So, what startup ideas can we create from this?
How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
41–50 of 84 posts
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trello grew because it was very KISS. The features were so-so but everyone could use it easily. Atlassian just purchased the bottom segment of the project market, the segment that would never use JIRA in a million years because of it's complexity.
Yep, they're consolidating the market and becoming a bigger monopoly. At almost every company, and especially the large ones, JIRA is the "tool" that is used. I keep wondering whatever happened to all the other tools out there because everyone in corporate life has consolidated on this big complex tool. Maybe all other project and task management tools were too open/open source? Didn't feel enterprise-y enough for ma…
youtrack is alive and well.
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like this comment literally makes the author's case for him.
Not really .. The boards are a very basic feature in Jira. It's like not knowing that there are drawing tools in PowerPoint :)
errr, that's the point, it's basic and simple, it doesn't support the same feature set, but, in many cases, you can get away without all the features.....
like when you can make powerpoints without ever needing to draw, in fact, not having drawing tools means you keep your things simpler and don't over complicate the essential thing you are doing.
it certainly won't suit everyone though, and for me, I went Jira -> Trello -> Youtrack and got a nice blend of things.
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#44As a Software Developer, working with Jira is just a pain for me. I just don't like much about it, the less time I spend using it the happier I am. There dozens of views of the same information, but just different enough to get me lost. I have to admit, I did not buckle down to 'tame' the beast. It feels like hiking a steep hill on a rainy day. Trello, on the other hand I introduced to some colleagues, and the simpli…
> As a Software Developer, working with Jira is just a pain for me.
Said every software developer ever about every bug tracking/ticketing system ever.
> Trello, on the other hand I introduced to some colleagues, and the simplicity and ease of use is very satisfying.
Said about every new bug tracking/ticketing system ever. Until you need to do X, and we need to track Y, and Z needs to sign off before ...
The real problem is that most developers write shitty bug reports. The reason for all those annoying fields in the bug reporting system is that most developers won't include them without it.
There is a fine line between having a bug reporting system which is just sufficiently annoying enough to the end users to give just enough information to the people fixing the bugs.
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#45This article was well written and surprisingly did give a plausible reason why Trello grew and was later acquired.
The basic breakdown of disruption was okay for someone unfamiliar with the idea, but the writing was horrible. It was littered with 1-3 sentence "paragraphs", bold text and exclamation points. And sentence fragments. And often a combination of multiple irritants!
To be honest it felt like it was written for people who aren't really comfortable with reading anything longer than a few sentences at a time.
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#46I really wish people would stop abusing the term "disruptive innovation" in ways it was never meant to be used. Making a product that's overly complicated, beyond what the market is demanding, is just bad management. It doesn't require any disruptive innovation to correct for this - making something that better matches your customers' needs is bread-and-butter business management, which every competent company is alr…
Part of the problem is that Prof. Christensen used the word disruption to name his theory. It's a common word, and has partial overlap with the process he describes. As a result, some people mean what he did when they say "disruptive innovation" and other people just mean an innovation that can disrupt someone or something. That said, if he had named it something else, it may not have been as popular or widely referenced...
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#47Trello will never hold a candle to Jira for users with complex needs. Trello is deliberately simple while Jira is deliberately complex. Also the screenshots comparing a Sprint board to a Kanban board is like comparing apples and oranges.
I work in enterprise, and our use case for JIRA is so utterly complex to meet all of the requirements / standards that I cannot even imagine how a migration to Trello would work.
I see this acquisition as both a) a smaller alternative to JIRA that is much easier to use (but fundamentally different) and b) a way to prevent Trello from growing into something bigger, more complex, and become a big competitor to Atlassian.
I use Trello with my fiancé to organize our wedding planning, house chores, and projects, but I cannot even imagine how awful it would be for my work's use case.
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jira used correctly will triumph over Trello used correctly any day of the week. But for the lazy with simple needs, sure use Trello.
Hmm, I can definitely see that. JIRA can be the slowest, awkward, non-intuitive piece of crap web app out there.
Sounds like you've never used Target Process
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really .. The boards are a very basic feature in Jira. It's like not knowing that there are drawing tools in PowerPoint :)
That's the whole Innovator's Dilemma argument: simplistic, minimal versions of the value propositions of larger products, produced by upstarts, have an uncanny way of stealing the entire market from incumbents. The key thing you said was "I actually prefer Trello over Jira". The reason that happens is that the incumbent --- along with their most vocal customers! --- is blinded to what 80% of the market wants by the d…
Yes I prefer the simple Trello over Jira but, only for my own personal projects. Trello is completely useless where I work and, is in no way, disruptive to the Enterprise.
My point was that, if you can't figure out where a Kanban board is in Jira you should probably stick to Waterfall development. The author either didn't spend a few minutes looking at Jira or has no clue what the real difference between the two products are.
I highly doubt Trello would have replaced Jira at the pace the article suggests. Either Trello would become overly complex or Jira would adapt and become simpler and add even more needed features. I don't believe Atlassian bought Trello out of fear that Trello would innovate them out of market. That dilema just doesn't apply here IMO.
Re: How to build the next Trello and sell it for $425M or more
#50Well there's also no mention of the following and general goodwill Joel has accumulated over the years (mostly by being awesome, honest and also working hard on other products). Pretty sure he/his company could indeed build the next Trello by building a simpler X of something. People without that channel...that's going to be a tiny bit harder.
Yeah, step one to building the next Trello is be Joel Spolsky, or possibly 37Signals; failing that, be [otherwise] exceptionally good at marketing and generating goodwill. Because the reality is that "it's simpler to use, more general and has less bloat than the market leader" is not a unique selling point, it's something pretty much every new entrant into a market achieves by default. So you have to do a lot more than that for your KISS general productivity/collaboration app to stand out, particularly if starting from the significantly disadvantaged starting point of not being Joel Spolsky