
Get Rich Slow - tortilla
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1890387,00.html
======
edw519
Nice article, but like many mainstream sources, they leave a big gap in the
technical center.

    
    
      a. great idea
      b. computer magic
      c. get rich
    

Their examples of computer magic?

"He visited RentACoder.com and Elance.com sites where you can find software
developers."

"they quickly enlisted as their partner a former roommate..., who had some
technical skills"

If only it were that simple.

~~~
Alex3917
"If only it were that simple."

If you are able to spec out how every single screen and interaction works
before outsourcing your site then it is that simple. The reason most sites
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take a year to design is that
entrepreneurs don't force themselves to thrash up front.

I would posit that for the vast majority of non-technical would be web
entrepreneurs, the one thing that is keeping them from being successful is
that they don't do 100% of the design upfront. If you can actually write a
completely unambiguous spec and then have the discipline to not change it at
all until after the site launches, no magic is required.

~~~
pg
_the one thing that is keeping them from being successful is that they don't
do 100% of the design upfront._

No one can, technical or nontechnical. Spec-and-implement doesn't work.

~~~
Alex3917
"Spec-and-implement doesn't work."

Spec-and-implement only has two parts, creating a spec and getting the spec
implemented. Which part doesn't work?

I'd readily admit that it's not possible to create a web startup based on a
single iteration, but I think it can be one box on a much larger PERT chart.

~~~
nostrademons
Creating the spec.

All specs are buggy - they don't spec something out fully, or they spec it and
it's wrong when you put it in front of users, or they specify two features
that when you try to combine them really don't work well. You can only
discover these problems by trying them, because there're basically infinite
ways to fail. If you rack your brains trying to think of everything that could
possibly go wrong with your spec, you'll inevitably get bitten by something
you _didn't_ think of.

~~~
Alex3917
"All specs are buggy"

So then you start out with a buggy implementation. This could either create
vastly more work in the long run, or it could be a huge head start. It all
depends on your product, the resources you have available, your sticking
points, etc. But there are too many successful examples, like Digg and
Squidoo, to completely write off the model entirely.

------
pg
"Again, this is a get-rich-slowly scheme: the business generates enough money
to house and feed its three founders, who live together in an apartment that
doubles as their workplace."

That part is a bit misleading. Airbnb happened to cross over into
profitability about the time the article was written, but the graph is quite
steep.

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brianculler
I love how articles like this give the general public the perception that
software development is akin to getting something heavy off of a tall shelf.
Its okay if YOU can't do it, just find someone tall to do it for you, and
viola, you'll make a million dollars.

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smoody
"How do you get started? All that's required is a great idea for a product
that will fill a need in the 21st century."

Wow! So easy! Where do I sign up???? :-)

------
tjic
> How do you get started? All that's required is a great idea for a product

Harrumph.

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mynameishere
The guy who made motormouths should have given it a more generic name. You
know, so the site could expand to different products later on.

~~~
tjic
A name that says "everything" says nothing.

~~~
mynameishere
Well, pricegrabber could have called themselves carpricegrabber, and that
would have been a mistake.

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Ardit20
_These days you'd do best if your idea either makes people money or saves them
money_

You might do even better if you save them time, or perhaps fill their time
with entertainment, or maybe fill their need for belonging, or self esteem,
etc. Money is not everything, perhaps money in fact is nothing.

------
ph0rque
> It almost goes without saying that many more start-ups fail than succeed.

When will this myth finally be put to rest?

~~~
pg
It's not a myth. I would be happy if the success rate for YC's investments was
over 1/3.

~~~
bd
_"When we raised our first Union Square Ventures fund, I told prospective
investors to expect 1/3 of our investments to fail. I always like the 1/3
rule, which is that 1/3 of the investments will fail, 1/3 will under-perform
expectations, and 1/3 will meet expectations."_

[http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/11/failure_rates_i.h...](http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/11/failure_rates_i.html)

~~~
ivankirigin
USV is one of the best VC firms in the country, and typically investing in a
later stage than YC with less risk.

