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Think Different – Think Users

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Re: Think Different – Think Users

#11

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

This is something that I don’t think can be commoditized or created with any kind of predictable process. Outfits like YC aren’t really in the business of creating startups. They are in the business of finding startups.

Prospecting, as opposed to farming. They find promising ideas, and try to transplant them into fertile soil. Match “idea people” with “make it happen people.”

Good prospectors can get quite wealthy. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but it isn’t creating startups from whole cloth; it’s finding them “in the rough.”

It’s just that, for every Google and Facebook “unicorn,” prancing around SV, there’s a charnel pit, somewhere in the California desert, filled with 10,000 rotting corpses.

So, “thinking different” is one step, out of thousands, that is required to come up with a “disruptive” startup.

But I think that there’s also a great deal to be said for refining and optimizing the same stuff that everyone knows about.

Ford didn’t invent the automobile. He just figured out how to scale it. That involved some new thought, but also a lot of observation and refinement.

But I totally agree that a focus on the user is a really big deal. Jeff Bezos did that with Amazon, and it seems to have worked.

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#12

Post by richardw »

I think almost all users would like easily swappable iPhone batteries. All users would have liked Fords with multiple colours rather than black. Many users would have asked for text messages over 160 characters in 1990 or Facebook with their own themes on the page. Tradeoffs abound.

Sometimes what users want will get you to a billion. Sometimes it’ll kill you. What’s the difference?

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#13

Post by diego »

richardw wrote: post #12

I think almost all users would like easily swappable iPhone batteries. All users would have liked Fords with multiple colours rather than black. Many users would have asked for text messages over 160 characters in 1990 or Facebook with their own themes on the page. Tradeoffs abound. Sometimes what users want will get you to a billion. Sometimes it’ll kill you. What’s the difference?

From the point of view of YC, they want to you think different even if it gets you killed. 100 startups think different, 99 get killed, the other one makes up for the rest.

Most founders would prefer better than 1% odds of course.

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#14

Post by jasfi »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #11

This is something that I don’t think can be commoditized or created with any kind of predictable process. Outfits like YC aren’t really in the business of creating startups. They are in the business of finding startups. Prospecting, as opposed to farming. They find promising ideas, and try to transplant them into fertile soil. Match “idea people” with “make it happen people.” Good prospectors can get quite wealthy. T…

Good observation about YC finding startups. I'm trying to help create them: https://cxo.industries

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#15

Post by phendrenad2 »

richardw wrote: post #12

I think almost all users would like easily swappable iPhone batteries. All users would have liked Fords with multiple colours rather than black. Many users would have asked for text messages over 160 characters in 1990 or Facebook with their own themes on the page. Tradeoffs abound. Sometimes what users want will get you to a billion. Sometimes it’ll kill you. What’s the difference?

All users would like easily swappable phone batteries, but all users would also like waterproof phones that push the boundaries of thin & light.

All users would like Fords in more colors than black, but all users would also like the low cost that comes from a simplified assembly line and repair center and distribution channel that comes from only having one paint color.

What users want will never kill you, but you have to consider all of the things that they want, not just the most obvious or apparent ones (or the ones with the loudest proponents).

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#16

Post by onion2k »

cmckn wrote: post #5
justin_oaks wrote: post #2

I think it's interesting to see Apple's old slogan mentioned since Apple, and most big tech companies, are fairly user-hostile these days. They can spy on the user, roll out buggy software, lock down what the user can do, use vendor lock-in, have poor tech support, etc. And this is all because they're big enough that users don't have sufficient choice. I sure hope some of these startups will take this to heart and se…

> have poor tech support I think Apple not only has much better customer support than other FAANG's, I think they have objectively great customer service. If you have a weird issue with your hardware, Apple will almost always blindly give you a replacement. I mean, hell; you even have a brick-and-mortar store to go to and get help. Apple's software in recent years has frustrated enthusiasts, but I think the average u…

The closest consumer tech support to Apple in the FAANG world is probably Microsoft Xbox, or maybe Google's hardware division. Those are OK too. Apple are definitely better if you include AppleCare, but "paid support is better than free support" is a bit of a no brainer.

If you compare Apple's free support for it's software, or it's support for developers, to other FAANG companies then it isn't better. It's equally terrible. None of those companies are good at support.

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#17

Post by Liron »

Favorite quote:

“What it should feel like in an early stage startup is that you're having a little party with your users, and it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, because you're having such a great time.”

I feel like this is still underappreciated.

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#18

Post by ripvanwinkle »

I've read a lot around this subject but this articles sums it up best. The notion that great ideas may sound crazy but are grounded in the reality of diehard users.

That's how you distinguish between tilting at windmills and true gamechangers.

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#19

Post by tonyedgecombe »

cmckn wrote: post #5
justin_oaks wrote: post #2

I think it's interesting to see Apple's old slogan mentioned since Apple, and most big tech companies, are fairly user-hostile these days. They can spy on the user, roll out buggy software, lock down what the user can do, use vendor lock-in, have poor tech support, etc. And this is all because they're big enough that users don't have sufficient choice. I sure hope some of these startups will take this to heart and se…

> have poor tech support I think Apple not only has much better customer support than other FAANG's, I think they have objectively great customer service. If you have a weird issue with your hardware, Apple will almost always blindly give you a replacement. I mean, hell; you even have a brick-and-mortar store to go to and get help. Apple's software in recent years has frustrated enthusiasts, but I think the average u…

>There are definitely bugs, I can't argue that

I'd argue that macOS is several orders of magnitude more reliable than it was in the past. Early releases were terrible.

I know there are a lot of complaints about it here but I don't think that means much. People complain about everything here.

Re: Think Different – Think Users

#20

Post by bidivia »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #11

This is something that I don’t think can be commoditized or created with any kind of predictable process. Outfits like YC aren’t really in the business of creating startups. They are in the business of finding startups. Prospecting, as opposed to farming. They find promising ideas, and try to transplant them into fertile soil. Match “idea people” with “make it happen people.” Good prospectors can get quite wealthy. T…

I agree that YC business is prospecting, but I don't believe they prospect ideas, they prospect people.

Ideas are a dime a dozen, and the same idea could be a success or failure depending on execution quality, and execution quality depends on people.

Making happen people are actually idea people, each of then have hundreds of ideas in their mind, that just have the guts to make them happen. They go in the arena and fight and most of the time they loose. Over time if they survive they get stronger and wiser and fighting becomes easier for them.

For finding those people that are a minority in the world you need attractors that attract people all around the world.

YC matches young "make it happen people" with money, resources and old people that "made it happen " in the past.

The "idea people" that believe they have a brilliant idea you should pay then 50% for are abundant and completely useless.

Once you become successful every day you will talk with one of those idea people that spend so much time dreaming and no time risking or working on their ideas, because getting in the arena and getting hurt is not enjoyable or beautiful.

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