21–30 of 31 posts
> 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
There are times when reasoning by analogy isn't optimal. Elon Musk famously preferred going through "first principles" and I find this likely leads to a better more innovative end product. Take payments (my industry) for example. There are countless startups that are working on something that enhances or optimizes whatever pre-existing solution we have today. That's thinking by analogy. It's faster and easier but you…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
This is not a meme, if can't back up EVERYTHING you claim, please, keep for yourself. Evidence is mandatory always, in any situation, no exception.
There is really no point figuring out the maze - it won't help you in your startup. Even the best founders get the big breaks very very rarely - and often it is a result of the founders personal motivations/vision articulating in a product for which the world is ready (for no mistake/contributions of the founders). History is littered with the best founders who wasted years pursing an idea whose time hasn't come or were not able to reach scale due to some quirk of the markets. (Steve Jobs, Larry Page - Google Plus )
The best and the only strategy for founders is to think by first principles - with a healthy disdain for all rules that mankind has found till now. This will not guarantee that you will not waste years of your life - that is an occupational hazard and "to stare into the abyss and chew glass" comes with the territory - but as a strategy this is your best shot.
I 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 t…
"There is sufficient market for " (or a variation of it, such as "there is sufficient demand for " is usually the question you try to answer before shoving money into a research project...
I 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 t…
This is the foundation for the Lean Startup methodology espoused by Steve Blank, Eric Reis, Ash Maurya and others, but until recently it has been articulated in the jargon of the business community such that it is difficult to see in terms of the scientific method. I think Ash Maurya's upcoming book, "The Customer Factory", is perhaps the first attempt to codify the Lean Startup entirely in terms of how a scientist b…
That's fine, I'm just surprised if my interpretation is correct.
This is the wrong/dangerous way about thinking about startups. The right way is the Elon Musk - first principle way. There is really no point figuring out the maze - it won't help you in your startup. Even the best founders get the big breaks very very rarely - and often it is a result of the founders personal motivations/vision articulating in a product for which the world is ready (for no mistake/contributions of t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not a meme, if can't back up EVERYTHING you claim, please, keep for yourself. Evidence is mandatory always, in any situation, no exception.
Do you have any evidence to back up that assertion?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the foundation for the Lean Startup methodology espoused by Steve Blank, Eric Reis, Ash Maurya and others, but until recently it has been articulated in the jargon of the business community such that it is difficult to see in terms of the scientific method. I think Ash Maurya's upcoming book, "The Customer Factory", is perhaps the first attempt to codify the Lean Startup entirely in terms of how a scientist b…
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're looking forward to this book reinforcing your worldview instead of challenging it? That's fine, I'm just surprised if my interpretation is correct.