September 2009
32 posts
“The best composition is probably one engineer whose passion lies in the pixels...”
– From Nothing To Something. How To Get There.
(This breakdown describes Brad and me pretty concisely)
37SIGNALS VALUATION TOPS $100 BILLION AFTER BOLD... →
I was disturbed by a recent comment on Hacker News that encouraged people not to monetize (the disturbing part was how much it rang true).
Jason Fried takes that and runs with it. Funny stuff, even though there are many bright people that would deride this kind of … derision.
I think I’m seeing both sides of the debate. If you can scale the daylights out of something and make it...
Web companies are user interface companies →
Dave McClure has said that speed of execution and visual design are a startup’s two greatest competitive advantages. This article continues along that line and makes me all the more excited to keep focusing on making the Stormpulse UI great (quick to comprehend at a glance, easy to use).
Dave McClure: Welcome to Startonomics & Startup... →
Dave’s “1-Page Business Model” and AARRR paradigm fits my brain in a way not unlike Python. Clean, simple, and just the stuff that makes things (in this case the business) work. So glad I’ve dug into this! If you’re trying to start a startup, you should too.
“One of Boyd’s primary insights in fighter combat was that it is vital to...”
– OODA loop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually...”
– Walt Unsworth, Everest
“If you want to know whether you’re the right sort of person to start a...”
– Paul Graham, Relentlessly Resourceful
“What those sites have in common … is that something is causing their...”
– Lessons Learned: The three drivers of growth for your business model. Choose one.
“Products can find sources of validation with impressive stats along a number of...”
– Lessons Learned: customer development
“Most aggregate measures of success, like total revenue, are not very useful....”
– Lessons Learned: customer development
“But the lure of the current hill is strong. There is a natural human tendency...”
– Climbing the wrong hill, http://www.cdixon.org/?p=989
“When you see something that’s taking advantage of new technology to give...”
– http://www.paulgraham.com/publishing.html
“Use difficulty as a guide not just in selecting the overall aim of your company,...”
– Paul Graham, “How to Create Wealth”
“People will pay for information they think they can make money from....”
– Paul Graham http://paulgraham.com/publishing.html
Two things startups must make clear to investors →
Startups looking for VC funding need to make two things crystal clear when pitching to investors: One, how your company plans to distribute your product or services to the masses; and two, why it’s going to shake up the tech industry.
Newspapers' failures & corporate responsibility
Joshua-Michéle Ross writes in an O’Reilly Radar post: “The failure of newspapers is not a failure of imagination or foresight nor is it a failure of individuals. This kind of failure is the hallmark of all institutions in the face of tectonic disruption. Institutions are a set of agreements that perpetuate a social order beyond individual intention or tenure. Changing those agreements...
Molding bullets and building airplanes
Best Entrepreneurship/VC Tumblr Blogs
Only following a few so far, but awesome to have a fairly hefty list—a great trough of knowledge here …
hiten:
msg:
David Noel compiled this list of folks involved in (but not limited to) entrepreneurship, venture capital, web, tech and business that I highly enjoy reading every day. This is an ongoing list so feel free to post a comment with a link to the blog you think belongs...
Reduce, Reduce, Reduce
continuations:
My two favorite quotes these days are Ward Cunningham’s “What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work?” and Einstein’s “Simplify as much as possible, but no further.” I believe these to be essential to startup success, especially in a highly connected world, where what might have previously been a feature can now be a company.
The temptation, however, always goes in the...
“When your customers become your allies, there’s almost nothing you can’t...”
– Lessons Learned: The cardinal sin of community management (via hiten)
“Most companies could increase revenue by simply adding a very high-end offering,...”
– What We Can Learn About Pricing From Menu Engineers (via hiten)
“Be selective with your innovation. Keep as much of your product predictable, so...”
– just in teractive: GameLayers from PMOG to Dictator Wars (via hiten)
What we can learn about pricing from menu... →
“Of all the levers a business has at its disposal, price is often the most powerful. The vast majority of revenue gains from higher prices result in profits (whereas selling more units often carries a commensurate increase in expenses). And the assumption that higher prices will erode loyalty or decrease demand is often just plain wrong. I’ve never seen a business that’s put too much thought...
“Let’s let the problem surface.”
– Counter-intuitive adage of a former VP of mine
Growing list of my favorite companies
ING Direct, Southwest Airlines, Falcon Northwest, McMaster-Carr, Toyota, Honda.
All of them create (or distribute) superior products and have incredible customer service.
“They are not the best at what they do. They are the only ones who do what they...”
– Bill Graham, in reference to the Grateful Dead
"Great designers steal" by Jeff Veen →
My favorite quote from this speech is when Jeff Veen quotes Jason Fried: “Shouldn’t copying something be easier than creating it? No. The problem is that the work on the original is invisible. The copier doesn’t know why it looks the way it looks.”
“Exceptional results require exceptional effort.”