This. I think the biggest problem startups make is finding a problem and building a solution, but not realizing there is a difference in problem size, value and pain per your medicine analogy.
> "Its the help a startup needs between "office hours" and execution. I do think that there is a piece missing here, that can be developed."
Pretty much agree with everything you said, this is a good unpacking of what I was trying to briefly convey in the OP.
For example, if one of the founders is strong in Biz Dev, then they probably don't need this (though some level of assistance would still be helpful), but if this is not the case, then getting guidance and potentially full-service assistance with an all-in effort in gaining customer feedback in a valid way that could be just the frequency shift that determined success or failure in an otherwise solid product/idea.
Basically you would be taking the product from something potential customers respond with "maybe" into something they say "Heck yes, take my money!"
I don't think the accelerators/funds are missing the obvious, but I do believe that (because of the high signal-to-noise ratio of the startup bubble) many rookie founders don't discern the importance of this process to their success, and end up "hearing what they want to hear" from mentors/books/etc and pick out things like "focus on the experience", "leverage network effects" or the dreaded "get a distribution partner" instead of simply finding customers who would immediately start paying for a solution to their biggest problems.
Good point, there are a lot of bad ideas out there. But, even the best ideas/products are not what they started out as, they involved pivots and market changes. Was this due to luck, or were the founders fundamentally committed to creating a business that adds value vs. simply in love with their "great idea"?
How much time would this save the average customer? Seems like setting up on the existing platforms are pretty easy already, and rackspace already has an auto deployment option.
>"Most KPIs (traffic, revenue) are too volatile on a daily basis to be useful. Yet “last 30 days daily” is more or less the default option."
YES! If you're building a dashboard, don't answer the question "what data do I have?" or "what does the brass say this should be?" But instead, get out and talk to users, find out what data is most important to them, think outside the box, throw some different ideas out there and see what sticks with users.
I Just had my 1 year anniversary of standing desk. It is great, although I do sometimes get tired but I have a stool for that.
You can see my desk design here. It was acquired for very cheap: $1 counter top from thrift store, $10 in 2x4's from lowes. and only 1 strategically placed screw in the wall. I also have an anti-fatigue mat and a foot stool that helps a lot.
As a startup founder in the same city, this pumps me up. Having watched the story unfold over time, it's a healthy reminder that "overnight success" is always years of perseverance in the making. I'm rooting for you Ryan, Chuong, and Kenny!
This is interesting. With the "remotization" of the workplace where anyone, especially engineers can work from anywhere, instead of moving outward, we're moving inward to these "hubs".
I wonder if this is in part because, now that our work is less social, we want our environment to be geared toward more social, i.e. big cities.
I have a ton of respect for Adii, but from my experience it is SIGNIFICANTLY harder to do something great without a cofounder.
Sure, if your a cereal entrepreneur like Adii or captain crunch, it's doable, but for most of us who are still trying for our first big breakthrough, we need all the help we can get.
Almost any startup/product needs two things. A good quality product and users. When speed is important it's extremely difficult for one person to do these very different tasks exceptionally well. As a CTO (who isn't overly technical, just enough to build prototypes, PM, and lead the team) I feel completely overwhelmed just thinking about having to do all that our CEO does on the business and growth side.
funny to see this post, I tweeted about this 1 year ago, saw it pop up on Timehop, and built a quick rough draft on my blog this morning. very cool library!
I agree. But, there is some value in "Advocacy" for people in this position. Although, that card is probably played out by now and its cliche/annoying unless someone actually proposes or better yet is actively involved in a solution.
There is a 2000 year old book that basically says "There will always be the poor" --not sure exactly what that means, but it kinda makes sense. For me, I've tried both large scale and small scale ways of helping "the poor" and I've developed the model of:
1. help people when you can & however you are able...It probably won't help them long-term though but maybe thats ok.
2. A few of those folks really are motivated to change their life for the better, so when you help them, it may pay off for the greater good.
Either way, studies show that helping others and "giving to a good cause" typically pays off higher "happiness dividends" than selfishly spending money on yourself (unless its for a new smartphone or laptop of course :))
crossfleet -- Fayetteville, AR (Remote doable) -- Fulltime & Parttime
Developer, Generalist -- with some combination of skills in:
--frontend, web apps
--backend, REST & SOAP APIs
--Mobile, Android & Services
We are an enterprise SaaS company approaching our 1 year mark. We have paying customers and a full stack v1.0. Now, we need you to help us scale. Our customers are some of the largest corporations in the world and our market is transportation/logistics. Northwest Arkansas may seem like a random place for a tech startup, but we have half of the top 30 supply-chain & logistics companies just down the road and its a great place to live and raise a family.
Offering cost-of-living stipend + equity on a 1 year vesting schedule.
Shoot me and email and lets chat! jeremywilliams [at] crossfleet.com (tech cofounder)
