

Do You Have Enough Hustle to Build a Successful Startup? - sethkravitz
http://technori.com/2013/07/4695-startup-hustle/

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mindcrime
Interesting article... I found some of the presuppositions annoying - they
seem, for example, to assume that all startups are something web-based and
depend on website visitors as customers; and there seems to be an assumption
baked in this piece that "hackers" and "hustlers" are mutually exclusive.

But looking past that, there's a nugget or two of good stuff.

One actionable item I took away from this was from here:

 _There is no social proof on your website. Without testimonials, social media
following numbers, “as-seen-in” PR credentials, association memberships or
some kind of third-party evidence that you’re legitimate, you’re not building
credibility._

Since we're very early-stage with little name recognition and no brand
association to speak of, we should be leveraging any avenue we can to gain
this "social proof". Off-hand, I could see having a page that mentions
companies the founders worked for before Fogbeam (a list that would include
IBM, Red Hat, Lulu.com, Redwood Software, UNC-CH, etc.), and a place to
mention industry associations and other 3rd party groups that we are
associated with. We (either as individual founders or as a company) are
members of NCTA (North Carolina Technology Association), AITP (Association of
Information Technology Professionals), CED (Council for Entrepreneurial
Development), AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial
Intelligence), ISA (International Society for Automation), EFF, IEEE, and the
ACM. But none of that is on our website! D'oh.

So, speaking only for myself, I found at least one useful, actionable takeaway
from this article.

