

Post-Mortem of a Tokyo-based Web Start-up - earthboundkid
http://www.yongfook.com/2007/07/21/jonkenpon-is-dead/

======
earthboundkid
Pull quote:

"The reason we built these apps was, in retrospect, incredibly shallow, and I
thank my ex-boss for helping me realise this. We built them because we thought
they were going to be popular, following the typical web 2.0 path to riches:

    
    
       1. Make popular app.
       2. ???
       3. Profit!!1
    

"Looking back, I think to myself, is trying to make a popular app enough
anymore? If you just attempt to make a popular app, how are you any different
from the next web startup. The only thing that separates you is ability, and
ability can be hired or learned - so the question becomes who has deeper
pockets or more free time. Thusly any idiot with time or money can build a web
app these days and these were crowded markets we were attempting to break into
- productivity and mobile blogging. What then, separates the wheat from the
chaff in this case? For me, I think the big one is emotional investment."

~~~
acgourley
to quote vallywag: "Shhh, you're harshing our buzz."

------
yongfook
Interesting comments from everyone. A couple I would like to address.

"god damn, that guy has a lot of pictures of himself in that article"

Yes, yes I do. Read my blog and you'll discover that I'm a _total_ narcissist.
It's all part of the blog theme.

"Is this really true, when you take into account startups that fight tooth and
nail and still don't succeed? Is it better to start with the confidence,
money, and connections of other people and then ride the wave of their
support, or is it better to start with nothing other than your own belief in
yourself and then fight tooth and nail until you get the confidence, money,
and connections of others?"

Good point. My point then is that you need all of the above. If you have
connections, capital and a good idea - then sorry, you're a carbon copy of
thousands of other tech entrepreneurs. What separates you from them? Anyone
can always get more capital if you poke around a bit. Anyone can get more
connections if you spend more time schmoozing. What you can't simply "get" is
an emotional attachment to whatever you are doing. That's something that has
to be there from the beginning, I think. That is what I learned from this
experience.

"Problem 1: trying to build 3 apps while doing consulting work (no focus)"

Definitely. I absolutely agree. However, we were in no position to argue
(much) and as I said in the post, the relationship we had with the supposed
investor was flawed.

"Problem 2: the author was a dick to his only employee (wtf? why?)"

Ken wasn't an employee. He was being paid the same as me and provided similar
functions, although I naturally took on more of a leadership role, being the
more experienced. I'm a dick anyway, but yes, I was hard on Ken because I
expected him to help me as much as possible not to fuck up the opportunity I
thought we had. But when you are ready to launch and you find that there are
lots of basic errors in the HTML or front end code because advice you've given
over and over hasn't been taken in, it's hard to remain cool and collected,
especially if it's with a mate.

If anything, being in that situation taught me that I am not fit to be a boss
and not fit to team lead. I am much better working alone, and my individual
work speaks for itself. That is why I am now leaning towards solo consulting
as the focus of my career.

~~~
earthboundkid
Why'd you pull the article? Did Ken complain?

------
staunch
It wasn't even a startup at all. They were lying to themselves that it was. In
effect they were employees of an investment firm in some sort of ill-defined
incubation weirdness. Everyone involved was pretty clueless about what was
going on and what to expect. The investment firm was rolling the dice and
these guys were enjoying the learning experience and break from consulting.

~~~
menloparkbum
Most "start ups" run by expats in Japan work this way due to visa issues.

------
nostrademons
A bunch of quotes in this article stuck out at me, but this one in particular:

"How can you possibly have the emotional investment necessary to see things
through to profitability, through highs, lows and everything in between, if
you haven't fought tooth and nail to get there?"

Is this really true, when you take into account startups that fight tooth and
nail and _still_ don't succeed? Is it better to start with the confidence,
money, and connections of other people and then ride the wave of their
support, or is it better to start with _nothing_ other than your own belief in
yourself and then fight tooth and nail until you get the confidence, money,
and connections of others?

My boss is trying to convince me that I should at least have an offer of cash
in hand from an angel investor before leaving my day job, even if I choose not
to take it. While this is quite self-serving (he doesn't want me to leave), it
also sounds pretty rational. I mean, right now I have fairly little validation
other than my cofounder's confidence, my desire to use our own product, and my
belief that I have the technical chops to get to the point where we can.

The article suggests that it's probably better _not_ to have that external
validation, and _definitely_ better not to take the money. Is that character-
building, or foolhardy?

~~~
staunch
I think you know what you want to do. You've mentioned your boss in a few
posts and it sounds like he's a selfish prick, who doesn't genuinely care
about what's good for _you_. Maybe you should stop talking to him...

If you're successful you will say "Wow. I almost listened to him" like you
dodged a bullet. if you fail, you'll have a much better chance of success next
attempt.

~~~
nostrademons
"You've mentioned your boss in a few posts and it sounds like he's a selfish
prick, who doesn't genuinely care about what's good for you."

I actually don't think that - I think he's generally a decent guy who cares
about his employees, but cares about his company more. He's even said
something to that effect: part of his advice to me was to make sure I can
setup a corporate structure that'll survive the departure of founders or key
employees, because things do go wrong, and the company is his dream. Perhaps
there's a lesson in there: don't let your identity get so wrapped-up in your
company that it becomes only _your_ company, one where other people don't feel
like they have a chance to make a difference in it. Come to think of it, I've
heard similar things from other (failed) entrepreneurs.

You're right though: I guess I just need to go with my gut. Eh, I'm young,
I've got plenty of time for failures before success.

------
willarson
It seems like the biggest problem is that entered the financing company
without a clear relationship defined, and that lack of definition seems like
it created an abysmal working environment. I have to admit I am confused how
the two developers are maintaining control over the web applications they
developed for the company. Something seems a bit off there (they got paid for
developing stuff, and then left taking the stuff with them?).

Bonus: The name of their company is "Paper-Rock-Scissors" in Japanese.

------
menloparkbum
Emotional investment is overrated.

The reason this endeavor didn't work is:

1\. foreigners living in Tokyo (I lived in tokyo for a year; hugely
distracting, hardly an epicenter of web software innovation)

2\. trying to build 3 apps while doing consulting work (no focus)

3\. the author was a dick to his only employee (wtf? why?)

~~~
dhouston
4\. not much effort spent figuring out what market they were going after or
what problem they were solving

~~~
dpapathanasiou
Maybe, but they were doing something right: one site had 7,000 users after 2
months.

It seems their real problem was impatient investors.

------
jamongkad
I'll pull a qoute that struck me

_"It's going to sound cliched and cheesy, but your apps should be an extension
of YOU as a person. You should have an emotional connection to the app that
transcends thinking about the mercedes it might fucking earn you one day, so
that it will keep you interested and give you the motivation to love, care for
and improve it."_

I think there's a PG essay about this somewhere. OTOH I'm bother by the amount
of pictures this guy has on his webpage. But I love the way he designs the
UI's of his web apps.

------
leisuresuit
god damn, that guy has a lot of pictures of himself in that article

------
8en
All criticism of his startup strategy aside, his web apps are beautifully
executed. I didn't realize that Jason Fried was the American Yong Fook.

------
USERSNAME
The core reason for their failure seem to be lack of team spirit. The author
clearly considers Ken as a less competent partner.

------
kul
i liked this, thanks for being so honest

