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I don't think you need operational experience to be a good VC but @msuster's great new post illustrates the difference: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009....
"We don’t want to be smarter than the market we are entering." – Fred Destin @fdestin, http://venturehacks.com/article... (Thx to Atlas for their support.)
Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development - http://steveblank.com/2009...
"Thanks again Steve. You say, "Market Type affects your spending and sales ramp after you reach product/market fit." Based on your discussion in the comments, I think we should add "Market Type also affects your positioning before you reach product/market fit."" - Nivi
Sean Ellis (@seanellis) is a sultan of startup marketing. Just as helpful as @sgblank and @ericries. Read his blog ASAP: http://venturehacks.com/article....
"Every entrepreneur has every right to get pissed off when people don’t want to invest in their vision." – @fredwilson, http://meetinnovators.com/2009...
The sultan of startup marketing - http://venturehacks.com/article...
"Walk forward in your customer’s shoes from before purchase; from pre-realization. How do you get to you?" – @brantcooper http://market-by-numbers.com/2009...
"Access to the beta program is $20." – John Gruber (@gruber), http://daringfireball.net/linked... (This is the new way and I like it.)
Fake Steve (@FSJ) always has better analysis than WSJ, NYT, TechCrunch, Economist, and your mom combined: http://www.fakesteve.net/2009.... Tip @techmeme.
"A read-only API is not an API." – Fred Wilson (@fredwilson), http://www.avc.com/a_vc... (Fred is the new Tom Kleiner: http://venturehacks.com/article...)
The point of growing quickly isn't to grow quickly. It's to get lots of people to experience your great product. Inspiration: @seanellis.
Before you criticize the VCs without operational experience, spend some time with the entrepreneurs who have operational experience.
Founders can't tell what's good startup advice or bad startup advice. Most don't even know there's a distinction. Or a need for context.
"The search continues… joyfully." – Anon
New "off-topic" post on extrapolating computing at Venture Hacks, by Naval (@naval): http://venturehacks.com/article....
First comes the team, then product, then product/market fit, then distribution. They move forward sequentially. And simultaneously.
I had a good discussion with Steve Blank (@sgblank) on his and Eric Ries' (@ericries) customer development overlay here: http://steveblank.com/2009....
Exploit your unfair advantages. Hard to be an entrepreneur without some: salesmanship, like-ability, technical acumen, access to talent…
We seek the truth through hypotheses, conjecture. And bold statements of unsupported fact.
I'm liking ad.ly. They put ads in your tweets. Good ads so far and they pay well. Clearly marked. Full control. Try it: http://ad.ly/.
Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development - http://steveblank.com/2009...
"Thanks kindly for your reply.1. "While one could argue that biotech startups also face market risk, their first decade is dominated by whether the science will work." Great quote. Customer development is about squeezing out risks in the right order. This overlay adds another upfront risk (technical risk) that needs to be squeezed out first, if necessary.2. I totally grok what you're saying. But I haven't seen startups do anything useful with the theory of market type in the discovery and validation stages, except in re-positioning the product to try to get better product/market fit in discovery. Thinking about market type seems to bog startups down and they don't get anywhere with it (most startups don't get one-on-one time with Steve Blank). That's based on my own personal experience and I would love to experience counter-examples. So my solution has been to punt on the topic and say what I wrote above.3. Isn't the point of the third question that the definition of validation should..." - Nivi
Please send feedback about the Twitter widget in the sidebar: http://venturehacks.com/ (scroll down). Do you like the one on top or bottom?
Speaking of legal resources, Yokum's (@yokum) Startup Company Lawyer is also a favorite: http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/.
Scott Edward Walker's (@walkercorplaw) blog is great resource when you want to know the rules of the game, i.e. the law: http://walkercorporatelaw.com/blog....
The 'customer development overlay' is a new model by Steve Blank (@sgblank) and Eric Ries (@ericries). My thoughts: http://steveblank.com/2009....
Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development - http://steveblank.com/2009...
"Great stuff. I would love to get your feedback on these thoughts:1. “Does your startup have market risk or is it dominated by technical risk?” Let's not let startups use this as an escape hatch to avoid customer development. Almost all Web startups are dominated by market risk. Even startups that are dominated by technical risk have the customer validation risk of finding positive ROI distribution in a large market.2. "“What’s the “Market Type” of your startup?" I love the theory of market type but I think it is an advanced topic. For startups in customer discovery and validation, I would boil it down to: "1. Don't launch. Don't spend time and money on getting the word out about your product beyond what you need to do discovery and validation. 2. Your best bet is probably taking an existing market and serving a portion of it better than the competition, through lower cost or a different set of features. End of theory."3. "What is the “Business Model” of your startup?" I've never..." - Nivi
Tell people about your cons after they already like you: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009.... Suster (@msuster) applies this to startups: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009....
"Why do you think people go to the trouble to make money in the first place? ... Because they want to spend it." - FSJ, http://www.fakesteve.net/2009...
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