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Businesses The Internet

Best & Worst Decisions Starting Companies 127

Posted by kdawson from the if-i-had-it-to-do-over-again dept.
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."
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Best & Worst Decisions Starting Companies More

Best & Worst Decisions Starting Companies

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  • What are the rates for a slashvertisement? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Harmonious Botch ( 921977 ) * on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:24AM (#18093322) Homepage Journal
    I wanna buy space too.

  • Get link on /. (Score:3, Funny)

    by anagama ( 611277 ) <obamaisaneocon@nothingchanged.org> on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:26AM (#18093336) Homepage
    1. Get linked from slashdot.
    2. Pay bandwidth overages.
    3. ???
    4. Profit

  • Sorry but... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by js92647 ( 917218 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:26AM (#18093340)
    this isn't even news. This is blatant advertising.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Shadow Wrought ( 586631 ) *
      This is blatant advertising.

      Ah, so its the "blatant" part that separates it from the rest of the dot;-) Maybe instead of the Intel section they should just call it Slashmarketing Sponsored by Intel (Until AMD Pays Us More), and then we can throw them all in there.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by bogjobber ( 880402 )
        The difference is that this is presented as legitimate news. The Intel page and banner ads are obviously advertisements. Guerilla marketing sucks.

        • Guerilla marketing sucks
          As long as they stay away from the lightbrites we should be thankful!
        • Today I launched a new site shutupping [stupid.cm] dedicated to talking wankers out of starting websites, then trying to pimp them on Slashdot.

          (damn, I wonder if shutupping.com is taken. Well, I'm sure it is by now)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Dunbal ( 464142 )
          The difference is that this is presented as legitimate news. The Intel page and banner ads are obviously advertisements. Guerilla marketing sucks.


                So, do like the rest of us and don't RTFA ;)
        • What are you talking about, I see no Intel banner ads.

    • And i-bullshit too! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by EmbeddedJanitor ( 597831 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:37AM (#18093382)
      There is nothing really magic about internet start ups vs any other start ups. Ultimately all businesses share some common traits. If you don't have a solid business plan, then you only have a dream. This is the same if you're in i-business, selling hardware or if you're a hooker.

      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.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by frisket ( 149522 )
        A business plan is only any good if you have a saleable product, unless you're just aiming to milk some VCs [silmaril.ie]. I've seen (and done DD on) startups with good business plans, people who understood cash flow and customers and marketing -- but the product was crap, or already obsolete, or simply a non-starter (didn't stop some of them getting the cash, of course, but it sure as hell stopped the business dead in its tracks when the funding ran out).

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by mgblst ( 80109 )
          but the product was crap, or already obsolete, or simply a non-starter
           
          Yes, but this is more an opinion of your, than anything else. Somebody who has a business head, that can be told by asking a few questions. But the value of the product, that can me debated endlessly. I am sure you expert vision of the future would have turned down such products as google (we already have search engines), myspace (we already have geocities), 8086 (nobody will want a computer of their own).
        • > good business plans, people who understood cash flow and customers and marketing -- but the product was crap, or already obsolete, or simply a non-starter

          Sound like Microsoft and Windows and it works for them!
      • I think there is a difference between a 'normal' startup and an internet-startup. This difference is between the non-tangibleness of the internet (and software in general) and a production company. You can start developing a website in your spare time, and the end result doesn't take up 5 factory floor.
      • If your fit, being a hooker is easier.

      • Re:And i-bullshit too! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by oliderid ( 710055 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @05:59AM (#18094128) Journal

        What truly matters for a start-up is the team behind the business plan.
        I can easily hire a good consultant to write the business plan (and I did it once). I will add a nice SWAT chapter, a competition review (based on a Jupiter analysis), 3 years projection (with 3 different projections: pessismitic, break-en, optimistic) and so on...You know that they expect a break even on the first year and a 120% ROI on the second year? Well simply change your Excel sheet.

        Investors (at least experienced ones) know that the reality will be different from your business plan. It will just help you to structure your ideas and nothing more.

        So what they are truly looking for is a team. Personnalities, experiences, motivation, etc..
        And of course the idea.

        If you want to be a CEO...You have to prove your leadership and your ability to convince the right people to join your boat, (or at least be ready to join in once there are some money). Otherwise you will remain a brilliant isolated inventor/engineer/salesman...

        IMHO 70% for the team, 30% for the idea/product/service/whatever.

        This was my biggest mistake. And my biggest success was to recognize it :-)

        Olivier

      • Re:And i-bullshit too! (Score:5, Informative)

        by the_womble ( 580291 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @06:48AM (#18094320) Homepage Journal
        In the case of Startupping, the wiki has been written byy someone who does not know what a business plan is - it gives a list of potential revenue streams as business plans. I assume he has written stuff that he knows FA about, in the hope that someone competent will come along and write some sense.

        The rest of the wiki is equally useless.

        The forums are not exactly active.

        The blog aggregators might be useful.

        The Startupping blog itself consists of the one article linked to. That post itself has nothing earthshaking. Old advice like "do something you love", "hire good people", "stick to core competencies" and "don't be afraid to take risks".

        Why exactly would anyone want to visit this site?
      • Oh, is that the name of Apple's next product?

      • This is the same if you're in i-business, selling hardware or if you're a hooker. To have a business, you need to understand cash flow...
        If you're a hooker, cash isn't the flow you really need to understand.

        Sorry, couldn't resist this early in the morning.

      • 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.
        Is your real name Rip Van Winkle? Newsflash - there's like these things called, umm, intarwebs and stuff. OMG you're so far behind you're not even web 1.0!!!
      • Every Business? [google.ca]

        The American Dream is a lottery, and with Domain's going for $5 hosing going for $7 a month and Ruby/CSS/Flash/Sql texts available for free... there really isn't any cost involved.

        Sure you're going to be shouting in a screaming convention so some marketting skills are required.

  • Other Startup Sites (Score:4, Interesting)

    by janneH ( 720747 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:32AM (#18093358)
    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.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bkr1_2k ( 237627 )
      SBA.gov is usually a really good source for startup info including legalalities (in your locale) money issues, licensing and the like.

    • nolo.com (Score:4, Informative)

      by Brian Stretch ( 5304 ) * on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @09:18AM (#18095278)
      Nolo [nolo.com]. 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.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by DogDude ( 805747 )
        That's nice and all, but the legal structure of a company is one of the LAST considerations that one should worry about when starting a company. It's a simple decision, and it's one best made by your CPA, anyway. Figure out how to turn a profit first. The legal stuff will fall into place later.
      • How do you know he is more suited to an LLC over a C-Corp? (I think you meant S-corp)

        Choosing to LLC vs S-corp is a cost/benefit scenario. There are some very good reasons to go S-Corp, specifically, for liability reasons.

        So, to the parent -- go research both and see which is right for your situation. I've done that and I decided an S-Corp was the way to go for us.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by flonker ( 526111 )
          What liability reasons? As I understand it, LLC completely shields the managing members from liability, as long as they don't do anything to allow someone to pierce the corporate veil. [wikipedia.org]
        • LLC is the right choice for most small businesses, hence he said, "almost certainly".

          S-corp is much harder and it's easy to lose your S-corp status if you're not careful, especially retroactively in the case of an acquisition and then you're in for all kinds of tax hell. I wouldn't run an S-corp without vetting every major decision with an attorney and accountant, especially if I was planning on doing a 338(h)(10) election.

          I'm curious, what kind of liability protection does an S-corp offer in your jurisdic
        • Gents, I didn't mean to imply that liability was the ONLY reason to consider S-corp. In fact, the primary reason to consider S-corp is taxes. S-corps tax the distribution of earnings to the owners so the company doesn't pay taxes on earning (you do this because your personal tax rate is lower than the corporate tax rate. If the reverse were true, S-corps would be a non-starter)

          I only meant there are liability concerns - but, again, it depends what line of business you are in. For certain industri

    • Robert A. Cooke (Score:4, Informative)

      by mosel-saar-ruwer ( 732341 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @09:39AM (#18095534)

      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":

      How to Start Your Own 'S' Corporation, Second Edition
      Mar 2, 2001
      http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471398128/ [amazon.com]

      Doing Business Tax-Free: Perfectly Legal Techniques to Reduce or Eliminate Your Federal Business Taxes, 2nd Edition
      April 23, 2001
      http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471418218/ [amazon.com]

      The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course In Finance for Non-Financial Managers
      Feb 4, 2004
      http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071425462/ [amazon.com]

      Buy Your Own Business With Other People's Money
      April 25, 2005
      http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471694983/ [amazon.com]

      etc etc etc
      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.

    • The best one I've seen is inc.com [inc.com]. It's got real articles, written by real people with real experience running real companies (as opposed to people whose only "business" is sucking VC's dry).

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Swanktastic ( 109747 )
      The responses you'll get to this question are well intentioned, but I can tell you definitively the answer to this question. The internet should not be your primary source for answers to these questions. Human beings will.

      I've got a successful startup under my belt- almost 100 employees, throws off a lot of cash, happy customers, etc. Get in the habit of talking to people to find answers to questions rather than running to the internet. Need legal help? Contact the bar association. Talk to a couple la

  • Customers! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by seanadams.com ( 463190 ) * on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:32AM (#18093360) Homepage
    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.

    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! ...trite, I know.

    (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.)

    • Re:Customers! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by c0d3h4x0r ( 604141 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @04:07AM (#18093720) Homepage Journal
      The first thing you say when somebody asks you what your idea is should be to describe who will buy it and why.

      Note the phrase "who will buy it", because it's important.

      A business can make a perfect product that people love because it overwhelmingly satisfies their needs, but if those people aren't willing to pay for it (or pay *enough* for it that the business can make some profit), then it doesn't matter and the business is screwed. Therefore it is not always in a business's best interest to bend over backward to please consumers at the expense of other factors. A product's quality will reach a "good enough" point, beyond which additional improvement just increases costs without making people willing to pay more for it.

      You see great examples everywhere of major businesses consistently making this mistake. Look at Apple -- great PCs with strong user satisfaction, great image relative to Microsoft -- yet very few people are willing to pay the price Apple needs to ask to turn a profit per unit, so in the end it's not a very smart business strategy. Steve Jobs keeps making the stupid mistake of maximizing product quality over all else, when a smart business person understands that product quality is just one of many factors that must be balanced to maximize profits.

      • Product quality. (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Savage-Rabbit ( 308260 )

        Steve Jobs keeps making the stupid mistake of maximizing product quality over all else, when a smart business person understands that product quality is just one of many factors that must be balanced to maximize profits.

        I don't buy Macs because of their superior quality. I buy them becasue Apple computers tend to be comparatively well designed (at least the laptops are), the Apple desktop environment has better ergonomics than Windows (in my opinion, your milage may vary), personally I value the fact that OS.X is Unix based and Apple hardware tends to age better than many (but by no means all) PC computer brands, there are PC brands that do just as well as Apple. I don't think that Apple computers or products in general a

        • Re:Product quality. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by JavaRob ( 28971 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @05:14AM (#18093980) Homepage Journal

          I don't buy Macs because of their superior quality. I buy them becasue Apple computers tend to be comparatively well designed (at least the laptops are), the Apple desktop environment has better ergonomics than Windows (in my opinion, your milage may vary), personally I value the fact that OS.X is Unix based and Apple hardware tends to age better than many (but by no means all) PC computer brands, there are PC brands that do just as well as Apple.
          ...i.e., you do buy Macs because of their superior quality.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bkr1_2k ( 237627 )
        I think with $40 million in cash (at Apple) or whatever it is they have on the books, it's safe to say Jobs has a pretty good idea of what he's doing. Sure, he makes mistakes, we all do but in general, I think everyone can agree, ego or not, he's doing good things at/for Apple right now.

        • I think with $40 million in cash (at Apple) or whatever it is they have on the books
          $40 million doesn't sound like *that* much for a company of Apple's size...

      • yet very few people are willing to pay the price Apple needs to ask to turn a profit per unit, so in the end it's not a very smart business strategy. Steve Jobs keeps making the stupid mistake of maximizing product quality over all else, when a smart business person understands that product quality is just one of many factors that must be balanced to maximize profits.

        Last I checked Apple was turning a pretty big profit. When you are able to successfully run a multi-BILLION dollar company and provide amazi

      • Steve Jobs keeps making the stupid mistake of maximizing product quality over all else, when a smart business person understands that product quality is just one of many factors that must be balanced to maximize profits.

        I love it when some random Slashdotter claims to have a better understanding of business than Steve Jobs.

        AAPL isn't exactly hurting these days -- even with stagnant growth in the computer market, stock is selling near the highest prices it ever has.

        Sure, they'd have a larger market share if
      • Making a higher quality, more expensive, lower volume, product isn't a mistake - it's called market segmentation. Not everybody wants to buy a Yugo - some people are willing to pay for Mercedes and Ferraris.

        If Apple didn't differentiate themselves on quality/features then they'd just be a competitor to Windows which wouldn't seem to be very smart. Instead, Apples have positioned themselves in a different up-market segment, and despite continual rumour of them going out of business appear to be doing quite w

      • You see great examples everywhere of major businesses consistently making this mistake. Look at Apple -- great PCs with strong user satisfaction, great image relative to Microsoft -- yet very few people are willing to pay the price Apple needs to ask to turn a profit per unit, so in the end it's not a very smart business strategy. Steve Jobs keeps making the stupid mistake of maximizing product quality over all else, when a smart business person understands that product quality is just one of many factors t

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by msobkow ( 48369 )

      VCs tend to be smarter since the dot-bombs. The ones I've dealt with directly and indirectly have made a much greater push for business plans, existing customers, and the usual signs of life at a proposed business venture. They still sometimes chase technology buzzwords and the fantastical dream of "license revenue" rather than building the business themselves, but at least they're dealing with business ideas not dreams.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mwvdlee ( 775178 )
      I started playing Second Life out of interrest and ended up having a minor business there, selling self-built goods. SL is by far an ideal representation of reality but it did help to drive home a few points.

      I built some really good car models, they were truely 3D (as opposed to typical SL cars which are more like textured cubes), was painstakingly textured, had very good scripts to handle the driving; I can safely say they're the best you can get in SL and it took me weeks to get there. So I asked a relati

  • I'm about to launch a site too (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:36AM (#18093378)

    My partner and I are about to launch a new site, how much for a link from the front page?

    We can guarantee:

    • Bias against Microsoft.
    • Bias for Linux.
    • Sensational headlines.
    • A willingness to bend the truth in order to write those headlines.

    aPaddedCell.com [apaddedcell.com] for a sneak preview, see we've even got an Internet Explorer hate piece on the front page!

    • MOD PARENT DOWN ! (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      He's using an old /. trick in order to promote his own website.

      1) Make a funny post (as AC, so you d'ont care about Karma), with the URL of your website at the end of it.
      2) Get modded up "Funny"
      3) Your URL is visible to all Slashdotters
      4) Visitors => Profit !

      Too bad I have neither a website nor a blog, so I can't try :(
      • I think the comment was amusing enough to warrant funny mod. I don't care if he fishes a couple of clicks from his post.

        I hate you MOD-PARENT-SIDEWAYS-TO-NEXT-TUESDAY-people. Look. Either you have mod points or you don't. Stop telling other people how to mod.
        And stop posting AC in fear of retaliation. Damn spineless assholes, not willing to stand behind their words.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by datafr0g ( 831498 ) *
      Ok but what's your differentiator? I mean, I can get all that right here at Slashdot!

      :)
      • We'll be writing stuff about Web Design/Development, specifically how to do Web Design/Development using GNU/Linux.

        The idea is to encourage Web Design/Development newbies who've started out with haxxored versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver etc. to switch to GNU/Linux. Promoting how they'll be using GNU/Linux on their web server, so it makes sense to use it for their desktop. Not only that, they'll have the benefit of having legal and free (as in freedom) software, instead of the pirated stuff th
        • Wow, open source web authoring tools... I used Bluefish once for about twenty minutes before quickly removing it. Don't get me wrong I am a big fan of Linux, it's my primary desktop, on my notebook and my servers... but it's seriously lacking in professional development environments. Sure the open source software is better than nothing, but for professional use they can't compete with the likes of Zend Studio or Dreamweaver. Switching to open source would be great, I'd lose three software licenses off the b
        • What Drupal template do you use? I like Drupal. I like your template. Curious.

  • Worst idea ever (Score:5, Funny)

    by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @02:39AM (#18093390) Homepage Journal
    thinking that people would pay for a site totally devoted to Cowboy Neal porn....WHAT WAS I THINKING? I'M RUINED!

  • Worst Decision (Score:5, Funny)

    by sane? ( 179855 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @03:02AM (#18093482)

    Coming up with a domain name that can be read as "Star Tupping [urbandictionary.com]"

    Tales from the pen of the latest boyband member, maybe?

    • "Star Upping" [urbandictionary.com] is almost as bad. :-)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HTH NE1 ( 675604 )
      They should have registered it with God Addy.com [godaddy.com].

      I'd like to assume it was because StartingUp.com wasn't available, but there's a trend to use unique constructions in order to get ownership of the unique keyword for search terms. I'm sure that's one of the reasons why Nintendo's Revolution was renamed the Wii.

      In any case, the reading of it as "Star Tupping" gives it some added resale value. It'll be worth even more if he can get a lot of links to it as it is now before eventually selling it off to become

  • Observation (Score:4, Insightful)

    by necro351 ( 593591 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @03:15AM (#18093528) Journal
    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.

  • 1st bad decision - domain name (Score:5, Funny)

    by The Dark ( 159909 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @03:28AM (#18093580)
    startupping.com sounds like celebrities having fun with sheep (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Tupping [thefreedictionary.com])

  • Right off the bat (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dystopian Rebel ( 714995 ) * on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @03:45AM (#18093648) Journal
    Some serious mistakes...

    1. Invent a verb.
    2. Take the gerund of the verb and register it as a Web domain.
    3. Launch a new Web site. There are already too many and yours sucks too.
    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.

    • Re:Right off the bat (Score:4, Funny)

      by value_added ( 719364 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @07:48AM (#18094602)
      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?

  • Ok! Let's do it! Start Up PING:
    64 bytes from 207.218.203.242 64 bytes from 207.218.203.242 64 bytes from 207.218.203.242
  • [sarcasm]
    When in business, forget that those two concepts even exist- only focus on the money, the product, the stockholders, the law, and finally the customers. It also helps if you can know some lawmakers willing to counter anyone who causes friction in business conduct.

    There's nothing worse than a pro-consumer law that works, an immigration bill that is fully enforced, workers that have long term hope versus fear, or if you cant use Far Eastern countries as a one stop solution for that pesky domestic tal

  • My 9 step plan for success (Score:5, Funny)

    by Aqua OS X ( 458522 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @05:03AM (#18093936)
    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
    • If you can do step 9, aren't steps 1-8 kinda pointless?

      • If you can do step 9, aren't steps 1-8 kinda pointless?

        It's sarcasm, man. Steps 1-8 are pointless whether or not you can do step 9. Excuse me, I've got to go embrace my core competencies, now. Those world-class synergies don't benchmark themselves.

  • Founders at work (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Neme$y$ ( 700253 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @06:34AM (#18094266) Homepage Journal

    For a in-depth look at some of the secrets for a succesful start-up, Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days [foundersatwork.com] 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

  • Worst. Decision. Ever. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Fear the Clam ( 230933 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @08:34AM (#18094902)
    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.

  • Slashdot... (Score:3, Funny)

    by saddino ( 183491 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @08:51AM (#18095048)
    Ads for nerds. Stuff that maddens.
  • 1) Advertise for free on a popular website
    2) __________?
    3) Profit!
  • As a startup, you need a mission and vision statement. Find a need by users in an industry and satisfy the need. This is what Apple did with the IPod.
  • Startupstartupping, dedicated to helping entrepreneurs who help entrepeneurs. Silicon Valley business is fun, isn't it.
  • armchairprognosticators.com [armchairpr...cators.com] -- where people who know fuck-all about anything pretend to be experts in the matter.

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