

Killer instinct: the key to startup success - rafaelc
http://blog.rafaelcorrales.com/2010/03/killer-instinct.html

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skmurphy
If by killer instinct you mean the value of focus then I agree. But I find
most startups succeed more on their ability to negotiate win-win outcomes with
partners, customers, suppliers and less on "winner take all" models.

Most markets look more like stag hunts where teams of cooperating players
outperform "go it alone" firms. If a startup team sets high standards of
excellence for performance that's great. But you face so many competitors,
including the 'status quo' that a focus on "winning" leads to you to overlook
opportunities especially in the early market. Take a look at Saras
Sarasvathy's "What makes entrepreneurial" at
<http://www.effectuation.org/ftp/effectua.pdf> in particular two excerpts:

"Expert entrepreneurs [...] are actually in the business of creating the
future, which entails having to work together with a wide variety of people
over long periods of time. [They fill their future] with enduring human
relationships that outlive failures and create successes over time"

"This is largely ignored in our entrepreneurship curricula which tend to focus
on market research, business planning, new venture financing and legal issues.
As far as I know no entrepreneurship programs offer courses in creating and
managing lasting relationships or stable stakeholder networks, nor on failure
management."

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apsurd
Hey thanks for that, you just clued me on on a strategy I could definitely use
to push my product out. Your comment is really helpful. This is especially the
case for bootstrapped startups where you _really really_ need to leverage any
and all resources you have. It's to say "we'll just buy our customer's
attention" if your funded, but working with no money entails you pool
resources, bend over backwards for those key connections, and find novel ways
to get what you want, which as you point out, frequently comes down to
collaboration and sharing your pie.

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chris_han
Agreed. Passion and 'killer instinct' outweighs raw talent

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rafaelc
Awesome. I think there's a "minimum" level of talent you need, and then at the
margin it's about the killer instinct. Really it's about who wants it more
since ideas are pretty much a commodity.

