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5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

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Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#11

Post by axod »

mannicken wrote: post #6

Oh for the love of god, will everyone please stop posting these sanitized, pointless, pretentious, vague points that ambigiously state the obvious while cowardly avoding any bold points that might actually bring a non-zero amount of useful info.

"Build your product to solve a customer’s problem." was absolutely revolutionary for me, I'd never even considered doing that, as it's completely counter-intuitive.

But when you think about it for a few hours, it kinda makes sense. Then an alarm goes off in your head and you're like "wait a minute, if I make something that solves a customers need..... they might use it". That was an absolute turning point for me after I read this very article 5 minutes ago.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#12

Post by dhimes »

mannicken wrote: post #6

Oh for the love of god, will everyone please stop posting these sanitized, pointless, pretentious, vague points that ambigiously state the obvious while cowardly avoding any bold points that might actually bring a non-zero amount of useful info.

I'm kind of curious about the response of this list to statement #2: Hire those with the best attitude and a willingness to learn over those with experience.

If that is truly good advice then I can see it saving me some 'wrangling with indecision' in the future.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#13

Post by IsaacL »

mannicken wrote: post #6

Oh for the love of god, will everyone please stop posting these sanitized, pointless, pretentious, vague points that ambigiously state the obvious while cowardly avoding any bold points that might actually bring a non-zero amount of useful info.

Agree massively. This is one of the reasons why books are often still better than the internet: you're more likely to get some meaty information, rather than a list of vague points. These kind of posts are like knowledge candy, fun to consume but don't provide much nourishment.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#14

Post by IsaacL »

IsaacL wrote: post #13
mannicken wrote: post #6

Oh for the love of god, will everyone please stop posting these sanitized, pointless, pretentious, vague points that ambigiously state the obvious while cowardly avoding any bold points that might actually bring a non-zero amount of useful info.

Agree massively. This is one of the reasons why books are often still better than the internet: you're more likely to get some meaty information, rather than a list of vague points. These kind of posts are like knowledge candy, fun to consume but don't provide much nourishment.

Should add that the "Top n things" kind of posts are inordinately popular on these kind of websites (Digg is much worse). I wonder what the appeal is? Perhaps internet users are at the centre of a Venn diagram: geeky types, who like things organised in a logical way, and people with low attention spans, who like everything in bite sized chunks. Solution: everything's a list!

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#15

Post by Keyframe »

here is what I have learned in three years of my "startup" and six years of another company.

- Selling/Trading skills are more important than your product

- Customer relations are most important. If internet is banned tomorrow I can sell toilet paper to my customers

- Mediocre product and superb selling skills is better than superb product and no selling skills at all

- Finding a sweet spot for your product price takes time and adjustments, selling cheap is a road to fiasco

- Acting quick on market changes is not always a good idea, probably isn't good idea at all

- If you are partner in a company, when money comes rolling in - problems start, make sure you all have the same goal

- customers do not know what they want in most cases, you have to bring them your vision and sell it to them. Do not expect them to tell you what they want and that would be your feature list, it won't

- last, but probably most important. Focus on one area and do it good. I don't mean necessarily on one product, because selling one and only thing is a lot harder than having a leverage of several things to offer - but if you sell several things, be sure they are related to one area.

edit: one more thing. this is one thing, if I could tell only one thing, that I would say what I have learned. No matter what other people are saying, advices you read/get, it doesn't matter at all to you and your business until you learn it on your own and pay for it in time and money, the hard way. So listen to others only as a general guideline of what to expect, but you have to learn what is best for you on your own, sadly.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#16

Post by mediaman »

udekaf wrote: post #10
mediaman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. People should write more about specific challenges they had, and how they overcame them. Talk about the tough bank negotiation. Or when your biggest customer threatened to leave. Or didn't pay. Either something controversial or, better, specific, concrete, and useful.

The advices are very specific and concrete. If you actually run a startup, u will get the gist. You take care of your business while others take care of theirs. You can ask somebody for vision, but nobody can take action for you.

I do run a company. It grosses a few million a year, so I'd be in the position to "get the gist". These posts may be helpful for people who've never done a startup before, or are very early in their current one, but are not useful for people such as myself and many other HN members at a similar or later, greater stage than myself.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#17

Post by mediaman »

IsaacL wrote: post #14
IsaacL wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree massively. This is one of the reasons why books are often still better than the internet: you're more likely to get some meaty information, rather than a list of vague points. These kind of posts are like knowledge candy, fun to consume but don't provide much nourishment.

Should add that the "Top n things" kind of posts are inordinately popular on these kind of websites (Digg is much worse). I wonder what the appeal is? Perhaps internet users are at the centre of a Venn diagram: geeky types, who like things organised in a logical way, and people with low attention spans, who like everything in bite sized chunks. Solution: everything's a list!

Interesting. Is what you might consider "real content" (i.e. longer form, more substance, not popcorn ideas) lost on the web? Or is there still a place for it? I notice that when I write shorter articles it's much easier to get coverage for it than longer, more detailed articles that I personally find more interesting.

PG has postulated that it's an inevitable fate for communities like this because the short, easy to digest pieces are simple to view and upvote. Longer, meatier content is more difficult to digest, and thus receive fewer upvotes, even if the people who finish it find it more interesting.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#18

Post by TheSOB88 »

Keyframe wrote: post #15

here is what I have learned in three years of my "startup" and six years of another company. - Selling/Trading skills are more important than your product - Customer relations are most important. If internet is banned tomorrow I can sell toilet paper to my customers - Mediocre product and superb selling skills is better than superb product and no selling skills at all - Finding a sweet spot for your product price tak…

Interesting - this is quite different from anything I've ever heard on the subject. Can you expand on the reasons here? Also, it doesn't seem that you are talking about a tech company, which is pretty much implied when you talk about startups around here.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#19

Post by TheSOB88 »

axod wrote: post #11
mannicken wrote: post #6

Oh for the love of god, will everyone please stop posting these sanitized, pointless, pretentious, vague points that ambigiously state the obvious while cowardly avoding any bold points that might actually bring a non-zero amount of useful info.

"Build your product to solve a customer’s problem." was absolutely revolutionary for me, I'd never even considered doing that, as it's completely counter-intuitive. But when you think about it for a few hours, it kinda makes sense. Then an alarm goes off in your head and you're like "wait a minute, if I make something that solves a customers need..... they might use it". That was an absolute turning point for me afte…

Waaaiiit.. You're not serious, are you? Does not B follow from A? I'm trying to see the satiric point here, but I just can't find it.

Re: 5 Things I Learned From Year One In My Startup

#20

Post by [deleted] »

TheSOB88 wrote: post #19
axod wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Build your product to solve a customer’s problem." was absolutely revolutionary for me, I'd never even considered doing that, as it's completely counter-intuitive. But when you think about it for a few hours, it kinda makes sense. Then an alarm goes off in your head and you're like "wait a minute, if I make something that solves a customers need..... they might use it". That was an absolute turning point for me afte…

Waaaiiit.. You're not serious, are you? Does not B follow from A? I'm trying to see the satiric point here, but I just can't find it.

[deleted]
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