2Just that phrase is the best thing about the startup engineering course.
Re: The idea maze
#3> The benefits of learning about the maze generally far outweigh the risks of having your idea stolen.
Any evidence for that? Stealth mode seems to work pretty well in big companies
Re: The idea maze
#4Seems like a similar idea to seeing the future because you're living in it - domain knowledge and connections are a powerful thing; the 'Self' part of PG's essay on startup ideas (http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html) is about this, albeit from a different angle.
Re: The idea maze
#5> The benefits of learning about the maze generally far outweigh the risks of having your idea stolen. Any evidence for that? Stealth mode seems to work pretty well in big companies
I guess the argument would be that big companies already have people with extensive domain knowledge who are deep in the maze, and can afford to be stealthy because they already have 1. History, 3. Theories, and 4. Direct Experience.
Re: The idea maze
#6awesome post!!!
Re: The idea maze
#7> The benefits of learning about the maze generally far outweigh the risks of having your idea stolen. Any evidence for that? Stealth mode seems to work pretty well in big companies
I believe it's just a different story for big companies. If you heard that Apple was creating "iShoes," you wouldn't be surprised that people were already making branded "iShoes Laces." If, however, I told you I was about to revolutionize the shoe industry, you would ask me how and be generally helpful in the discussion.
Re: The idea maze
#8> The benefits of learning about the maze generally far outweigh the risks of having your idea stolen. Any evidence for that? Stealth mode seems to work pretty well in big companies
The author is an entrepreneur and vc...presumably drawing on a wealth of experience. The article is specifically about small, not big, companies.
The whole meme of "evidence please" is annoying. A blog post is not a research paper.
Re: The idea maze
#9> The benefits of learning about the maze generally far outweigh the risks of having your idea stolen. Any evidence for that? Stealth mode seems to work pretty well in big companies
I guess the argument would be that big companies already have people with extensive domain knowledge who are deep in the maze, and can afford to be stealthy because they already have 1. History, 3. Theories, and 4. Direct Experience.
The other part is big companies are likely pursuing sustaining or incremental improvements that are perhaps perceived as key to beating out well known incumbents. Startups are likely (read hopefully) pursuing disruptive improvements and might expect incumbents to make classic Innovator's Dilemma errors in assessing risk.
I heard CDixon on PandoMonthly say his key founder questions would surround 'what's your secret?' I think his post provides more context to that line of questioning.
Re: The idea maze
#10I like to think of startups as research projects. You start with a hypothesis, which is usually "there is sufficient market for ". Then you do the experiments to prove the hypothesis, which is the actual startup. How you go about proving the hypothesis is just as important as the hypothesis you start with. In the world of science, if your experiments have flaws they won't be accepted as proof of your hypothesis. In the startup world, flaws don't necessarily discredit the hypothesis, but then fail to prove it when you go bust.