Article: What I'd tell myself about startups if I could go back 5 years.

[Weaponize]

Came across this blog post today, really liked it:

http://www.talkingquickly.co.uk/2015/04/what-id-tell-myself-about-startups/

Here are some of my favorites, what are yours?

• You're definitely going to end up building too much and shipping too late. Be obsessive about avoiding this

• Someone's always already working on the same idea and that's not a bad thing

• Linear growth can be worse than no growth

• "Ads" are where business models go to die

• The people you end up wanting to work with (and help) are the ones who always try and work out how they can help you. Be more like them

• Only say you're going to introduce someone or send them something if you're actually going to do it. People quickly get a reputation for never following through

• Show don't tell. "I'm going to build this amazing thing" is a LOT less interesting than "I've built this slightly crappy thing that actually does something". EVERYONE is GOING to build something, most people never do

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

Great find! Thanks for the share!

Love these:

Spoiler

• If you don't have first hand experience of an industry, you're probably wrong about how it works, what problems they have and so how they should be solved. Talk to people
• Constantly exaggerating how well you're doing can be very tiring. It makes it harder to publicly celebrate the real victories
• Falling in love with a product (rather than the problem) is really dangerous
• The solution to many, many problems, is not technical. That won't stop people trying solve them with apps
• That was not "your idea" unless you shipped something, otherwise I invented Facebook, Nest and Oculus Rift
• People don't steal ideas. Tell as many people as possible. Never ask someone to sign an NDA before hearing your idea, you'll instantly lose all credibility

 

[Vigilante]

Hey. How did you do that spoiler thing?

 

[SlowlaneJay]

Hey. How did you do that spoiler thing?

[Spoiler]Bunch of hidden text[/spoiler]

 

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[Vigilante]

[Spoiler]Bunch of hidden text[/spoiler]

@MJ DeMarco

 

[SlowlaneJay]

I think he knows, Vig.

I see ya'll found the spoiler function, ha ha.