

Focus. Focus. Focus. - ezl
http://ezliu.com/focus/

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debacle
The reality is that none of those things (except 8 and 11, which have strong
offerings already) listed are billion dollar ideas.

This is just a reiteration of the current Internet strategy:

1\. Target a niche. 2\. Create a strong base. 3\. Grow like mad. 4\. Move into
other offerings.

This is exactly what trees in a dense forest do - they grow up as fast as
possible, and then when they're on top they branch out to both absorb more
sunlight and prevent competing trees from outgrowing them.

So the real message is 'focus, focus, focus, until you get big and then try
and do everything in your space before the second-starters outpace you.'

I'm not saying this is a bad thing - from an ecological perspective, it is
very good for the forest, but not so good for the trees.

~~~
ezl
Thanks for the comment, debacle.

To be clear, I'm not trying to say this is a good way to run a startup or that
anyone should do it.

In particular, I am really bad at doing more than one thing. It is one of my
personal weaknesses. Some people, like my previous cofounder Andrew, are great
at it. But as a result, I HAVE to be focused to get anything done. This isn't
true of everyone, its just something that I finally realized about myself and
its changed the way I work. My typical day literally starts with me adding to
my to do list, ordering it, then knocking them out in order.

I think the idea of a startup founder with nothing to show for himself but a
string of dead websites (me) advising other people on optimal strategic
decisions for _their_ startups is a bit silly. I think all those ideas I cut
out are great ideas, my brain just isn't big enough to hold more than one.

~~~
debacle
I don't want to make you feel like you've been called out. There are many
startups with this vehicle for growth, and it seems to be the YC startup MO.

Twitch.tv is possibly the best example of this phenomenon.

~~~
krakensden
Twitch.tv is a Justin.tv project- whose strange start is probably an even
better example of what you're saying

~~~
debacle
Ah, sorry, I didn't know they weren't one in the same. I thought Twitch.tv was
Justin.tv rebranded.

Justin.tv was who I meant.

------
SatvikBeri
This is great. We've been hearing the mantra of MVP and focus for quite a
while now, and it's nice to see an example that really lives up to the focus
mentality.

I hope Rocketlease takes off soon-(as a tenant) I hate having to take paper
forms, worry about making a "typo" and needing white-out, then having to fax
it back to the apartment within a 24 hour period.

------
j_baker
If you haven't, I highly recommend reading Jonah Lehrer's book _Imagine_ :
[http://www.amazon.com/Imagine-Creativity-Works-Jonah-
Lehrer/...](http://www.amazon.com/Imagine-Creativity-Works-Jonah-
Lehrer/dp/0547386079)

It turns out that there are two sides to creativity: a more left-brained
tendency to focus on something and take it to completion and a more right-
brained tendency to have inspirations and insights.

It certainly sounds like you've got the left-brained part of it down, but I
don't think that shutting out new ideas like this is a good idea. What's
important is being able to recognize which random ideas are worth entertaining
and which ones aren't. I know that if I shut out all of my random ideas, I'd
have dismissed some of the best ones.

This isn't just an abstract question either. Having really great ideas that
are executed well is the difference between a product that merely does its job
and a product that people love and tell all their friends about.

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trevorgeise
So I've got a question for ya. At what point do you know your MVP is actually
a MVP? Part of the issue with focus, as I see it, is what if you focus on the
wrong thing. Do you have metrics in mind to know when to bail or pivot? A stop
or limit (I forget which is which) point.

So I'm curious about what you are planning to watch for? What signs will tell
you to focus on something else?

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jack-r-abbit
Excellent write up. And most of all thanks for highlighting your service. I'm
entering my 2nd month as a landlord so I don't need your service right now.
But I know I would have used it a few months ago when looking for our first
tenant. I'll bookmark your site for future use. If things go well, I won't be
needing it for a few years though (fingers crossed).

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molsongolden
Have you encountered any legal issues with this? I've only briefly looked into
property management/rental issues but I have seen some states that require a
person to be a licensed real estate broker in order to negotiate a lease.

Do you process applications but leave the actual lease agreement to the
property manager or owner?

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whileonebegin
Did anyone else notice that the link to the product web site was on the text
"online apartment applications" rather than the product name "Rocket Lease"? I
know it's good SEO to backlink on the keyword, but it still seems grey-hat to
me.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
well there are two other places in the blog that has "Rocket Lease" linked to
the site. It seems like he used a good linking style for the context in that
first sentence. It allowed him to highlight the startup name with bold first
(rather than having it be just another link on the page) followed by a brief
description of the product as the link. It flows.

I found it more odd that the logo on the right just links to the image rather
than the site. But that might be for a reason I'm not privy to.

~~~
ezl
I forgot that you can link images. Thanks for pointing that out... Just
started blogging so I forget stuff like that.

Fixed.

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johnrob
I feel for you re the advice. Simple ideas are subject to the "bike shed"
phenomenon. Since people are able to understand your product, they assume they
know what you should do next.

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shapiro
That's a long list of things rocket lease does not do.

~~~
ezl
This is true, Alex. there are in fact many, many more things Rocket Lease does
not do that would be very valuable. These include, but are not limited to:

    
    
      - Curing cancer
      - Making solar power economically viable
      - Better public transportation systems
      - Improving public education
      - Picking up my dry cleaning
    

=)

That probably seems aggressive but its not intended to be. From my standpoint
those are just all businesses I don't do (well, except for picking up my dry
cleaning, I do that. But Rocket Lease will not pick up _your_ dry cleaning)

