Slashdot Mirror
Best & Worst Decisions Starting Companies
markfletcher writes "Today I launched a new site, Startupping, dedicated to helping Internet entrepreneurs. For the launch I asked several successful entrepreneurs about lessons they learned starting and running Internet companies. The first set of replies includes responses from Paul Graham, John Battelle, Chris Pirillo, Ross Mayfield, and Dick Costolo."
I wanna buy space too.
this isn't even news. This is blatant advertising.
A bit off topic maybe, but anyone know of good sites for more general startup help - that includes non-internet companies? A place to discuss contract terms, get recommendations for legal help, advice on whether to go LLC or C-corp - or one of the million other questions that come up.
The number one thing that people screw up is to start a business around an idea because it's interesting to work on, it can get funded, it's been done successfully before, the sector is hot, exit valuations are good, etc.
...trite, I know.
The ONLY successful ideas I have ever seen start with a _customer_. The first thing you say when somebody asks you what your idea is should be to describe who will buy it and why. Not what it is. I can't tell you how many entrepreneurs I've heard touting their latest venture with a pitch such as: "Think of it as a cross between grid computing and a web of trust, and it uses these applets that run on your back-end server... etc etc". This drivel often comes from seemingly smart people who have had impressive successes in the past. But who the fsck is the customer?
What is really astonishing is that it's the worst of these ideas, which happen to have just the right buzzwords du jour, which get funded by VCs. And it just gets more out of control from there. Even today, 7 years after the dot bomb, I know of several companies which have grown to 100+ employees and are on their fifth round of venture money without a profit in sight.
If your customer is not the #1 thing on your mind at all times, don't even bother!
(BTW dot coms DID have customers - it's just that the customer was not the guy buying you non-existent product, but rather the "bigger fool" who would buy your company. They eventually failed for the EXACT same reason - people kept starting companies even after they could no longer identify that customer.)
My partner and I are about to launch a new site, how much for a link from the front page?
We can guarantee:
aPaddedCell.com for a sneak preview, see we've even got an Internet Explorer hate piece on the front page!
To have a business, you need to understand cash flow (current & projected), customers, your product and how the hell you're going to get the product in front of the customer.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
thinking that people would pay for a site totally devoted to Cowboy Neal porn....WHAT WAS I THINKING? I'M RUINED!
Monstar L
Coming up with a domain name that can be read as "Star Tupping"
Tales from the pen of the latest boyband member, maybe?
Notice that almost all of the posts highlighted the "best decision" as hiring the right people, or finding co-founders that stuck with them. From what I've seen in the past, picking the right people is vital, its one of those things that is expected of you, and so we almost take it for granted, but if you don't do it right, you will mess the whole thing up.
--"You are your own God"--
startupping.com sounds like celebrities having fun with sheep (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Tupping)
sig's not here
1) Synergize
2) Think Outside The Box
3) Harness The Internet
4) Get A Boat
5) Ask yourself, "is this good for the company?"
6) Attend Donald Trump Wealth Seminars
7) Have a Can-Do Upwardly Mobile Attitude
8) Actualize Your Dreams
9) Have Wealthy Parents
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
For a in-depth look at some of the secrets for a succesful start-up, Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days might serve as an interesting read.
It features interviews with Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail).
I haven't purchased the book myself, but I'm getting one as soon as I can to help me with my own startup initiatives.
Quote: All the best things that I did at Apple came from (a) not having money and (b) not having done it before, ever. Every single thing that we came out with that was really great, I'd never once done that thing in my life. --Steve Wozniak, founder of Apple, page 36
"I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel"
1. ... ...
2. Take the gerund of the verb and register it as a Web domain.
3.
4. Advertise your site on Slashdot, where opinionated fussbudgets, girlfriendless nerds, and Grammar Nazis (often all the same thing) will gleefully and mercilessly attack your competence and judgement.
A post lamenting "grammar nazis" from someone can spell, writes in full sentences, and knows WTF a gerund is?
Having a name that sounds like someone throwing up, startupping. Excuse me, I have to go startup. Whew. Sorry, my stomach's been a bit off.
Anyway, you really have to wonder what strange chain of events happened to make someone think that verbing that particular noun sounded good. Roll it aound on the tongue. Startupping. StartUpping. Hmmm. Maybe another hit of Jack. Yes, that's it. Startupping. Hmm. Still sounds lame. Maybe if we change the emphasis. STARTuping. startUPing. startupING. Yeah, that's it. Suave. Respectable. Instant recognition.
I can't imagine how this domain was available.
Nolo. No contest. They have quite a bit of free information and you can buy their eBooks in DRM-free .pdf format in addition to the usual dead trees versions.
BTW, you almost certainly want to go LLC.
A place to discuss contract terms, get recommendations for legal help, advice on whether to go LLC or C-corp - or one of the million other questions that come up.
A fellow named "Robert A. Cooke" has written several easy-reading tax law/accountancy books, very much in the mould of what you might call "The Idiot's Guide[s] to Teaching Yourself Corporate Tax Law in About 24 Minutes Flat": Be aware, though, that Congress has a bad habit of changing the "laws" about every five minutes [and dittoes as regards the IRS & the "regulations"], so at any one point in time, no single person on the entire planet is entirely certain of the precise state of all the laws and all the regulations at that very moment.
But I'd recommend Cooke as a good place to start to get an overview of the big picture.