| — | Chris Fralic of First Round Capital talking about a hypothetical situation of raising $10 million, failing, and starting another company and doing it again. The point I took away from his anecdote was that failure doesn’t prevent you from going out and trying again. Future investors look at your failure as just “tuition on someone else’s dime.” |
Steve Jobs quoting Picasso’s “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” and saying that Apple has “always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” It’s important to understand that copying is just creating an exact replica, whereas stealing is taking an idea and making it your own.
In less than 7 minutes this video shows us that kindergarteners are the natural champions of the lean startup methodology and every business class we take further dilutes our successful, natural instincts.
“Business students are trained to find the single, right plan…what kindergarteners do differently is that they start with the marshmallow and they build prototypes” (Biz Students vs. Kindergartners starts at 1:50)
“With each version kids get instant feedback of what works and what doesn’t” (3:11)
“Sometimes, a little prototype of this experience is all that it takes to turn us from an uh-oh moment to a ta-da moment.” (6:34)
I think this “marshmallow challenge” could also be a great interview activity for lean startups.
| — | Venture Hacks “We don’t pay you to work here” |
The Lean Startup methodology does not advocate using optimization techniques to make startup decisions. That’s right. You don’t have to listen to customers, you don’t have to split-test, and you are free to ignore any data you want. This isn’t kindergarten. You don’t get a gold star for listening to what customers say. You only get a gold star for achieving results.
What should you do instead? The general pattern is: have a strong vision, test that vision against reality, and then decide whether to pivot or persevere.
| — |
Eric Ries Go read the full article ”Learning is Better than Optimization” because the idea that we don’t have to use optimization techniques to make startup decisions is heresy in a lot of circles and this quote just doesn’t capture the whole article. |
| — | Malcolm Gladwell, “The Sure Thing” |
| — | Clay Shirky explains why sometimes we need to be “self-promoting narcissists, anti-social obsessives, or pompous blowhards, even a little bit, even temporarily, even when it would be in (our) best interests to do so.” |
| — | Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels quoting Winston Churchill (via www.twitter.com/paulroales |
Overview of the Lean Startup method from the methods biggest evangelist Eric Ries. Presentation came from 6 Essential Startup Decks
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the MAN who is actually IN THE ARENA, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt, CITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC, “The Man in the Arena”
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