
Best advice on product management, marketing, & biz dev for lean startups - rafaelc
http://platformsandnetworks.blogspot.com/2011/01/launching-tech-ventures-part-iv.html
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apsurd
Stop Reading. Start Doing.

Good god thats a long list.

Ok ok, you should never stop reading and never stop learning but I just want
to convey my firm stance of balancing that out with _doing stuff_.

And that's exactly what came to my mind when I looked at this list. A more
academic minded person might feel like he struck gold - "all I need to do is
read these books and I can unlock the secret formula!"

The good news is you won't have to read all those books. The bad news that
secret formula doesn't exist.

I get that there are certainly valid strategizes that improve your chances
(customer development) specific to a given goal, but the key takeaway for me
has always been that that the strategy is and will always work _insofar as it
pertains to your situation_. I.e. everyone's situation is different and when
it comes down to it, in the words of Russel Simmons you gotta "do you". (can't
believe i know that quote)

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Aegean
Lean or not, one big lesson I learned is not to implement a feature until
somebody asks for it. This is a surprisingly difficult thing to do, if your
mindset has been focused on building things for a long time. If you are not
aiming for commercial success, usually building things not necessarily require
validation. You can often build for experimentation or fun.

After spending weeks on building and removing features, if I now catch myself
building something, I ask the question, "who told me to do this?" and often
refrain from doing it.

One hidden power of not building is the simplicity that it brings. You have
one less feature to maintain, and you probably save weeks of quality
engineering time by not having that feature.

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veb
That's actually very clever advice. Thank you.

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idlewords
The only lean thing about this fad is the name. Note the slow accumulation of
received wisdom here, various MUST READ blog posts, books, MUST LISTEN
podcasts, and now a Harvard MBA program.

The first step to being lean is cutting out fat like this.

~~~
michaeldwp
He's talking about the Lean Startup Methodology, not just being lean in
general. Either way, don't think for a second that it's a good idea to avoid
reading books and learning from other people's experiences via podcasts and
blogs. That, in my humble opinion, would be a huge mistake.

By taking the time to learn about the lean startup methodology, you save
yourself the hassle of having to learn these things the hard way. And by "the
hard way," I mean "through your own company."

Yes, you do indeed have to read and/or listen to some podcasts, but you'll
benefit in many ways that far outweigh the time you spend reading.

One of the core principles of the lean startup is to learn from customers so
that you can build a product that people actually want and are willing to pay
for. It gives you ideas on how to do this. It also tells you to stay lean and
be ready to pivot; to not be hard-nosed to press forward on your original
path, because that may not be the best thing for the business. Does this sound
like advice that you should be ignoring?

The lean startup methodology isn't the only way to success, but it does seem
to be helping people. And to "cut the fat" of learning of any sort (if you
want to call it "fat") isn't a good thing. You should always try to learn from
other people's experiences because it can save you lots of time and
frustration.

~~~
idlewords
The 'Lean Startup Methodology' is a management fad like any other. It combines
obvious advice ("don't waste money", "avoid wishful thinking") with a large
dose of folklore.

I run a website that didn't make any money for four years, then unexpectedly
took off. If I had been 'ready to pivot' after the initial failure, I would
still be broke right now, and I would have no idea that I had even missed an
opportunity.

That doesn't mean that 'lean startup' principles are wrong. But they may not
be all that right, either. I would urge people to make their own mistakes, and
draw their own lessons, rather than listening to too much received wisdom,
particularly when it comes from people whose livelihood depends on sounding
like they know what they're talking about.

~~~
rafaelc
"particularly when it comes from people whose livelihood depends on sounding
like they know what they're talking about."

Maybe so. But it's also worth noting that guys like Chris Dixon from
Hunch/Site Advisor (<http://twitter.com/#!/cdixon/status/23788591968686080>)
and Vinicius Vacanti from Yipit
(<http://twitter.com/#!/vacanti/status/23852873972457472>) liked the list,
among others...

