Why your startup won't make it

http://codingwithlove.com/thoughts/why-your-startup-wont-make-it

by Void_ • 16 years ago

23 18 16 years ago

devmonk• 16 years ago

Great post!

And the other reason you were smart to quit that idea is: "Easy to use note-taking application with cloud syncing and simple organization." That sounds like overkill if I've ever heard it for a simple note-taking tool. If I'm taking notes I use a text editor or paper. For task and project tracking, I use Jira.

Void_4• 16 years ago

Thanks. I know it sounds like overkill - but it's exactly what SimpleNote dies :-) I would be very curious to know more about how successful they are.

pchristensen• 16 years ago

Let's hope that SimpleNote never dies :)

They do something simple, but they hit it so far out of the park that it crosses town and lands in a completely different park! I think of it as Dropbox for Text. It's always where I need it.

amackera• 16 years ago

It's only overkill if the user is aware of the infrastructure. If you make notes on your Mac, it auto-syncs to your iPhone, blah blah, the user is only vaguely aware that complicated computation is occurring behind the scenes.

Think of email. Email pretty damn complicated behind the scenes, all to send text to other people. Why don't people just write letters to each other!? Why bother with all this error prone infrastructure? Because if it's done right, people aren't even aware of it, they just click send and get instant value.

CatalystFactory• 16 years ago

The post/link doesn't seem to work :( update?

Void_4• 16 years ago

What a #FAIL my server died :-/

PDF: http://cl.ly/12dd4e4abff3939fa3c8

mattmanser2• 16 years ago

So, you had an idea, your idea was validated because there are competitors and someone else just got funding to make that particular idea.

And then, because you'd have competition, you gave up.

And our startups won't make it because we'd give up if we found a competitor, which most people actually think of as a good thing?

A very odd post. Feels more like an attempt to justify your decision.

Void_4• 16 years ago

I'm sorry if it didn't make sense to you. I posted it, because I would find enjoyable reading it. Maybe you're just not kind of reader I tried to target, but I believe there are some.

mattmanser2• 16 years ago

The title is a bit inflammatory, that's all.

jonpaul2• 16 years ago

Agreed. Competition validates a market. It's easy to get discourage by competition, but entrepreneurs need to let competition fuel them. Fuel them to work smarter, harder, and faster.

jonpaul2• 16 years ago

This is more or less a linkbait headline. Regardless, if those who are successful listened to those who told them they would fail, they wouldn't have been successful.

Void_4• 16 years ago

Bingo ... :-D

healthyhippo• 16 years ago

I agree that competition validates a market, but as an entrepreneur I'm still hesitant to launch a competing product that I had an idea for. Here's why:

1. My competitors may be ahead of me. If something is just out there launched, that means that someone's been working on it for 3-6 months prior. I'm at month 0 and have catch-up to do.

2. Sometimes, competitors are just really good-- like their products are fully adequate for your specific needs, and probably pretty good for a bunch of other people as well. I have a hard time saying I should pursue something if I'm content using someone else's product.

The whole issue is that this leads to a conundrum. If my idea is fresh and new, then market validation becomes difficult because competing startups are in stealth mode. Only 6 months later do I say "Shit, that was actually an awesome idea". The only thing I can rely on are my own convictions and market tests that customer need exists.

wonster• 16 years ago

You need to think about the whole market size. What if the existing note taking applications like Simple Note are utilizied by only a tiny percentage of the possible market? Intead of just giving up, think of what other features you could introduce to beat Simple Note. Have you done any research to see how they are even doing? Don't be discouraged by competition. Google always pops up in my mind whenever I hear a story like this.

benatkin• 16 years ago

http://github.com/scrod/nv/blob/master/License.txt

You wanted a mac client and you wanted tags.

You settled on a web interface "replacement".

Somehow I think the itch will return soon.

When it does, you can just fork Notational Velocity, add books/tags/whatever, make it sync with a web app, and get back in business!

sudafed• 16 years ago

>When it does, you can just fork Notational Velocity, add books/tags/whatever, make it sync with a web app, and get back in business!

Awesome! That should be easy then, because Notational Velocity already has tags, and it already syncs with Simplenote — very well, in fact:

http://scrod.posterous.com/interesting-facts-about-simplenot...

guynamedloren• 16 years ago

I couldn't disagree more with the author of this post. When I think of entrepreneurship, I think of innovation. I think of creativity. I think of drive. The author expresses none of these qualities - especially drive. I'm all for knowing when to stop, but this is just pathetic.

Congrats - you're a quitter. The next time you feel like spreading your pessimism, keep it to yourself. I don't think your little rant is benefiting anybody.

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.” Trying is what drives humanity - it's all we have. If nobody ever tried, we'd have nothing.

Why your startup won't make it

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