
Steve Blank: The Peter Pan Syndrome–The Startup to Company Transition - stakent
http://steveblank.com/2010/09/20/the-peter-pan-syndrome-%e2%80%93-the-startup-to-company-transition/
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nkurz
Like almost everything Steve writes, the story is great, but I would have
preferred a different take-home message. As it stands, it seems to be: "You
have no choice but to give up on your values and lower your standards to those
of your competitors. Perhaps even lower if you want really want to win."

I guess I would have preferred something like: "You have to ask yourself if
it's worth giving up your standards to compete for these contracts. This might
be the right plan, but maybe you're better off lowering your projections and
sticking to your core values --- it's worked for you so far!"

Am I just being naive?

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btilly
I would read it as, "You need to learn how the system works inside out and
backwards, and only then will you be in a position to decide what to do with
that information."

One path forward is to lower standards. Another is to decide to compete in a
different way (which had been working pretty well for them). But this is a big
decision, and the only people who can properly make that decision for the
company are the founders. And they can't do it without knowing what they are
up against.

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jacquesm
At that level, especially when selling to the government the competition is
lethal. But even on the web when you make a mildly profitable little business
you're not immune from snipers looking to take your validation of the market
and your research and to produce an outright clone of your offering.

So better be prepared, and remember that nice guys finish last, that doesn't
mean that you have to go and be a mafioso, but at the same time it means that
if someone lands you a punch you should not offer the other cheek.

