

The startup skill set - micrypt
http://swombat.com/2012/1/23/startup-skill-set

======
akg
This reminds of an excellent read about "What makes entrepreneurs
entrepreneurial". You can find the full pdf on Vinod Khosla's site
([http://www.khoslaventures.com/presentations/What_makes_entre...](http://www.khoslaventures.com/presentations/What_makes_entrepreneurs_entrepreneurial.pdf)).

In addition to the skills listed in the article it's important for a founder
to be flexible and open-minded. Being infatuated with an idea, direction, or
vision may not allow you to see opportunities where they exist (recently PG
talked about this in Shlep Blindness:
<http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html>). Perceptions, ideas, and markets
change and one needs to change and adapt with them if it's fitting.

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pors
Skills are highly overrated I think, it needs persistence above all to succeed
with your startup. E.g. when I read this
<http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/22/post-mortem-for-plancast/> my first thought
was: he gives up too fast (very interesting comment by Scoble also). I don't
say you don't need skills at all, but if you never give up you will pick up
the skills along the way.

~~~
swombat
That is a very common "tech startup world" meme, and very damaging, in my
opinion. Persistence is in fact utterly useless unless you're persisting at
the right things.

My experience, on the contrary, is that, at least outside the Valley, many
founders persist years past the point where they should have given up and done
something else instead. And the reason they fail is not that they didn't
persist long enough, but that they lack the skills to implement their ideas
(usually on the customer development / marketing side). I've seen examples of
both skilled founders pulling off apparently boring ideas, and unskilled ones
failing at apparently good ideas despite persisting for years.

If anything, my observation is that the most reliably successful people I know
are not persistent at all - or rather, they're persistent at the overall game
of entrepreneurship, rather than at doggedly following a dead startup into the
grave. Skilled and experienced entrepreneurs have the guts to recognise that
what seemed like a brilliant genius idea 3 months ago is in fact a total waste
of time, and do something else instead. The biggest differentiator, though, is
skill.

Moreover, whereas "being persistent" or "having great ideas" is a character
trait that is quite difficult to change, anyone can learn skills and improve
their chances this way.

Finally, looking at the example which you picked, Plancast persisted for 2
years - a year and a half after, in the founder's words, "things began to
stall". That seems reasonably persistent to me. Of course, it's easy to stand
on the sidelines and say "they should have kept trying for longer" - because
it's not your life that's elapsing while they work on that dud startup idea.

~~~
pors
I don't say "persist without looking where you are going", of course, pursuing
a bad idea for 20 years won't work out. I can't back it up here on the spot,
but if you study a bit you'll find that most success stories were no instant
success. It became a meme for a reason, same thing about having a good idea.
Just a good idea is not enough, but it certainly helps.

Plancast: Two years is way to short to draw conclusions IMO. Why don't they
address the user feedback? If they want to reach the broader audience, why not
change the definition of "Event" into something we do more often? Etc.

~~~
loceng
Indeed, you need persistance to learn where you are going, to learn how to
execute and what it means to execute. :)

------
lrobb
Sales == Huge. I've known guys to clear 250k because they could bring in
millions in revenue single-handedly.

I wouldn't classify "making things" as nearly important; The founder that can
sell can also "sell" someone on making it for him... But, having a good sense
of design would be incredibly useful.

------
OoTheNigerian
Speaking from experience, I think you skipped what I believe is the primary
and most important skill.

The willingness to take risk on that your idea. Passion comes a close second.
I believe there is a correlation between passion and the willingness to take
the required risk to fulfill that passion.

==

As an aside, I can only imagine how awesome the event would have been. I
attended the first Lean Camp with DHH. Startup events are one of the things I
really miss in the UK.

~~~
swombat
I agree that those are important... but they're not skills!

Skills are things you do with varying levels of competence, not things you
are. "Willingness to take risk" is not a skill. "Passion" is also not a skill!
"Risk mitigation" would be a skill, but I think it's not as core as the 12 I
listed.

~~~
loceng
I disagree. You have to learn how to not be adverse to risk - it is something,
a skill, you can learn. It is personal development, which could be argued is a
lower base level skill. It's confidence related as well, and having confidence
will help you be able to learn the 12 skills you listed.

