Survive and Thrive
justinkan.com
Survive and Thrive
1–10 of 25 posts
Re: Survive and Thrive
#2In before "survivorship bias". In any case, it's amazing that so many successful companies were in that building.
Re: Survive and Thrive
#3In before "survivorship bias". In any case, it's amazing that so many successful companies were in that building.
"Survive" is the one bit of advice that, by definition, is immune to survivorship bias.
Basically, Justin is saying "the ones that survived are the ones that survived". It's stating the painfully obvious, however it's a simple contrast to the normal "strategic" advice.
Paul Graham writes about this a lot:
http://paulgraham.com/aord.html
Re: Survive and Thrive
#4"I deeply believe that if three recent college grads (and one dropout) could turn an online reality tv show into a billion dollar company then literally anyone can be successful online."
There are so many things wrong with drawing that conclusion.
Re: Survive and Thrive
#5> What each of the companies had in common was that they built something that was useful, created a feedback loop of getting user feedback and iterating on the product, and kept at their startups long enough for the market they were in to mature.
> I deeply believe that if three recent college grads (and one dropout) could turn an online reality tv show into a billion dollar company then literally anyone can be successful online.
Not anyone, but far more people than currently are. The only problem is that very few people get the opportunity required.
How many teams get help from YC followed by millions of funding from other investors? How many can spend 5 years working on a project that isn't profitable? As a percentage of people, it's far below 0.1%.
When there's a scalable YC alternative (like equity crowdfunding, maybe) we'll see just how many good technology businesses are possible. It seems nearly unlimited, if you're aiming for Star Trek.
I think there are tens of thousands of 2-10 person teams that are waiting for an opportunity to show us what they have.
Re: Survive and Thrive
#6> What each of the companies had in common was that they built something that was useful, created a feedback loop of getting user feedback and iterating on the product, and kept at their startups long enough for the market they were in to mature. > I deeply believe that if three recent college grads (and one dropout) could turn an online reality tv show into a billion dollar company then literally anyone can be succe…
You don't need funding for all internet projects. I had none, and run a successful online company. Supports me, and I'm free of my time.
Now, not everyone could have done what I did, but it's far more than 0.1% of people.
Re: Survive and Thrive
#7> What each of the companies had in common was that they built something that was useful, created a feedback loop of getting user feedback and iterating on the product, and kept at their startups long enough for the market they were in to mature. > I deeply believe that if three recent college grads (and one dropout) could turn an online reality tv show into a billion dollar company then literally anyone can be succe…
That's a pretty passive attitude to take. One amazing thing about software projects, for a technical person, is that you don't have to wait around to find someone to give you money to play with.
Re: Survive and Thrive
#8In before "survivorship bias". In any case, it's amazing that so many successful companies were in that building.
It's amazing that this pure meritocracy happens to favor a small group of friends!
Re: Survive and Thrive
#9> What each of the companies had in common was that they built something that was useful, created a feedback loop of getting user feedback and iterating on the product, and kept at their startups long enough for the market they were in to mature. > I deeply believe that if three recent college grads (and one dropout) could turn an online reality tv show into a billion dollar company then literally anyone can be succe…
That's a pretty passive attitude to take. One amazing thing about software projects, for a technical person, is that you don't have to wait around to find someone to give you money to play with.
I was suggesting the reason more people (especially non-technical people like the author) don't have successful startups.
But it's also true that creating something like Twitch is nearly impossible without funding. They could not have bootstrapped it for 5 years because it was/is not profitable, even though it might be a great long-term business.