Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately • Hacker News Board

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#11

Post by SriniK » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 9:43 AM UTC

pace wrote: post #2

Tons of useless advice from a guy who never delivered a product himself -- excuse my harsh words. Scoble was/is/stays a blogger, always blogging while having a safe job. He never raised, never started a real venture or done an exit. This guy hasn't got the vaguest idea of what it is to quit your job, start a venture and take high risks. Never experienced how the lowest points of a startup-life full of despair can fee…

most successful vcs never done any startups themselves yet very good at picking winners. he has nice taste and energy in trying out new things and blogging about them.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#12

Post by pace » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 9:43 AM UTC

revorad wrote: post #5

pace wrote: post #2

Tons of useless advice from a guy who never delivered a product himself -- excuse my harsh words. Scoble was/is/stays a blogger, always blogging while having a safe job. He never raised, never started a real venture or done an exit. This guy hasn't got the vaguest idea of what it is to quit your job, start a venture and take high risks. Never experienced how the lowest points of a startup-life full of despair can fee…

Why should we listen to him? Because he spends a lot of time looking at new products and technologies. He really tries them out. He does fantastic interviews with founders, often asking quite good questions about the products. He's built a huge network of people who consider him a credible source for new product recommendations. Getting featured by him can be huge for an early stage product. Just because someone is a…

Everybody can

- spend a lot of time with new products and tech (no achievement)

- try them really out (no achievement)

- do interviews and they are not fantastic (no achievement)

- nowadays build a huge network w/Facebook, G+, LinkedIn (no achievment)

It is no achievement to blog while sitting for years at Microsoft doing some wishy-washy corporate job. But it is an achievement to build a startup, get traction and raise money w/empty pockets and a family to feed -- and that's just more than "programming". Don't get me wrong but this is a different psychological level than blogging from your safe job.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#13

Post by revorad » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 9:55 AM UTC

pace wrote: post #12

revorad wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should we listen to him? Because he spends a lot of time looking at new products and technologies. He really tries them out. He does fantastic interviews with founders, often asking quite good questions about the products. He's built a huge network of people who consider him a credible source for new product recommendations. Getting featured by him can be huge for an early stage product. Just because someone is a…

Everybody can - spend a lot of time with new products and tech (no achievement) - try them really out (no achievement) - do interviews and they are not fantastic (no achievement) - nowadays build a huge network w/Facebook, G+, LinkedIn (no achievment) It is no achievement to blog while sitting for years at Microsoft doing some wishy-washy corporate job. But it is an achievement to build a startup, get traction and ra…

So you only have binary states for achievement? Blog:0, Startup:1?

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#14

Post by david927 » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 9:57 AM UTC

drusenko wrote: post #10

Scoble is telling you what he wants to see before you show it to him and hope he writes about it, but that's literally miles away from where a startup first gets off the ground. Before even talking to Scoble, a startup should have come up with the idea, have built a first version, launched as early as possible (but only after what you have is better/more useful than what is currently out there), found a core group of…

No please do take this as advice on how to get a startup off the ground. There's more here than "Scoble wants polished startups."

What he's saying is that many products are similar to other efforts with additional features. That's not going to cut it. Page Rank wasn't a little bit better than existing search engines. It wasn't Yahoo but with feature x,y,z; it was a completely new approach to vetting results. I won't switch for a few features. I don't care if you're better; I care if you're solidly different.

Show us the insight! Show us the corner turned. Show us why this rocket has escape velocity when all others fell back to earth. Stop trying to simply make money and start trying to significantly innovate.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#15

Post by viandante » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 9:58 AM UTC

I am assuming Scoble is a famous guy. As he expects quality from wannabe entreprenours, I would then expect quality in his analysis, which I don't think (allow me to give a honest opinion) is true.

He forgets totally about the business sector. A crappy looking app with some errors would still be years of light ahead of consolidating a P&L from 30 different excel files sent from 30 different parts of the world.

Don't know, maybe people are focusing too much on the same thing.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#16

Post by pace » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 10:00 AM UTC

pace wrote: post #12

revorad wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should we listen to him? Because he spends a lot of time looking at new products and technologies. He really tries them out. He does fantastic interviews with founders, often asking quite good questions about the products. He's built a huge network of people who consider him a credible source for new product recommendations. Getting featured by him can be huge for an early stage product. Just because someone is a…

Everybody can - spend a lot of time with new products and tech (no achievement) - try them really out (no achievement) - do interviews and they are not fantastic (no achievement) - nowadays build a huge network w/Facebook, G+, LinkedIn (no achievment) It is no achievement to blog while sitting for years at Microsoft doing some wishy-washy corporate job. But it is an achievement to build a startup, get traction and ra…

@revorad

> So you only have binary states for achievement? Blog:0, Startup:1?

We talk past each other. Blogging is fine and it's a achievement with a certain scale. But he is blogging from a safe job (!!) -- that's something completely different to starting a venture after you have burnt your boats. And he is giving advice about something he doesn't have a clue of.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#17

Post by Angostura » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 10:10 AM UTC

viandante wrote: post #15

I am assuming Scoble is a famous guy. As he expects quality from wannabe entreprenours, I would then expect quality in his analysis, which I don't think (allow me to give a honest opinion) is true. He forgets totally about the business sector. A crappy looking app with some errors would still be years of light ahead of consolidating a P&L from 30 different excel files sent from 30 different parts of the world. Don't…

Examine what he says a little closer:

"...the market is very crowded now for certain kinds of apps. Especially location-based and social network ones. So, if you're gonna pitch me something it better provide magic. Angels better sing when I open your app up. Otherwise, why should I use your app instead of Instagram, Foodspotting, Foursquare, Yelp, or my new ones, Batch, SocialCam, or Oink?"

So yes, he's not concentrating on the business sector. On the other hand, the very first piece of advice he gives would rule your hypothetical application in in:

1. Have at least one very clear, and cool, use case. I.E. have something you can show someone else that makes them say "oh, my, that's freaking useful."

In fact the first 5 pieces of advice also apply.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#18

Post by middus » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 10:10 AM UTC

pace wrote: post #2

Tons of useless advice from a guy who never delivered a product himself -- excuse my harsh words. Scoble was/is/stays a blogger, always blogging while having a safe job. He never raised, never started a real venture or done an exit. This guy hasn't got the vaguest idea of what it is to quit your job, start a venture and take high risks. Never experienced how the lowest points of a startup-life full of despair can fee…

I watch 33,000 of the world's best users and if they aren't using your app I probably will delete it after a few days and forget it

Laughable. The world's best users. How do you qualify for that? By adding Scoble to your Facebook graph?

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#19

Post by Angostura » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 10:13 AM UTC

pace wrote: post #12

revorad wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should we listen to him? Because he spends a lot of time looking at new products and technologies. He really tries them out. He does fantastic interviews with founders, often asking quite good questions about the products. He's built a huge network of people who consider him a credible source for new product recommendations. Getting featured by him can be huge for an early stage product. Just because someone is a…

Everybody can - spend a lot of time with new products and tech (no achievement) - try them really out (no achievement) - do interviews and they are not fantastic (no achievement) - nowadays build a huge network w/Facebook, G+, LinkedIn (no achievment) It is no achievement to blog while sitting for years at Microsoft doing some wishy-washy corporate job. But it is an achievement to build a startup, get traction and ra…

Everybody can - in theory. But few people do and make the results freely available.

I'm a not a big Scoble fan, I find him verbos, and sometimes smug and self-regarding. I dropped him from my Google+ circles due to the sheer volume of marginally useful stuff.

However this article is decent.

Re: Scoble: Why I'm treating startups more critically lately

#20

Post by revorad » Wed, Nov 16, 2011, 10:15 AM UTC

pace wrote: post #16

pace wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody can - spend a lot of time with new products and tech (no achievement) - try them really out (no achievement) - do interviews and they are not fantastic (no achievement) - nowadays build a huge network w/Facebook, G+, LinkedIn (no achievment) It is no achievement to blog while sitting for years at Microsoft doing some wishy-washy corporate job. But it is an achievement to build a startup, get traction and ra…

@revorad > So you only have binary states for achievement? Blog:0, Startup:1? We talk past each other. Blogging is fine and it's a achievement with a certain scale. But he is blogging from a safe job (!!) -- that's something completely different to starting a venture after you have burnt your boats. And he is giving advice about something he doesn't have a clue of.

If he didn't have his "safe" job, you'd probably dismiss him as just another unemployed blogger! Ad hominem is a slippery slope.