
Giving your startup a point of view - joelg87
http://joel.is/post/4687482050/giving-your-startup-a-point-of-view
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bitsm
I think it comes down to the difference between "having a mission statement"
and "being on a mission."

Mission statements are usually all corporate-speak and written in passive
voice. They are generally pretty useless.

Expressing the mission you're on is more expressive and active. It's also
easier for customers to get behind, and for the company to internalize.

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forensic
I have no idea what this article means by "point of view".

However I suspect that by writing this article, the author is attempting to
give his startup a point of view, whatever that means.

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joelg87
I certainly made a mistake here I think. I normally try to avoid mentioning
what my startup is or use examples so that it comes across as something people
can relate to their own situation, and also so that it doesn't seem self-
promotional, since that definitely isn't the intention. Reading back through I
can see how it was not clear. I've added the actual "point of view" I'm
adopting in my current startup as an example in the second paragraph of the
"What does it mean to have a point of view?" section. Thanks for pointing this
out, I hope it is a lot clearer now!

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JoeAltmaier
Confused: are they talking product design, or customer service, or financial
responsibility? They don't seem to appreciate that these things are different.

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AshMokhberi
I think the point he is trying to make is that, having a point of view that
runs through your company, helps influence and define the positions that you
take, when you are dealing with the questions you mentioned.

Everything starts to revolve around your companies point of view instead of
around what you think most people want. I think he makes a great point, and
relates directly to this awesome talk by simon sineck <http://bit.ly/eLt15m>.

People develop personal relationships with a point of view, thus helping you
develop a brand not just a product. And not only a brand but one that stands
for something and has values.

I think this is the most important thing you should be thinking about when
approaching product design, customer service and financial responsibility.

Although I'm not one hundred percent certain what you mean by financial
responsibility. I'm assuming your referring to corporate social
responsibility, I'm not so sure that this has much place in a startup.

I would love it you could expand on this.

