Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
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Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#2TNW probably encounters a lot of people who do more pitching than working. They hardly ever hear from people who do too much working and not enough pitching. It's my impression that HN has more of the latter. This article is terrible advice for them.
More generally applicable advice is the "rule of thirds" described in the middle of Chris Brogan's blog post that I just submitted: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2359099
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#3With SXSW and YC Demo Days just over, it's high season for startup marketing. For those YC companies who manage to get some financing out of their Demo Day presentation, I'd say they'll be back to work (and harder than ever) pretty soon.
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#4The job is solitary enough already. The breaks fromt he work keep me from breaking entirely.
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#5It's not necessarily bad advice to some people, but the majority of people I know that are focused on a new project are spending way too much time on code.
"Just one more javascript function to add..." and so on keeps them from ever meeting with anyone - potential customers, local like-minded entrepreneurs who could offer support and introductions to others, etc.
If someone recognizes themselves in this piece as the person who is always networking/pitching/schmoozing and never working on the product/project/service at all (tech or customer development), then yes, heed the advice. Otherwise, simply strive for a balance. But... don't fall for the "it's gotta be perfect in my eyes before I show anyone" (or even "it's gotta be or look really nice before anyone can see it"). Just... show it around.
While it's true first impressions count, after you show someone, there's millions or billions of others to make a new first impression on later with an improved system/service/product. But you won't know how best to improve it without getting the feedback from initial showings.
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#6[deleted]
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#7How many companies have this problem? The most common problem in projects I've worked on has been the lack of someone getting the word out. As a developer, a number one thing I'd be looking for in a cofounder would be someone who can network and publicize - and make a good impression while doing so!
It's tempting to say that you can ignore within-tech-industry networking and only talk to customers, but ... it's pretty important in a lot of situations (funding, partnerships, serendipity, hiring) that the tech community has heard of your company. And they can be some of your first customers, too, in a lot of cases, since they're interested in trying new things for their own sake. And you can get advice. And find employees.
I bet most tech companies need to network more in addition to talking to customers more. Coding is what comes naturally...
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#8TNW probably encounters a lot of people who do more pitching than working. They hardly ever hear from people who do too much working and not enough pitching. It's my impression that HN has more of the latter. This article is terrible advice for them. More generally applicable advice is the "rule of thirds" described in the middle of Chris Brogan's blog post that I just submitted: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2…
True, the author, as a target of the over-schmoozers, inevitably has a big sampling bias.
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#9> "So stop networking, showing off and prancing around and start attracting customers and make some money."
> "The pitching, networking and attention from the press is all nice and can help your business. But be careful not to lose yourself in it."
It WILL help your business. The title of this article is a bit harsh and doesn't match the overall point: "But be careful not to lose yourself in it."
Re: Entrepreneurs: stop networking and showing off and get back to work
#10It's not necessarily bad advice to some people, but the majority of people I know that are focused on a new project are spending way too much time on code. "Just one more javascript function to add..." and so on keeps them from ever meeting with anyone - potential customers, local like-minded entrepreneurs who could offer support and introductions to others, etc. If someone recognizes themselves in this piece as the…
I think the point is that networking events aren't usually chock-full of potential customers. They're often an early-adopter circle-jerk and unless your customers are early adopters, you get diminishing returns on such things.
You need to build up a network, and so getting out and pitching to folks is a necessity early on, but remember that networking events are mostly just practice for pitching to the people who actually matter.
I'd suggest also that a lot of people are convinced that their target customers are early adopters because it's easier to imagine that their customers are like themselves. This is often wrong, sometimes dangerously so. Do some soul-searching (Are these really the people that are most likely to give us money? Do they even have any money? How much?) if you find yourself in that spot.
There are a lot of "entrepreneurs" that get caught up in the social aspects of being an entrepreneur without actually going out and getting traction on their business. It turns into an ugly form of cargo-cultism quickly.