The theory guy never wins

http://vladmkrtumyan.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-theory-guy-never-wins-in-business.html

by vladmk • 13 years ago

15 31 13 years ago

vladmkrtumyan.blogspot.com

loceng• 13 years ago

You have to learn how to execute, too. Creativity is theory, execution is putting it into practice.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

Very true. I really like the James Altucher "idea muscle" theory of forcing yourself to write 10 ideas down a day to build up your idea muscle.

williamcotton• 13 years ago

Dude, you need both. Perhaps you and your friends who don't read very much aren't very good at it to begin with? Literacy is a lifelong pursuit. Sorry if that seems harsh but I'm gonna react when a dude basically says that reading books will make you less successful. That is some ignorant bullshit.

zxcdw• 13 years ago

I think the point is to deliver.

You are better off delivering than talking. Shut up, sit down and get shit done so you can deliver.

k__2• 13 years ago

True story.

I had to learn this after my studies. You have to get shit done or nobody listens to you.

But I met many people who just learned this and not much else.

They building huges piles of shit and sell them to people who don't know any better.

LnxPrgr3• 13 years ago

It seems obvious enough that always reading and never acting is pretty useless: even if you remember everything you read and it was all good information, there's no magic force that turns correct knowledge into anything useful to anyone else.

So… spending every waking hour consuming information isn't a good idea if your goal is to deliver a product. That doesn't mean going in completely half-cocked is the answer either, though.

Would you suggest that a budding young programmer skip reading about computer science, or about interesting new languages and frameworks? After all, C was a perfectly fine tool in the 70s—who needs anything else? And premature optimization is the root of all evil—why even think about algorithmic complexity? The good ol' linked list is all you should ever need, right?

I don't know where exactly the happy medium is, but I suspect there is one. At some point, you have to start actually doing something. That doesn't mean talking and reading are a complete waste of time—just that talking and reading aren't building. They are, at best, giving you extra tools to build and sell a product in the future.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

Exactly! :) that was the whole point of the article...did it sound like I was telling people to shut up?...perhaps.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

The people I'm talking about sold start ups for millions before. I also make a point to Mark Cuban who reads 3 hours a day and executes 8 hours. That is perhaps the best way to balance it. Gary Vaynerchuk on the other hand hates reading, he still grew a 50 million dollar business and still pushing forward. Bottom line is Action > Theory.

D_Alex• 13 years ago

What an icky mess of strawman and false dichotomy! Who is this "theory guy" that never wins in business - someone who does only theory, eh? I wonder how well the "practice guy", who acts without any thinking whatsoever, comes out in comparison.

As an aside and fuel for furhter thought, here is one of my favourite quotes (from Less Wrong):

"As a general idea, high level intellectual exploration should consume substantially more time than goal-directed action, but there are few social encouragements to behave in this manner so the only people who do so are essentially those who are addicted to such intellectual exploration and have no propensity or willingness to take action at all."

_sabe_2• 13 years ago

And what is the definition of winning? If you're a theoretical problem solver, you are probably getting your kicks from doing just that. And that's "winning" for you. Now if you only care for money, "winning" would naturally be when you reached your goal of making some. But a lot of people probably would consider winning just getting by being in the moment doing what thrills you (like thinking about how to make the product even better).

vladmk14• 13 years ago

Nothing wrong with being a theoretical problem solver and yes I was defining winning by making money. Thinking about making a product is good, but taking action and then testing that result is even better, the point is get it in field, test it you can only theorize so much.

James_Duval• 13 years ago

He has a point though.

Look at his awful blog post. It's appallingly-written, doesn't make much sense, invokes various logical fallacies - and hit the front page of HN!

"So here I am getting this post out in the field ASAP, let me know what you think lets talk about all the theory people we've, how does it still exist in this "lean startup" world? Perhaps we should go from lean to anorexic startup. I've never heard of a company launching too fast as Paul Graham says very few do and so far I know none."

A garbled mess of nonsense. And yet here we are, talking about it!

Proof that, at least sometimes, taking action without any kind of meaningful thought behind it is capable of generating success.

CPAhem• 13 years ago

yes - survival of the noisiest: talk first, think later.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

lol thanks for being the one person that sees something. My point in the article was to facilitate a discussion and you're right I wrote it on the fly in 10 minutes glad you got the point.

regularfry• 13 years ago

Warren Buffett would seem to be the canonical example of a business guy who reads a lot. He seems to be successful.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

Already talked about Warren to the other comment, but let me give a different angle. In Warren's early days he had insane business ideas and some worked, like selling used golf balls by swimming in ponds at courses. He learned a lot from action too, when he got to college he had 100k savings so he could then afford the theory. I think he proves most that doing both is best.

weland• 13 years ago

While you are blindly jumping into the claws of the tiger because your man-of-action guts tell you it's a lotus, I'll stick around to grab your wallet while he devours you.

Signed, The Theory Guy

P.S. Spending three seconds to think about why the fuck is a lotus flower striped and why it is purring like a cat could have saved you.

Also, what the heck is a wantrepreneur? Is that the pretentious term for "someone who isn't an antrepreneur, but totally knows everything about it because he read all the blogs on the subject and all the interviews in Forbes"?

_sabe_2• 13 years ago

And what is a entrepreneur anyways? Feels like the definition has shifted from being someone who has the job of starting up new businesses, to just running a business at all.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

The debate on what an entrepreneur is will have a million definitions. I defined wantrepreneur by a guy who can't afford to follow his company/business full time. Nothing wrong with that, everyone starts at that stage.

zlbrooks• 13 years ago

Your poor grammar and sentence structure makes your argument (whether it is good or not) much less effective than it could be. Spend 10 minutes proofreading, and your post will be much more effective.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

To be honest I wrote this late at night and didn't even think it would spark any conversation. Thanks, I definitely will, I've just started blogging and decided to fully commit myself to it full time.

stiff• 13 years ago

Here is a favourite passage of mine from Johns Stuart Mill autobiography (he is speaking of the demanding education his father arranged for him):

I remember at some time in my thirteenth year, on my happening to use the word idea, he asked me what an idea was; and expressed some displeasure at my ineffectual efforts to define the word: I recollect also his indignation at my using the common expression that something was true in theory but required correction in practice; and how, after making me vainly strive to define the word theory, he explained its meaning, and showed the fallacy of the vulgar form of speech which I had used; leaving me fully persuaded that in being unable to give a correct definition of Theory, and in speaking of it as something which might be at variance with practice, I had shown unparalleled ignorance. In this he seems, and perhaps was, very unreasonable; but I think, only in being angry at my failure. A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he can.

vladmk14• 13 years ago

great quote.

norswap• 13 years ago

Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger do a lot of reading. I think they win alright.

See http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/05/the-buffett-formula-...

And if you're serious about reading or learning, this is great: http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/07/seneca-on-reading/

vladmk14• 13 years ago

I love Warren Buffet read his biography "the snowball effecet" and Charlie Munger as well. They win, but they also disqualify their ideas or theories as fast as possible and have arguably had the most experience as well trading stocks, Warren started at 13 and I'm sure he lost a lot of money. Warren was also mentored by the greatest at the time Ben Graham. I'm not saying you're wrong I'm saying he has a combination, also Warren arguably falls outside of this argument so do theoretical mathematicians and astrophysicists. I'm talking about building a product first then getting feedback.

ekm2• 13 years ago

I am surprised no one has mentioned Bill Gates' omnivorous reading habits.Check out his huge reading bag in this video

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50151799n&tag=api

vladmk14• 13 years ago

Yeah, but its comparable to the Mark Cuban suggestion I made. 3 Hours a day will get you through that reading bag, but how much action does he take in comparison? Nothing wrong with reading.

The theory guy never wins

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