

Garry Tan (rantfoil), co-founder of Posterous, on getting traction - epi0Bauqu
http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/03/garry-tan-on-getting-traction.html

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jeff18
Very insightful interview. However, I'd like to hear more interviews of
startups where there is more of a "fight" -- where getting traction is a
battle that requires a lot of iterating. Model startups that tend to be
interviewed seem to:

a) Come up with a great, simple idea

b) Make the site very clean and simple

c) Launch publicly

d) MASSIVE VIRAL GROWTH! (Of course, more modestly ;))

That seems to go against conventional startup wisdom, where you have to fight
tooth and nail for a long time before you start getting traction. These
interviews of late are really motivating and awesome, but at the same time,
they are sort of demoralizing because the subtext seems to indicate that if
you aren't growing super fast from day one, you are almost better off just
starting over.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
I think this story (your a-d) is rare, which I tried to codify in this
powderkeg/movement metaphor in a recent blog post:
[http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/02/are-you-
building...](http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/02/are-you-building-an-
empire-sparking-a-powder-keg-or-starting-a-movement.html)

Posterous seems like the typical powderkeg. And at any point there are
powderkeg ideas out there waiting to be launched, so a-d can work. Or in other
words, some ideas are valuable! (Not to discount execution at all, which is
usually a necessary condition.)

Half of my other interviews already, however, have told a different story.
Steve Welch and Steve Barsh made cold calls endlessly. Rand Fishkin blogged
tirelessly, for years. And Mark Cramer experimented with lots of things before
he hit on some success with a Firefox add-on. Wikipedia was also a slow growth
story that really capitalized on SEO.

~~~
prawn
Cold calling endlessly, blogging tirelessly, etc - everyone wants the news
that it will easier than that! ;)

I know there was a post recently about achievements that I didn't read, but I
find achievements (in the Xbox 360 sense) can be a reasonable motivator.
Wondering about a service that is almost an achievement list, a to do list
with pre-filled actions, to help entrepreneurs work through some of the bland
getting-traction things. Third blog entry, 20th blog, Triple Figure Blogging,
Got a TC mention, Had a blog entry with 20 comments, Got to 2k page views/day,
Had a tweet RTed 20 times, etc.

Obviously doesn't guarantee success, but anything that can encourage someone
to stay motivated and pushing themselves would be helpful.

------
sbarsh
Just to remind people: It's 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. I recently
heard the CEO of OpenTable speak. You know, the HUGE success, publicly traded,
etc. Did you know it took them over _10 years_ to really figure it out. Few
remember that.

As a reminder, you want to get in the market as soon as possible (a la lean
startup) to iterate and learn and look for opportunities and pivot points.
That's what we are doing at PackLate.com. We are happy with our progress
already, but we are iterating at a VERY high rate of speed, always looking for
our next opportunity for even greater traction. Even now, after our last
minute vacation rental marketplace has only been open for a month, we see 2
major nearly game changing opportunities for our model that we'll be pursuing.
It will take time and we know that. We TRY to have patience.

Steve Barsh CEO, PackLate.com @packlate <http://www.PackLate.com>

------
ALee
Garry Tan is truly a force of nature. He's like Samson, but if he cuts his
hair, he won't lose his power.

