The idea that you’d make the mistake of working with the wrong customer seems to imply you got it all wrong, and that’s just not the case. Landing the wrong customer will likely feel as if you’re landing the right one.
As our deal came together, it looked like a great fit. Looking back now, though, I can see clearly that it was too good to be true.
The following are a few insights I think early founders, especially first-timers, should take to heart when talking about their project.
A lot of these insights are based on the idea that the benefits of being open, humble, and honest when you’re just getting started outweigh the natural inclination you have to present yourself as as a big deal.
A sad economy and bleary job prospects have made even my most risk-averse friends consider leaving their jobs to join a startup. The excitement surrounding early stage tech is so high right now that for some people “sitting on the sidelines” has become the risky career move.
That’s insane.
I’m going to be writing a lot more going forward, but things will change a bit. It’s like that time you told your dog she was going to the park and really you were taking her to the vet.
//hear My parents put me into a Montessori school right off the bat. I’m pretty sure they couldn’t afford it, honestly, but both of my parents came from backgrounds that emphasized education. College was a must. Intellect was a stated goal when raising children. When we transplanted to Chicago and out of the “East Coast [...]
//see I walk to work every other day or so, about a mile through a city I can now navigate with my eyes splitting time between my phone and the way the buildings here seem to volley sunlight back and forth in between them like little kids fighting over a beachball. The coffee shop across [...]
//hear It’s been a whirlwind year. On Conan the other night Aaron Paul relayed a night with his girlfriend in New York in which he spotted Conan at a play and stood outside reeling about wanting to go up and introduce himself. It was pouring rain and he and his girl were awestruck enough to [...]
This blog was started on August 15th, 2006. It’s sort of our five year anniversary around here. // Before that I was writing an anonymous blog called PsychoticNormalcy. I got that website online in 2002 and I was using Moveable Type (which was a bitch, honestly). I began writing online because I was reading these [...]
I’m really impressed at Jason for coming out and saying this, especially because he’s always paid so much attention to building great products and simple interfaces. Seriously…put up or shut up…make something or go home. Where the heck were you when the fucking page was blank? The above quote by legendary copywriter, Paul Butterworth, was [...]
I’m incredibly fortunate to be a member of a small Facebook group of thought leading “Community Builders“. In my opinion, that term deserves quotation marks simply because it’s widely thrown around, and at this point it’s largely undefined. I actually hate Facebook less because of this group of “Community Builders“. It’s a group that basically [...]