I'm 20 years old and have a web and design agency with a co-founder and currently two employees (+ flexible workers). I can relate. When I was younger (I know how this sounds) I read "The Lean Startup" and drank the Koolaid. I was feeling like a failure because I wasn't building the next big thing (tm) although I had an IQ of 152 and wrote code since ages. I think that some aspects of the startup bubble can be seriously bad for mental health. I've learned to accept myself and the world and cut the bullshit and "will to power"-esque thinking. Sometimes I still have feelings of unmet…
I had the goal of learning UX basics in as little time as possible. I took a 2 hour General Assembly course and found it incredibly useful - it sounds crazy but I feel like I learned 50% of what I needed to know about UX in just those 2 hours. I asked some UX peeps what books they recommended and I purchased 2 and never read a single page (they were The Lean Startup by Eric Ries and Sprint by Google Ventures). For web app UX, I found this 30 minute video extremely useful (great to see how a non-design person might make something, then how that same non-design person can change the…
I think most of the things people know, it's covered in books like Lean Startup, etc. It's a bit like eating well and working out. We all know we should do it, but most people don't actually eat well and work out. Then, when you see somebody who does it and looks great, you ask them, "What's your secret?". But it's not a secret, it's just that most people don't do it, because it's hard :) One story: When I was at FB, I happen to know that a team of size S conducted X experiments in 6 months (I can't disclose the number). As it happens, I have worked in similar size teams in other companies,…
I enjoy getting up in front of a crowd of people and helping them learn new concepts in an entertaining fashion. I have taught classes, delivered presentations, recorded video podcasts with millions of views, traveled as a motivational speaker, and performed standup comedy all over the U.S. What I like about speaking that you don't get from writing: 1) Seeing people's reaction in near real-time. This is a good feedback loop when you're working on how to explain a new product or feature before producing an on-demand recording that could be viewed by 1000x the people in the audience. It's…
It's worth asking why we make the distinction between "activists" and big fund managers in the first place. Shouldn't all fund managers be doing what's best for their shareholders? You should check out John Bogle's "Clash of Cultures" (founder of Vanguard), he discusses this problem at length. In general I'm inclined to agree with you though. This thing has a lot of hype around it because it's backed by Eric Ries, the "Lean Startup" author, but I don't really see a problem with the NYSE/Nasdaq in their current form. People overlook the liquidity, depth, and other benefits of such well-run…
Lean Startup fell pretty flat for me. It felt like there wasn't much "there there". Recommended alternatives: Read it, liked it more than Lean Startup: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055D7O1U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Started reading it, seems much more thorough than Lean Startup: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984999302/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... - annoyingly does not have a Kindle version. Haven't ready it, heard it's good: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006UKFFE0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... And of course, my favorite of all, because it's full of real, practical advice, Start Small, Stay Small.
Fair point, let me take a stab at refuting each of the points: Supply and demand: He says there are more MBA's chasing jobs than there are suitable jobs. That's fine: lower your salary or raise the hiring bar - it doesn't make any individual be worth less. Entitlement: As an MBA, I'll agree with this peer pressure but I might argue that it can be a good thing being pushed to be more successful. How that plays out in team dynamics depends on the individual, some MBA's are team oriented some are not (like some developers!) - select in the hiring based on the role you need. Misguided…
Agreed, but Lean startup is not just about overfunding, it also means not building your product in secret, which is what they did, which is why they are in mess. "Eric Ries, the Lean Startup philosophy says the last thing you want to do is raise a whole lot of money, build a product in secret, then spring it on a world that may not want what you've built at all" They should not have built this product in stealth mode then release it at the wrong time(missing SWSX). Investors should be worried, what they thought is a great team is no longer there. One was fired, the other resigned now there…
If he hasn't already, the author should really read The Lean Startup before criticizing the term that it popularized. In the context of the Lean Startup, the V in MVP doesn't refer to financial viability. "To apply the scientific method to a startup, we need to identify which hypotheses to test. I call the riskiest elements of a startup's plan, the parts on which everything depends, leap-of-faith assumptions." "Once clear on these leap-of-faith assumptions, the first step is to enter the Build phase as quickly as possible with a minimum viable product (MVP). The MVP is that version of the…
I used to think like this. At it's core, it's a variation of "never give up", mixed with "the power of habit". I agree with "the power of habit" part. From the "never give up" point of view, I've changed my mind, thanks to books like The Lean Startup, Blitzscaling, and my own experience. The bottom line message seems to be "keep insisting and you'll be successful". I spent 3+ years working in a game that never took off as a side project. In hindsight, I should have taken the hint of the lack of traction early on and dropped the whole thing. Instead I sank countless hours into a project…