I just got a call from the founder of a new consumer Web startup, and I found myself beating the same drum that I’ve been hammering on in other similar conversations recently: the more ambitious your vision, the more you need to “atomize” it. By atomize I mean find the most compact unit of value continue…
I had a great conversation this week with three other Seattle-area serial entrepreneurs and seed investors. Among the topics we covered were: what motivates talented people to join startups, and what kind of people are most likely to thrive in a startup environment. I’ll cover the first topic in another post, but in this one, continue…
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Askablogr? [mostly just testing the product – don’t need to answer!] Posted by rr A: Hi RR – thanks for the question (even if you’re just testing this will show you the process flow from end-to-end). The sequence went something like this: I sat down continue…
Earlier this week I promised to introduce the prototype of a new product I’ve been working on. This is the first in an ongoing series of posts on the startup process, with a goal of opening up the experience for you to read, comment on and even participate in (more on that part later). But continue…
Last November I wrote a post titled Background Processing, describing how an idea for a new product sneaked up on me as I was thinking about something else. I didn’t describe the idea at the time, partly because it wasn’t what the post was about, and partly because I thought I might actually do something continue…
Since I began my professional “career” I’ve gravitated steadily from larger to smaller organizations. At first this was an intuitive rather than a considered objective (I’m an INTP, remember?), but over time it’s become an explicit requirement. At one point I tried to codify the “acceptable” size for an organization in terms of numbers of continue…
Q: Chris, It seems that you have a pretty good understanding of the business world. I, myself, have stayed mostly in the educational culture. I’ve played around a bit with the idea of starting a business after I get my bachelors in Math & Physics this coming year. What things, would you say one needs continue…
Q: Hi Chris, I’ve randomly become an occasional reader of your blog, and I’m starting to get addicted. I remember that you were interested in questions…I read your last post about the founder feeling, where you said… “It also unlocks previously unknown reserves of energy, a “fight or flight” response that fuels the creative effort continue…
Thanks to my friend Robin (via Google Reader’s new Share with Friends feature) for pointing me to this post from Evan Williams on the Theory of Constraints. Reading it, I had a simultaneous flashback to my b-school Intro to Operations class, and to a great meeting I had with a very exciting pre-release Web startup continue…
I just got off the phone with another young entrepreneur who’s in the process of starting a new “social reviews” site for local restaurants. I tried hard not to be a complete wet blanket, but I have so many knives in my back from my Judy’s Book experience it was hard not to pull a continue…