

Creating a Product Focused Startup Culture - malcolmong
http://www.mikekarnj.com/blog/2011/02/21/creating-a-product-focused-startup-culture/

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markszcz
"Lastly, do not worry about competitors. Even if someone copied your idea
completely, there are three areas competitors can never copy: 1) your team; 2)
speed of product innovation of your team; 3) community of passionate users."

To stomach this startup mentality this quote drives home to me the most. I
just came to the realization that there is a new product out that does what I
want to do but not exactly. I put myself in a small panic/"is is worth it"
kind of mentality but knowing that if something like this stops me from trying
to accomplish my dream, then I dont have what it takes to start a startup. I
won't be able to live with myself if I stop now and always have "what if's"
floating around in my head. After reading this excerpt im fired up, im not
going to let this speed bump stand in my way.

~~~
mover
Completely...I've been in the same position for a while. There are dozens of
apps, hacks and sites (some competitive with yours and mine!) launched every
day by creators that have identified and are trying to solve legit problems
--the same ones you're trying to solve. Thing is, most of these creators don't
have 1) the design discipline to make the products really appealing to serve
their niche consumers and 2) the forbearance to stick it out during the
inevitable long iterative process. Which means that if you have confidence in
your own ability to do those things better than a competitor (especially if
what you're doing is "not exactly" what the it does) then, onward!

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krystalplomatos
"Keep a keynote file of UX/UI examples: I take screenshots of websites,
features, UI design, etc that I almost always reference while we build our
site." \--> This has been a major theme of my last month; paying more
attention to the way I capture and keep organized. A little work as you go
definitely saves time later, especially as Michael pointed out competitors
cannot copy the 'speed of product innovation of your team.'

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mryall
Lots of useful general advice about building products. Cutting features is
definitely the hardest part of his recommendations. Especially when a product
is small and easy to enhance, it's tempting to add _just one more feature_.
You just need to keep reminding yourself that getting it out the door will
focus your efforts on what people actually want, and you'll know for sure
whether that feature is worth building.

~~~
mikekarnj
Totally true. The hardest part of the whole process is cutting features out.
For me, I imagine that our sink is shipping and we just have to throw things
overboard to stay afloat just a little longer. This allows us to throw things
out that aren't exceptionally vital for the product.

The funny thing is that once you throw out the feature that you really really
thought you needed, you actually don't even think about it anymore. Strange
how that works.

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Aloisius
I find the competing trends going on in the valley very interesting. It seems
that there are still far more engineering-driven startups than product or
customer.

Just last week I was visiting a startup where the lead engineer expressed
outright disdain for product.

It'll be interesting to see which philosophy becomes dominant in 10 years.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
Personally, I wouldn't hire an engineer who wasn't preaching about products.
I've seen too many companies tank (or nearly tank) as a result of technology-
focused engineers. You aren't taking up my head-count for the sake of learning
about new technologies and cool ways to code. You are on my team because you
share the vision of making users' lives better, and that is done through the
product offering.

~~~
mikekarnj
So true. I think the overarching problem with that scenario is that the
engineer is building the product for himself, and not for the team and end
users. Rather than caring about what's best for the product, he/she thinks
about his personal ego.

