Shut up, Brain. Stop Thinking About Cool Shit.

by jv2222 • 17 years ago

60 14 17 years ago

jrwoodruff2• 17 years ago

I'd argue that's what business partners are for. You simply can't be good at everything. I tend to have the opposite problem this guy has - I see the big picture, but get impatient with the details.

I can code (well, sort of anyways...) but the thought "Is jQuery’s $().keydown routine hogging too much processor time? I need to profile it." will most likely never cross my mind.

However, I think I suffer from the same problem in that I'm continually trying to get myself to think this way and learn this stuff, just so I can try to implement my ideas.

baran2• 17 years ago

You mention you need partners. Do you think one person is more important than the other to the success of the business?

jrwoodruff2• 17 years ago

In a philosophical sense, no. Realistically, though, the more important aspect is not whether one partner is more important but what the team dynamic is like. If one partner perceives they are more important, or feels under-appreciated, then it's likely the partnership will get in the way of business and, ultimately, success.

My belief is that in a successful partnership (as in marriage), both people must be comfortable in their quite different but equally important roles.

c00p3r• 17 years ago

It is not so easy to switch the field. Like almost every kind of business activity you need some knowledge of a theory along with actual experience. That means you ought to spend plenty of time - learning of an alien skill is a very slow process, and that's why it is so boring. It is very good idea to start exploring new fields, but you shouldn't expect a success which could be compared with your primary skills. So, I think the good idea is to find and hire someone pro and learn from him. You will save the time and money.

sachinag• 17 years ago

Honestly, those aren't even the right questions he's neglecting.

For example, you can't just add PayPal integration and be like "now I'll get paid". The questions are: what's the MVP for the free app? What am I going to hold back for premium, and why? What do I think the right price is there, and why?

If you're making an app just for yourself, and you want to share it, post the code on GitHub. If you're trying to sell a product, let me tell you something: blog posts aren't marketing just because you posted something you wrote.

All "business guys" do is resource allocation. We talk to customers to prioritize features; we talk to potential partners to try to enhance distribution; we do the customer service (which helps us further talk to customers); and, yes, sometimes we do the paid advertising and PR and sales calls and marketing stuff.

Tichy• 17 years ago

What does TweeMiner do? The video is too slow for me.

jv2222• 17 years ago

It's an RSS reader fully integrated with Twitter. It makes it easy to follow your RSS feeds and click a button to Tweet stories (and schedule those Tweets)

zjj2• 17 years ago

A reply to the article: http://robotr.tumblr.com/post/192059426/dont-shutup-your-bra...

baran2• 17 years ago

I agree. You have to pursue what you have a passion and obsession for. This is how you become great.

zjj2• 17 years ago

Thanks for reading!

christonog• 17 years ago

The purpose of a start up is to serve their customers. I think that we at HN tend to downplay the importance of business guy's role in this task. They abstract many of the "mundane" tasks of scaling a business and let the technical guys focus on coding the product. I can't find the essay, but PG did mention that a business, in its simplest form, is a product that serves customers. Though there has always been an "us vs. them" mentality between the two, the ultimate goal is to best serve the customer.

dangrover• 17 years ago

This business guy vs hacker thing is a false dichotomy and I'm sick of hearing it. It's good to work with others, and it's good to specialize, but there's no reason one person can't be competent at both.

herval• 17 years ago

Even if you have a business partner - I wonder if you should really be writing your own apps instead of working for someone else if you consider the business side of it SO boring. After all, no matter how deep into coding you are - if it is your business, you WILL have to get involved.

OR build a kickass app, use it as a portfolio and secure a good job somewhere. Maybe someone else's startup...

sorbits• 17 years ago

Learn about the business aspect, you can break this down as problems you need to solve and have your brain work on that.

I never liked the business aspect myself, yet I managed to build a business with a couple of employees, and earlier this week someone actually suggested I became a PR advisor — I hate PR, but I love psychology, and PR is really just applied psychology, and there is lots of data mining and math involved in that field.

Shut up, Brain. Stop Thinking About Cool Shit.

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