Comments on: Startup Postcard from Corvallis, Oregon!

By: Amit C

Amit C — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:41:27 +0000

Dear Tony,

A very interesting article. Quite a few practical tips.

Also, you might want to know, your blog has been hacked, probably a oldersunsecure version of wordpress.

Sometimes when visiting links, it redirects to advertisement at sattan.org. To confirm, see following for details:
http://www.UnmaskParasites.com/security-report/...
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/220840

Regards
Amit

By: Amit C

Amit C — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:41:27 +0000

By: frank moscow

frank moscow — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:28:39 +0000

Agree with above- profitable revenue trumps everything else. i encourage intellectual honesty and awareness of ones' own strengths and weaknesses and know that the people who do the best surround themselves and listen to people who have the skils and experiences they don't.
so – by all means – go for it. understand that great ideas are just that and for most of us- real value is created by business execution.
in our experience, it is possible but very rare for the best idea person to also be a great operator. unfortunately- ego gets in the way too often and the company success becomes limited by the founder who thinks they are the best at everything. it does truly take a team.

By: webwright

webwright — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:12:39 +0000

Hey Matthew! I'm glad the post “reached” you. I think it was a GREAT
question…. And the obvious one given the content of the presentations.
Frank painted a GREAT picture of what a CEO should be. Nick painted a great
picture of a fundable company. I don't know what the heck I painted, but I
did it loudly and with lots of wild gesticulation.

But that shines a light on a HUGE canyon between the first time CEO and
fundability. How do you cross it?

I hope some of the answers in my post above are helpful. I know a small
army of first time entrepreneurs who are kicking ass beyond the obvious
examples of Google and Facebook. I also know a small army of veteran
executives who are floundering in startup-land. It's a pretty level playing
field.

To boil it down for a first-timer, your only hope is TRACTION and GROWTH.
Focus on a simple idea and focus on getting it to market ASAP so you can
learn, earn, and grow. Once you launch, focus only on things that makes
your users happier, or brings in more users (cheaply– research viral
marketing and SEO). Don't be stealthy with your idea– shout it from the
rooftops and solicit feedback all the time– you have a lot more to gain
from communicating than being sneaky.

If you want feedback on any specific ideas, feel free to drop me a line (or
comment here if you are cool with the rest of the world chiming in).

By: Matthew Bertram

Matthew Bertram — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:57:13 +0000

Tony, thanks for the insightful response to the questions. I was the person who asked the last one, the guy with a notebook. For the record, I was asking only what Franks advice would be to a beginning entrepreneur. I understand that everyone is is not cut out to be a CEO. However, for the time being, I am operating with the assumption that I have that potential. From that assumption, how do I make it happen?

I also like the bit about Life Hacking. Catchy, possibility there for a book?

By: frank moscow

frank moscow — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:19:20 +0000

wow- thanks for the feedback. i must not have made my point very clear. i wasn't trying to be discouraging to entreprenuers- actually quite the opposite. what i was trying to say is that having an idea is only a small part of leading a business and that the operational, financial and leadership skills are very important and should be highly valued and respected.

either the founder should make every effort to gain those skills or partner with others that do so that ultimately- the company can be successful

By: webwright

webwright — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:02:03 +0000

Hey Frank! I thought it was an outstanding presentation-- as a CEO of a
funded startup, I learned a lot. And I think it's a REALLY important point
that everyone isn't cut out to be a CEO. For what it's worth, I think it's
equally likely that *I* misunderstood the question (or that the person
asking it didn't communicate clearly!).

Those two questions (and a few others) pointed to a theme. You painted a
great picture of what a CEO should be. Nick painted a picture of what a
fundable startup should look like. But all of the people in the room wanted
to know how to get to fundability. I guess if it wasn't so hard, more
people would be doing it! I think the best hopes for many folks is to hitch
their wagon to a startup that is already on a good path (as a CTO or early
engineer)-- that's a (rather excellent!) point that I think you or Nick
made. The alternative (if you truly believe in your idea and your ability
to pull it off) is to get scrappy, focus on the most tractible idea (or
portion of your idea) that you can, and get traction by building and and
marketing something people want. Great early traction and customer passion
solves a LOT of problems.

By: webwright

webwright — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:01:26 +0000

Heh, true. Of course, I'm talking about risks where you are putting your lifestyle and a few bucks on the line… not your actual life.

But it's an interesting point, especially from the investor perspective. We hear about a lot of REALLY risk-embracing survivors of high risk investment (who look pretty wise in hindsight). For every wacky angel that made a billion investing early in Google, there might be 1000 angels who invested in only flops. The “Corvallis” method might be quietly yielding great/safe returns in comparison.

But I (like most startuppers) would rather be surrounded by bold angels than conservative angels.

By: grantrodgers

grantrodgers — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:07:58 +0000

Those who “would have taken fewer risks” probably don't have a deathbed to pontificate from! That's the problem with taking risk metrics on the living. It's a selective sample.