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What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

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Re: What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

#51

Post by shanecleveland »

sshumaker wrote: post #50
shanecleveland wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may have listed in no particular order, but, if you did, I would argue #2 as the most important.

I disagree, and this is the mistake I made earlier in my career. Having the market is most important. I have built great products that flopped and ok products that were incredibly successful. Quoting Andy Rachleff: If your startup addresses a market that really wants your product, you can screw almost everything up and still likely be successful. On the flip side, if you are really good at execution, but the “dogs ar…

It sounds more like we agree. "Having a market" and "The ability to reach people who have the problem my software solves" aren't so different.

But while "people who have a problem" equals a market, it's nothing if you cannot reach them.

Re: What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

#53

Post by orasis »

kareemm wrote: post #7

I'm running Savio[1], which is my fourth small internet company I've run since 2007 (the previous three were sold). At the risk of sounding cliche, the three skills that have been most valuable are: 1. The ability to build software that meaningfully solves a customer's problem 2. The ability to reach people who have the problem my software solves 3. The persistence to grind until we have a decent product and can regu…

#2 is so much harder than people think.

Re: What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

#54

Post by adventured »

trpc wrote: post #12

the skill of shamelessly shilling for yourself on HN, Reddit, Twitter, IH and PH all day long, everyday until you make it.

> the skill of shamelessly shilling ... all day long, everyday until you make it.

It's one of the most important comments in the thread.

Not only is it an acquired skill (selling), it's bonded to an extraordinarily valuable character trait: perseverance.

A lot of people can't do the necessary sales to drive their product/platform/service because they either can't absorb the hits from doors being constantly shut in their face (hearing no all day long, or worse), or they feel shame from pushing the thing on other people (most of whom do not care and don't want to hear it and do not want you wasting their time, and certainly initially that will all be true).

Promoting is selling. Selling is promoting.

The best sales people are shameless. Not in the sense that they're abusive, rather, in the sense that they'll push their offering to every corner of the globe as necessary, getting 99 no answers to get to that one yes answer. Being told no a thousand times feels very shameful, low and hurtful to most people and they can't handle it.

Promoting your thing, is always about selling. Shilling is nothing more than the task of selling being categorized as a disparaged craft.

Re: What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

#55

Post by fizx »

734129837261 wrote: post #34

Here's what NOT to do, from my experience in the first decade of this millennium: 1. What came first: More work or more developers? Don't stress your development team for ages without hiring new employees. They'll burn out and hate working for you. 2. Don't focus all your energy on outward appearance. Your work should speak for itself, not your amazing expensive new car and tailored suits. 3. Don't stop innovating. T…

It's amazing how much driving a nice car in a downturn makes your employees hate you.

Re: What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

#58

Post by kelseydh »

every wrote: post #17

Surprisingly, no accounting...

The accounting profession exists, precisely because you need to get it right and successful founders don't have the time to be wasting their time on it.

Trust me on this: don't think you can survive the tax system on your own. Hire an accountant or bookkeeper.

Re: What skills are most crucial for running small internet companies?

#60

Post by niknikson »

smithmayowa wrote: post #22
dfcagency wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a marketer here. If you want some help, reply. I'm happy to grab coffee in the Bay Area and help give early direction to your startup.

Hey man, would like to pick ur brain some regarding saas sales, sadly I am not based in the valley or US for that matter, mind if I email you, quick question what is the fastest no bullshit way to validating ur saas idea and seeing if people needed it, I was thinking of driving google ad words traffic to a landing page will that be sufficient?

Google AdWords campaign is good way to gauge market demand. Key is to identify granular high intent keywords in your market and setup your campaign to only target those keywords. If you are able to capture a decent amount of exact keyword search impression you can work backwards to get an idea of overall traffic/demand for your product. Keep in mind if you run a short campaign you will have to take into consideration seasonality - you can likely extrapolate this info by analyzing monthly search volume in AdWords keyword tool.

The other important factor is validating keyword intent. You need identify some action that indicates the likelihood of a user paying for your service. If you can measure that and combine this data with search volume, you will be in a good position to assess your products feasibility.

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