
What Makes an Entrepreneur? Four Letters: JFDI - davidw
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/11/19/what-makes-an-entrepreneur-four-lettersjfdi/
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dennykmiu
This is a great article, truly enjoy it.

In my own experience, I have learned that there are two kinds of decisions in
startups. Any CEO who is capable of trusting his/her own instinct tends to
make the right life-and-death decision, which is like avoiding a car accident
that never happens.

Decisions that are not life-and-death are much more difficult to make and are
in fact more important to the success of startups. What I have learned is that
the key is not in making the “right” decision but making any decision right.

As technologists, we prefer to make the “perfect” decision, which means that
we would have to have “perfect” data. Typically, in a startup, there are two
ways to compensate for the lack of perfect data. One is to wait for more data
and one is to seek consensus.

CEO who procrastinates hoping to get incremental data is as deadly as a CEO
who jumps to the wrong conclusion before enough data is in. Similarly, a CEO
who is afraid to make tough and unpopular decision and hides behind the shield
of consensus will almost always lead a startup to the proverbial cliff.

I highly recommend this article ... JFDI

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nathanh
Sometimes I find it hard to weigh JFDIing vs the customer development
methodology. I see the value in customer development, but coming from a
development background, sometimes I don't get the sensation of "getting things
done" if I'm not actively coding. I guess once I start seeing more sales, I'll
feel better about customer development.

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ryanwaggoner
The two are not at odds at all. Customer development isn't about not JFDI,
it's about doing the _right_ things. Also, customer development isn't
something you do before product development, it's something you do alongside
product development.

