

Your business idea sucks, and it's your job to figure out why - jlm382
http://jessicamah.com/blog/?p=864

======
10ren
The problem with "asking for the brutal truth" is that no one knows what it
is.

At least in terms new markets and new products, you are facing the unknown.
You can't work it out in your head; you can't find the right person to tell
you if it's right or it's wrong. You just have to try it.

Don't be fooled when confident VCs and angels act like they know; they don't.
They're just guessing (that's their job).

Far better to encourage an experimental approach: to be encouraged to try
things and to be encouraged when it doesn't work. Because courage is what you
need to face the unknown.

It _is_ useful to be exposed to many perspectives, for new ways to think about
things. It's useful to learn facts about the space you're in (doing your best
to distinguish between fact and opinion). It's useful to discuss ideas,
possible problems and opportunities - but not in terms of judging your idea,
but in terms of seeing what's there.

With knowledge and experience of reality, you will develop your own sense of
what will work. You still won't _know_ , of course; but you'll be more
confident of trying it.

~~~
pg
_The problem with "asking for the brutal truth" is that no one knows what it
is._

Users know, in the sense that they embody it. That's one reason it's good to
launch quickly: so that users can tell you precisely how far along you are
with the idea.

~~~
10ren
Yes. _You just have to try it._

However a specific group of users does not necessarily embody "the truth"
either. An example of this is being captive to customers, as in the
innovator's dilemma. Listening to the wrong group of users can lead you in the
wrong direction. Sometimes you have to select who to listen to - something
that users can't tell you.

Of course, who cares if it's "the truth" or not? Users are users, and
approximate feedback is better than none, even if it is not precisely "true".

------
jlm382
I hope that at least some people see this as a genuine post -- it was inspired
from a true event that happened just a week and a half ago. I don't have facts
to back up a lot of what I say, but basic experience in getting business
feedback will make it quite clear what I mean.

------
nazgulnarsil
I would like to start a service where you can receive unbiased criticism on
demand because in my experience it is almost impossible to get. the incentive
in such a business (counselors, psychology) is to tell your client what they
want to hear. Even when they want to hear criticism, they want to hear the
criticism that they want to hear. Thus an actual honest service would be
valuable.

I fear the market is too small though.

------
erlanger
Fluff.

Can someone explain why we're taking business advice from a college kid who's
working on an embryonic startup, and other than that has only worked in
internships? The red flag here is that the post does not relate any relevant
business experiences and has a linkbait title. Here are some others that
exhibit identical traits:

* <http://jessicamah.com/blog/?p=641>

* <http://jessicamah.com/blog/?p=560>

* <http://jessicamah.com/blog/?p=417>

* <http://jessicamah.com/blog/?p=406>

My personal favorite: <http://jessicamah.com/blog/?p=372>

Hiring advice from someone who's never hired!

Maybe instead of spending time burning the midnight oil for my small business,
I should post linkbait and get the red carpet treatment like this
"entrepreneur" has.

Edit: It's also pretty lame to submit your own blog posts.

~~~
pg
A bit harsh. I don't think this is deliberate linkbait (or rather votebait); I
think it's mostly youthful exuberance. And she does have a point, even though
she doesn't have a lot of data to back it up.

~~~
dannyr
I think it's youthful exuberance too. The blog post is not bad but my guess is
that she heard or read it from other people. It's not based on experience.

I remember when I was in college, we had a shortage of professors. They
started hiring fresh grads and they taught courses such as project management,
entreprenuer, etc. The new teachers were teaching from the book. Students
never listened and we passed the course just by reading the book.

