

Nine Deadly Startup Diseases—and How to Cure Them - swombat
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/nine-deadly-startup-diseases

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brm
They forgot #10, putting a 1 page article on 2 pages to increase pageviews and
then throwing a popup ad in there for good measure so that your site visitors
never want to return...

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smanek
No popups or page breaks: <http://www.sitepoint.com/print/nine-deadly-startup-
diseases>

(and much cleaner layout)

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astrec
I automatically hit the print link on most news sites these days: Clean
layout, single page, readable font.

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arockwell
I can't believe I never thought to do that. Awesome idea, thanks.

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dualogy
Each point was probably refuted in practice by one or the other successful
entrepreneur. When something fails, these are the causes that people
intuitively come up with, but they don't necessarily always cause others to
fail.

#1: Most software that's interesting is "useful to practically anyone".

#2: Mostly agree. But if you don't get the small distractions (like taxes) out
of the way ASAP, they pile up and could still kill you: a mounting big honking
stinking pile of annoyances that you know you'll have to face some day. It
depends on the personality but for some it's easier to focus once the
unimportant small fry is still sorted out.

#3: With the right people skills (I don't claim I have any), is there such a
thing as a "wrong hire"? Sure you couldn't "build up" just about anyone
without outright malicious intentions?

#4: Agree.

#5: One of those non-fatal delusions. Whether you're great or not, "stealth
mode" won't hurt or help you much. How could it?

#6: This should be typically noticed early enough in the development cycle to
be able to switch. How could you suffer through months before questioning your
platform?

#7: I have yet to meet a great entrepreneur who didn't "suffer" from this. The
key is probably self-management and discipline, not magically getting rid of a
"personality trait" that brought you to whatever you're doing in the first
place.

#8: Steve Jobs, anyone?

#9: Yeah... harsh but probably true :)

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davidw
> #3: With the right people skills (I don't claim I have any), is there such a
> thing as a "wrong hire"? Sure you couldn't "build up" just about anyone
> without outright malicious intentions?

Probably, but that would take time and energy, and some people probably can't
be 'built up' quickly, either. So they might make fine employees in other
kinds of companies, but maybe not in a startup, although there are probably
always exceptions.

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terpua
This is a very credible (and succinct) startup list. Unfortunately, I've been
through most of them.

A recommended read and not yet-another-one-of-those-lists.

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pius
This is just the sort of comment I really appreciate. I was on the fence as to
whether or not to click through to the article and your comment helped me
decide.

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jbyers
#6 Wrong Platform -- this one gave me pause. It's correct, but only in a more
specific case than stated by the author.

Unless you're building an exotic application [1] choose a platform in which
you are very productive and that is used by many other people for similar
applications.

If you choose such a platform, commit to it. You may find that the ORM layer
you thought would solve all your problems doesn't, or that the auto-generated
URL routing doesn't do what you want, or a variety of other problems. But
you'll find the same average number of problems with the other platform that's
tempting you with its promises of superiority. Don't switch. You're just
trading problems, and losing all the work you've already put in and expertise
you've already gained.

If you don't choose such a platform and start hitting roadblocks, reconsider
your platform. Ideally make this mistake very early.

1a. You're not building an exotic application. 1b. If you are building an
exotic application, you probably shouldn't be.

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augustus
I like this article but #6 the wrong platform is a rare mistake and not worth
including on this list. Good programmers can figure this out without much
trouble.

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shimi
I worked for this company who implemented a product in Delphi. They knew it
was the wrong but the fastest way to get the product to the market. After
making a big profit the time came to rewrite the product and everyone knew
that C++ was the way. Because of political manipulations Delphi was chosen
again and it was back to square one after few months of development.

Wrong platform is a common mistake...

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edw519
#10 - Having a business plan of collecting eyeballs and "monetizing them
later". Good luck.

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kapitti
No mention of the deadly mortgage & spouse disease.

