Ask HN: Follow my start-up from soup-to-nuts?
My co-founders and I have recently begun work on a new start-up. I've learned so much from the community here, in particular the articles from other start-ups describing their processes and techniques. It occurred to me that it might be interesting to follow a start-up from soup-to-nuts, from the very beginning to wherever it may lead. My team and I are therefore considering journaling openly on a blog about the details of our internal operations and progress, including the type of 'family business' you wouldn't ordinarily be privy to hearing about in a start-up. Before we dive in to this, my question to the community is would this content interest anyone? Could following our progress at a low-level give some color to even less-seasoned founders than ourselves about what goes on and help them in some small way? Thanks for any feedback.
5 comments
You could take it a step further and turn your startup into a reality TV show. Make it something like Jersey Shore mixed with the Apprentice. If you add enough drama and sexual tension it wouldn't really have to be about anything to make it interesting.
I think bringing this sort of transparency to a startup could be really interesting, especially to the HN community. Go for it! Even if it ends up failing miserably, it'll be a useful case study into what transparency can do/not do for a startup.
On another note, I remember Kevin Rose saying how he always wanted to put up live web cams at the Digg offices back in the day and basically let the community watch Digg being made. It would be really cool if you guys setup a calendar with your meetings, made it public, and live streamed those with a chat room where the HN community (or anyone else) could literally take part in the discussion and lend a helping hand to the startups creation.
On another note, I remember Kevin Rose saying how he always wanted to put up live web cams at the Digg offices back in the day and basically let the community watch Digg being made. It would be really cool if you guys setup a calendar with your meetings, made it public, and live streamed those with a chat room where the HN community (or anyone else) could literally take part in the discussion and lend a helping hand to the startups creation.
These are very interesting thoughts and the feedback from letting the community in on our meetings would obviously benefit us tremendously. If we see some interest on the journaling (and can work up the courage!) we might be inclined to try something like this. Thanks.
Sounds very cool but it all depends on your site's audience. If you have a really technical or startup centric site, then that will probably be the best marketing vehicle you could ask for. If the site is geared more for the masses, then taking them behind the scenes could work but you may not want to go into too much details. You might lose them. But, hey, I'd love to read it and I'm sure many would on this site. Good luck!
I like reading these types of blogs, but I find that most people end up quitting after a few weeks. I have about 4-5 on my RSS feeder that posted <10 times then went dead.
I think you need to be very careful with this approach. I tend to be very open and tend to wear everything on my sleeve. Some downsides:
People think I am a braggart and a charlatan. I think this is partly due to talking openly about whatever my latest thought/ambition is well before there is anything to show for it. As with anyone, not all my thoughts/ambitions pan out. So I sound like I talk a lot of sh*t and don't deliver. Even in cases where I do deliver, the delivery date may be well after people have grown bored with hearing me talk about it and so it isn't really counted as much.
Security issues: I have recently concluded that laying everything out "in real time" is a security issue in that it gives people too much detailed information about my life. I have concluded it would be better for me to put a little space, time-wise or in some other fashion, between topics on my sites and where I am right this moment.
It leaves you open to personal attacks. I think people are less civil when you are out there with everything. I really don't have an explanation. Just take it as personal observation from someone who has done plenty of "letting it all hang out".
Putting out "family business" creates a real danger that issues you could have resolved privately will become intractable and unresolvable. Letting people "save face" and "forget" is a big part of letting them move on. Putting it all out there so that 10,000 other people know and will continuously remind you can make it impossible to get past something that really shouldn't have been that big of a deal to begin with.
I haven't blogged in real time about stuff in part because I think it makes you less flexible: You told a jillion people you were going to do X so now even though X isn't really a good idea, you feel compelled to go ahead and do it. Since the thing I am tempted to blog about is getting myself well when folks say it cannot be done, my life is literally on the line here. I have concluded it is best to keep my "live"/ongoing problem solving process private and share my conclusions rather than the messy, on-going process.
In the natural world, things gestate in darkness. They do so for a reason. Putting a window in a woman's belly wouldn't benefit the fetus, though I imagine it would make for fascinating viewing. Be very careful you don't kill the baby in the process. I am disinclined to think this is wise. (Feel free to chalk that up to having been burned.)
Peace. And best of luck, whatever you end up doing.
People think I am a braggart and a charlatan. I think this is partly due to talking openly about whatever my latest thought/ambition is well before there is anything to show for it. As with anyone, not all my thoughts/ambitions pan out. So I sound like I talk a lot of sh*t and don't deliver. Even in cases where I do deliver, the delivery date may be well after people have grown bored with hearing me talk about it and so it isn't really counted as much.
Security issues: I have recently concluded that laying everything out "in real time" is a security issue in that it gives people too much detailed information about my life. I have concluded it would be better for me to put a little space, time-wise or in some other fashion, between topics on my sites and where I am right this moment.
It leaves you open to personal attacks. I think people are less civil when you are out there with everything. I really don't have an explanation. Just take it as personal observation from someone who has done plenty of "letting it all hang out".
Putting out "family business" creates a real danger that issues you could have resolved privately will become intractable and unresolvable. Letting people "save face" and "forget" is a big part of letting them move on. Putting it all out there so that 10,000 other people know and will continuously remind you can make it impossible to get past something that really shouldn't have been that big of a deal to begin with.
I haven't blogged in real time about stuff in part because I think it makes you less flexible: You told a jillion people you were going to do X so now even though X isn't really a good idea, you feel compelled to go ahead and do it. Since the thing I am tempted to blog about is getting myself well when folks say it cannot be done, my life is literally on the line here. I have concluded it is best to keep my "live"/ongoing problem solving process private and share my conclusions rather than the messy, on-going process.
In the natural world, things gestate in darkness. They do so for a reason. Putting a window in a woman's belly wouldn't benefit the fetus, though I imagine it would make for fascinating viewing. Be very careful you don't kill the baby in the process. I am disinclined to think this is wise. (Feel free to chalk that up to having been burned.)
Peace. And best of luck, whatever you end up doing.
All good points here, thanks for the thoughtful comments.