

The Golden Rule of Startup Success  - jmorin007
http://www.centernetworks.com/mypunchbowl-startup-golden-rule

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hhm
_To all of those who wrote about what it takes to build a successful startup,
I challenge you: is there another golden rule of startup success that trumps
my Golden Rule?_

I don't think this is very clever. While "don't give up" is important, it
could also be "don't forget to breathe", or something like that. It's not
enough just to keep trying if you are not doing the right thing. I think there
is not a Golden Rule, there are many smaller rules we all have to use to be
successful (well, actually, as there are many different paths to success,
there are many possible sets of rules-to-be-successful as well).

~~~
hhm
But even if I say this, I liked the article. I just didn't like the assumption
that "don't give up" as a rule is an order of magnitude better as a rule to
success than any other one.

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nostrademons
Yeah, "Make something people want". If you don't also keep that in mind, you
can end up spinning your wheels for decades on a problem nobody really cares
about. Eg. Xanadu, Chandler.

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noonespecial
On the other hand this guy never gives up either. It won't help you if you're
a nut job working on nonsense. There is a point where you do have to listen to
smart people and try to gain an accurate perspective of yourself.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Newman_>(inventor)

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deltapoint
Never give up. But know when to change directions. You don't want to keep
banging your head against a wall.

Bad ideas can be salvaged with good work ethic and execution. But make sure
that you have the right idea before you start your march forward.

~~~
skmurphy
I think this point is overlooked by the article. There is a little too much of
the "Little Engine that Could" which tends to encourage entrepreneurs to
ignore disconfirming data from prospects. For me, the key point is to decide
what failure looks like before you start (and unexpected success, which for an
entrepreneur signals that a product deserves more investment, potentially even
third party investment in addition to re-directed internal resources) so that
you know when to quit. I blogged about this in more detail (and with some good
but long quotes from Peter Drucker) here:
[http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2007/05/25/seth-godins-book-
the...](http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2007/05/25/seth-godins-book-the-dip-save-
your-money/)

~~~
jsmcgd
I agree but trying to pin down what disconfirming data actually constitutes is
very difficult. I like the idea though of deciding beforehand (probably when
you are thinking most clearly) how you will define failure or success.

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bayareaguy
Prioritize

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ag
I'm not giving up!!! ;-)

