

The only question your startup needs to answer: What’s your one thing? - thankuz
http://betashop.com/post/4066229168/the-only-question-your-startup-needs-to-answer-whats

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erikstarck
Obligatory City Slickers reference:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k1uOqRb0HU>

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?

[holds up one finger]

Curly: This.

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean
shit.

Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"

Curly: [smiles] That's what _you_ have to find out.

~~~
Stormbringer
This is the meaning of life: that everyone has a purpose

~~~
BoppreH
I'm personally opposed to this worldview, along with all the praise to
"talent". I don't see it as natural, but requiring practice and dedication.
From my point of view, "everyone has a purpose" is actually harmful because
people will hop on from one thing to another, looking for their "purpose",
when they should be making it all along.

But I don't think "everyone can make their own purposes" is as catchy.

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betashop
A point here that I think gets lost sometimes in the "ship it" mentality is
that you can't iterate your way to figuring out your one thing. You need to
start with the one thing and then iterate, not vice versa.

~~~
notJim
Isn't pivoting basically a decision you reach after realizing you need to
iterate your "one thing"? I would argue that realizing you _can_ iterate your
one thing is as important as the idea of having one thing.

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betashop
I somewhat misread your question, sorry.

"Pivoting" imo means choosing a new one thing.

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metachris
thankuz: Browsing your profile and submissions I noticed that you are
submitting 20 to 30 stories per day. Don't you think that is a bit much, and
that this frequency makes it much harder for other interesting stories to get
noticed? I would have written you an email, but you haven't got one in your
profile.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=thankuz>

~~~
thankuz
I've answered this a couple of other times publicly, but feel free to send an
email to admin [at] thankuz [dot] com

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lolizbak
Too bad you can only vote once, i would put a +20 on this !

That's for me the critical feature #1 in a service : your users use your
product for one very clear reason. They come to your app to do specifically
this. There might be other features on your app, but there's a main one,
clearly defined.

And by using this feature, they get value. It is simple, it is
straightforward. Value can be content (Quora answers). Value can be an action
or reaction (check-in, "count me in" on a plancast). Value can mean earning or
saving dollars.

Love the subject, blogged about it here: [http://laurentk.posterous.com/in-
search-of-the-perfect-viral...](http://laurentk.posterous.com/in-search-of-
the-perfect-viral-social-app)

~~~
betashop
+1!

The best apps do just one thing very well.

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betashop
Thanks for the repost on this!

~~~
thankuz
You're welcome. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Happy to say, "I know my startup's one
thing". Now, just have to stay laser focused on it.

~~~
jbert
Sorry for noise - but the phrase 'laser focus' always bugs me. AIUI, lasers
aren't focussed (which I would define as: having non-parallel rays converging
on a point), they are collimated:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collimated_light> (i.e. parallel).

Of course I understand the sentiment, and I similarly understand that when
people say "exponential" they commonly mean "big" rather then "has rate of
growth proportional to current value".

To try and rescue some signal from my noise - sometimes it's possible to "turn
off" people with choices of phrase. Particularly technical people of a certain
bent. That can be a useful observation for a technical startup founder.

~~~
thankuz
I see your points and they are well received. I am not THAT scientific, it's
really just an expression, but to argue your point a bit I pose this:

Rather than thinking of it as a laser being focused on an object or location
(cause to converge on or toward a central point) try thinking of it as
physical time and effort (focus) in a direct beam like a laser (concentration
of attention or physical energy on something).

Really, it all depends on your perspective, and how you define "focus". And,
whether or not you take it as an analogy or for face value.

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alexqgb
Variation on a theme: You can't have three priorities.

~~~
Dylanlacey
corollary: ONE entity cannot have three priorities.

If you have to answer to three departments equally you CAN have three
priorities. That's what managers are for, to turn those into 1. Lots of
companies still don't seem to get this.

