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Thoughts on Startup School

daemonology.net

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Re: Thoughts on Startup School

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Single-founder startups don't get as big, which is a bad thing" Setting aside the question of whether this is true, why is it bad to have a smaller business? I can think of several advantages, not the least of which is the luxury of remaining the sole developer. It's weird that you spend the comment telling Colin what he's doing wrong, and then ask him at the end what he wants.

I didn't say it's bad to have a smaller business. I said it's bad to have a smaller startup. Because by definition a startup is a company designed to grow. If a business isn't growing then it's not a startup. Between the two extremes of being a Google or a barbershop, it's closer to a barbershop. It also isn't as weird that I wrote that comment considering I alarmingly find myself falling into Colin's shoes as a sing…

"Because by definition a startup is a company designed to grow"

That is not what the word means in common usage.

Merriam-Webster: "a fledgling business enterprise"

Oxford: "A newly established business"

Wikipedia: "A company, partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model"

Etc.

Re: Thoughts on Startup School

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say it's bad to have a smaller business. I said it's bad to have a smaller startup. Because by definition a startup is a company designed to grow. If a business isn't growing then it's not a startup. Between the two extremes of being a Google or a barbershop, it's closer to a barbershop. It also isn't as weird that I wrote that comment considering I alarmingly find myself falling into Colin's shoes as a sing…

"Because by definition a startup is a company designed to grow" That is not what the word means in common usage. Merriam-Webster: "a fledgling business enterprise" Oxford: "A newly established business" Wikipedia: "A company, partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model" Etc.

Paul Graham: "A startup is a company designed to grow"

No wonder that's not what the word means in common usage considering startups themselves haven't been common enough to make it into hundred-year old dictionaries.

Re: Thoughts on Startup School

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Because by definition a startup is a company designed to grow" That is not what the word means in common usage. Merriam-Webster: "a fledgling business enterprise" Oxford: "A newly established business" Wikipedia: "A company, partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model" Etc.

Paul Graham: "A startup is a company designed to grow" No wonder that's not what the word means in common usage considering startups themselves haven't been common enough to make it into hundred-year old dictionaries.

Yeah. Stupid old dictionaries. Hey: a good YC application idea! Disrupt them!

Re: Thoughts on Startup School

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're underestimating how hard all those non-coding skills are. When you laundry list "UI, branding, PR, etc" I can almost see you doing a hand-wavy motion. The reality is, anyone that's truly awesome at non-technical things deserves some equity for the 10X-100X growth they will help bring to the business. The truth is you can be 8 years in, but only 10% of the way there.

I say this as a person who has worked as a front end engineer for a fair bit of time that a handsome-looking salary (like, say, ~200k) is more than good enough for great work on the laundry list of non-tech tasks of a startup in the beginning stages. Couple that with the fact that right now this is a tech engineer's market, not the business/frontend person's -- even the great ones are a dime a dozen out there. > The…

> The technology component of the company is completely solid

But the technology component is only ~2/10ths of a company.

Re: Thoughts on Startup School

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Because by definition a startup is a company designed to grow" That is not what the word means in common usage. Merriam-Webster: "a fledgling business enterprise" Oxford: "A newly established business" Wikipedia: "A company, partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model" Etc.

Paul Graham: "A startup is a company designed to grow" No wonder that's not what the word means in common usage considering startups themselves haven't been common enough to make it into hundred-year old dictionaries.

The biggest thing I learned from this downvoting is that sometimes it's better to only quote new knowledge and let others pick up the conversation from there.
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