mchang16

#11 - Take advantage of your health and dental insurance. If you haven't gone to the doctor or the dentist in awhile, or if you have an appointment that you should make in the coming months - make it now!

I have to disagree with the suggestion to NOT ask for registration> I think that you'll get much more response if you feature a white paper that people want to read so badly that they'll register up front. Then anything that they do with the call-to-action at the end (which you should be all means include) is gravy.

http://friendfeed.com/16thletter

"The author doesn't write like a human"

hahhaha

My writing has received a lot of constructive criticism in my day, but "not human" is a first. I totally agree that this is not the most stellar of posts I've ever written - I'm actually in a bit of a blogging slump (which you would actually know if you followed me on Twitter)...I am just trying to dig (claw?) my way out of it. Thanks for bearing with me...or not if you can't stand it.

Have a great day!

Fair question! I won't be mailing anyone that doesn't give me permission...my application will require people to login and give me permission to email them...after I do that, they may or may not become customers. But I won't message anyone that doesn't opt-in!

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions and tips! I appreciate all the helpful advice!

Yes, clients and potential investors.

Great question, but no. I have been doing the non-office thing for almost a year. I have 35 contractors working from me off-site. But my business has hit a point where I need to hire two full-time people (to keep it running) and my partner is soon going to be joining me....so we need a space.

Good point! I thought about that when I was writing the article, but it was late at night so I let it slide. Of course someone at HN would point it out. :)

I tried to make the point (obviously unsuccessfully) that no matter what else I am doing throughout the day, I tend to read feed items at about the same rate - or so I thought. The Google Reader data isn't really scientific, just meant to illustrate that I was reading MORE on Tuesday when I thought I was having the same level of productivity the entire week. I guess I think that it can be extrapolated to reflect on the other things that I'm working on throughout the day? Like I said, it's not scientific.

(And trust me, I'm also doing other things other than reading feed items, like posting here!)

Another interesting technical fact that I found out when I was doing the research for this article was that prior to 2002, if someone typed a generic term into the address bar, most browsers automatically tacked on the .com extension, adding to the importance of the .com extension.

I suppose that using a site like this allows you to get a lot of designs to choose from, but you can hire a designer (that you already know and trust) and get a bunch of mock-ups that way, too. And they will likely work until your satisfied.

Another suggestion - make sure that the person giving the demo knows the product inside and out. There's nothing that sabotages a demo like a question about the demo that can't be answered because the demonstrator doesn't know the intricacies of the product. This typically happens when the president/CEO is doing the demo, but wasn't on the team that built the product. At the very least, make sure that a product expert is in the room during the demo to answer any questions that might come up.

I can think of one other good reason to consult when you're working on a start-up ---- the consulting project that you're working on is something that will teach you something that you need to know in order to make your start-up successful. There's nothing better than learning on someone else's dime. Especially if the company for which you're consulting has some particuarly smart people or cutting-edge resources that you wouldn't have access to otherwise.

There are so many other ways to finance a start-up, that this should probably be the LAST option...and it's so high-risk that if you can't get money another way, you might want to wait until a better idea comes along that you can get someone to finance.

The only issue with using "new mode of communication" to try to convince someone to use a service is that a new way of communicating appeals to people who are on the edge, but won't appeal to a widespread audience who might say "I don't need a new mode of communication, my current ones are working just fine."

It is a good point that twitter is revolutionizing gatherings of large groups of people (like at tradeshows and conferences) - maybe that is the way that it will get widespread adoption. Twittering at ballgames or concerts with lots of consumers? It's a possibility.

I love this quote: "The truth is, start-up-land is littered with mavericks, iconoclasts, drops-outs and misfits."

I do agree - completely. If you can pick between a boom time and a recession, pick the boom time. 100%. But if you are thinking of starting a comapny NOW, just because the recession is looming, doesn't mean that you should back away. There are good reasons to start now.

Thanks for all the comments - I wrote a follow-up to this article and posted it on my blog. http://www.16thletter.com/2008/03/21/more-on-starting-a-comp...