In a sense there’s just one mistake that kills startups: not making
something users want.
We advise startups to set both low, initially: spend practically nothing,
and make your initial goal simply to build a solid prototype.
Startup funding is measured in time.
If you’re trying to solve problems you don’t understand, you’re hosed.
The early adopters you need to impress are fairly tolerant. They don’t
expect a newly launched product to do everything; it just has to
do something.
Launching too slowly has probably killed a hundred times more startups than
launching too fast, but it is possible to launch too fast
The scary thing about platforms is that there are always some that seem to
outsiders to be fine, responsible choices and yet, like Windows in the 90s,
will destroy you if you choose them
So how do you pick good programmers if you’re not a programmer? I don’t
think there’s an answer.
Fortunately there’s someone you can ask for advice: your users. If you’re
thinking about turning in some new direction and your users seem excited
about it, it’s probably a good bet.
So don’t get too attached to your original plan, because it’s probably
wrong.
In some fields the way to succeed is to have a vision of what you want to
achieve, and to hold true to it no matter what setbacks you encounter.
Starting startups is not one of them.
The stick-to-your-vision approach works for something like winning an
Olympic gold medal, where the problem is well-defined. Startups are more
like science, where you need to follow the trail wherever it leads.
Starting a startup is too hard for one person. Even if you could do all the
work yourself, you need colleagues to brainstorm with, to talk you out of
stupid decisions, and to cheer you up when things go wrong