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All or something (2009)

37signals.com

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Re: All or something (2009)

#11

Post by thesash »

Unfortunately, the entrepreneurial success story tends to get corrupted by the noisy example set by tech blogs, and pundits glorifying the investment cycle represented by companies like Groupon, Yelp, etc, rather than the quiet success stories of much more common but less high profile businesses that simply create things that people want and are willing to pay for.

What results is confusion in the minds of young entrepreneurs between what it means to build a business and what it means to swing for the fences. Big ideas start can start small, and that does not preclude the possibility of swinging for the fences, but building the business should be the motivation and the priority, not visa versa. In fact, starting small, cultivating a product, and staying relentlessly focused on customer happiness is the right way to sart a business regardless of how big your ultimate ambitions are.

Re: All or something (2009)

#12

Post by jcromartie »

I'll upvote this if only because I'm not that young, I have obligations, and I would prefer to have extracurricular activities. I am easily discouraged by the constant stream of wunderkind success stories, and the relative dearth of more "normal" people succeeding. By now I think I've realized that this is because of what sells in terms of news.

Re: All or something (2009)

#13

Post by fuzzylizard »

jdminhbg wrote: post #5
alberth wrote: post #4

CH blog post comment is so true (can't hard link to it): There is a fundamental difference in philosophy here. Some startups work 24/7 because they are “swinging for the fences” (to use a baseball analogy). Where other startups, like yourself [37signals] back in the day, are content with simply hitting “singles”. .... Here’s the philosophical difference, you can live a good life on hitting singles, but you’ll never b…

DHH seems to have gotten plenty "filthy rich" hitting singles: http://david.heinemeierhansson.com/racing People who swing for the fences generally fly out to shallow center. You can score lots of runs hitting single after single after single.

I always find it interesting that Babe Ruth was, at the same time, the home run leader and the strike out leader. If you swing for the fences, chances are, you will fail more than you win. Hitting singles, consistently, is actually far more beneficial for both you and the team that you work with.

Re: All or something (2009)

#14

Post by fuzzylizard »

I find that in tech culture--startups, coders, hackers alike--there is an attitude that if you don't live, breath, sleep your profession that you will fail. And I wonder if this idea that for a startup to succeed you have to give 24/7 comes from that attitude.

One ruby conference, there were two talks by startup founders, the one presenter stated that the only way to succeed was to work 24/7 while the other presenter stated that success only came through working smart and taking time off to recharge and do other things. Both were successful. Personally, I have other things that I want to do and the sooner we can abolish this startup myth the better.

Re: All or something (2009)

#15

Post by kerryfalk »

alberth wrote: post #7
jdminhbg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DHH seems to have gotten plenty "filthy rich" hitting singles: http://david.heinemeierhansson.com/racing People who swing for the fences generally fly out to shallow center. You can score lots of runs hitting single after single after single.

Having a sports car fits into the "you can live a good life on hitting singles". Having your own private jet, is when you're filthy rich.

This is well beyond your neighbour owning a Ferrari. It takes serious money to race in those leagues.

And if I recall correctly I remember seeing a video of him racing one of my personal favourites, an Aston Martin V12 Vantage (Could have been a DB9/DBS, can't recall exactly).

I would personally consider anyone who can drop six figures annually on a hobby filthy rich. The one's "living a good life" did the kind of racing I used to do, and the wealthy guys there only dropped 20-30k/ year racing around in parking lots.

Re: All or something (2009)

#16

Post by jskopek »

My experience has taught me that it can be all or nothing at during a startup's inception. At my last startup, we had to work incredibly hard to keep our first customers happy. I do, however, think 37s is right when they say that you can turn a startup into a sustainable, quieter business much earlier than most people would assume.

Re: All or something (2009)

#17

Post by brown9-2 »

alberth wrote: post #4

CH blog post comment is so true (can't hard link to it): There is a fundamental difference in philosophy here. Some startups work 24/7 because they are “swinging for the fences” (to use a baseball analogy). Where other startups, like yourself [37signals] back in the day, are content with simply hitting “singles”. .... Here’s the philosophical difference, you can live a good life on hitting singles, but you’ll never b…

This presumes that all 24/7 startups are working 24/7 because of the "swinging for the fences" idea - because they need to rush to build something before someone else does - and that they aren't doing so because they think it's the only way to work.

While some 24/7 startups are 24/7 because of a true need, surely some amount must also think they need to work in perpetual crunch mode because "that's just how startups work"

Re: All or something (2009)

#18

Post by thesash »

alberth wrote: post #4

CH blog post comment is so true (can't hard link to it): There is a fundamental difference in philosophy here. Some startups work 24/7 because they are “swinging for the fences” (to use a baseball analogy). Where other startups, like yourself [37signals] back in the day, are content with simply hitting “singles”. .... Here’s the philosophical difference, you can live a good life on hitting singles, but you’ll never b…

From my response to this comment on the blog:

If "swinging for the fences" requires 24/7 work, chances are you're not focused enough, not validating your ideas fast enough, and from my experience, you're probably wasting a huge amount of your time doing on inefficient work or unnecessary stuff that will be scrapped entirely. That being said, starting small and focused does not eliminate the possibility of building something big.

To build on your baseball analogy-- who wins more games, the team with the most homeruns or the team with the most hits? 37 Signals proves the analogy-- a series of simple, focused, products, that started small and have achieved massive success.

Re: All or something (2009)

#20

Post by yurylifshits »

You can work relaxed hours while testing hypotheses, building MVPs, interviewing prospective customers.

Once you've got to product-market fit, it becomes drug-like addiction. It's too much fun to give it up for something else.

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