What is Digg?51 Comments
- sockpuppets, on 03/20/2008, -0/+11Wear a shorter skirt next time.
- BrendanSheehan, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1013. Get lucky with your idea, make millions, become adamant you know it all.
- ProjectGSX, on 03/20/2008, -2/+11Mark Cuban is a tool. Thank you, drive through please.
- rmxz, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9Excellent article and excellent ideas. I've exclusively in startups since 96; and a majority had happy endings (1 IPO, of the rest half sold for more than investors put, the other half less). Some comments on some of the article's points:
1. "Don't start a company unless its an obsession and something you love."
Somewhat agree - for some, startups *is* the obsession they love.
2. "If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession."
Agree for different reasons - if your startup is doing well, you'll have many exit opportunities. If it's not, you won't have any nice ones regardless of your "strategy". Spending time thinking about exit strategies is a waste of time until you already have one offer on the table. Then you can see if even more attractive strategies exist.
6. "An expresso machine ? Are you kidding me ? Shoot yourself before you spend money on an expresso machine. Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. "
Totally disagree. Coffee's an important benefit for some people. During crunch periods I can't go 4 hours without it. Good coffee's a cheap investment. Sodas - not for me, but I assume others like them.
7. No offices. Open offices keeps everyone in tune with what is going on and keeps the energy up. If
I'd go even further and say no cubicles. When a company's under 10 people you get nice efficiencies and camaraderie when everyone can see each other, and when the new hires can see the execs/founders working hard.
10. NEVER EVER EVER buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me
Depends on your market. Get the swag in the hands of your customers and it can be OK. Get the swag in the hands of random people and it's probably a waste.
11. NEVER EVER EVER hire a PR firm. A PR firm will call or email people in the publications
And be especially cautious when it's a PR firm recommended by your VCs. We once cycled much of a round of funding back through the PR firm the investors wanted us to spend it on. On the other had, we did get pretty wide ranging TV coverage with video news releases for a product targeted at average consumers so it might have been useful. Hard to say. It wasn't the worst money we spent, but it wasn't the best either. - Annorax, on 03/20/2008, -0/+8I wish my bosses would hand out $100 bills for doing something special.
- saleem, on 03/20/2008, -2/+7Some of it isn't even terribly good advice. If you have an interest in something and you see a gap in the market that you can fill, then I would say go for it, even if you're not "obsessed". And EVERY single advisor will tell you to have some sort of exit strategy in mind.
- rmxz, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5By being interesting advice on an interesting topic?
What would you rather see, another HDR image or another XKCD comic or another Ron Paul can still win article or another Xbox/PS3 fanboy blog? - frostbyt, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Make Wed topless and orange speedo day.
- Charlotte_Web, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Glean what you can from it. Regardless of how he got his money, his wealth and success has afforded him perspectives on the business world that completely elude the average worker.
- kh99, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Buried for no "expresso" machine.
- Totz83, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4ahaahaa "My buddy Jason", "No espresso machine" I'd rather work for Stalin, maybe you should ask your buddy Jason for a job before you start plagiarising his "Rules"
- saleem, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3an exit strategy isn't a plan to fail. it's how you're going to turn your business idea and company into financial success for you.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3I agree with #5 despite other peoples comments. My suggestion would be for more companies to evolve and encourage a percentage of their staff telecommute when possible. If the argument is that management of those people becomes more difficult, then perhaps it is time to send managers to training to get them current. Telecommuting saves time, fuel expenses, time wasted driving, reduces employee risk factors, encourages a better work/life balance and reduces office expenses (heating/cooling and various other facilities related costs). Telecommuting also reduces parking congestion at the work place and increases the oxygen ratio in the building assuming that facilities is being stingy with the percentage of fresh air induction in HVAC. Telecommuting does require "thinking outside of the box" so to speak; however, it can benefit everyone if thought out properly. It also improves a companies disaster recovery plans, thus ensuring that if a building is red-tagged, employees are not affected. This allows you to focus on infrastructure redundancy rather than having to include office redundancy.
- inactive, on 03/24/2008, -0/+3Or dies.
Only an idiot doesn't plan for the exit.
Oh, and the homeless.
They don't plan either. - kalvinb, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3He links to another blog with more "good" advice
"Outsource to middle America: There are tons of brilliant people living between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York who don't live in a $4,000 one bedroom apartment and pay $8 to dry clean a shirt--hire them!"
I quit my last job because the boss had this mentality. He didn't want to pay people what they were worth. He wanted to pay them what they needed. Since I have this crazy idea about wanting extra money so I can retire and enjoy my life I found a job that pays me what I'm worth even though it's much more than I need.
Since Joe Middle America is saving $3000 a month on housing that means you can pay him $36,000 a year less right? Wrong. If Joe Middle America is doing the same work as Joe Silicon Valley then he better get the same pay.
If you don't pay people what they're worth they will leave you for someone who will.
"Don't waste money on recruiters. Get inside of linkedin and Facebook and start looking for people--it works better anyway. "
Recruiters place professionals. People that have years of work experience. People who cost money. Facebook is for college students who don't know any better. People who will work for Mark Cuban because he's Mark Cuban and overlook the fact they're getting paid 50% of what they should be.
Mark Cuban hopes they won't notice until they're stuck because they don't have the money or time to look for another job.
Before you know it you're middle aged and never been married, you've lost your hair and you've lost hundreds of thousands in wages because you wasted your time in the pursuit of the almighty dollar not realizing you've been shafted. - tweak50, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2What the ***** is this *****? Every time I click the link it forwards me to my Google reader and auto subscribes to his ***** blog.
- skeen07, on 03/20/2008, -5/+7Are that many people planning on doing a startup that this makes the front page? Wow..
- Yarns87, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I'm guessing this made front page because Kevin Rose felt is was worthy of the views despite the low amount of digg.
- DaBee, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Wrong on the exit strategy. Obviously he's too narrow minded to realize there's cashflow in business.
- lewhich, on 03/20/2008, -5/+6How did this make the front page?
- allfatherblack, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2Oh Im sorry someone dirtied YOUR Digg, where only articles that interest YOU get on the the front page. Lemme fix that for you KEVIN ROSE. Jack ass...
- Restrikted, on 03/20/2008, -3/+4Dugg for insulting Vista users.
"If you know Vista... ask yourself why, then use it." - Alex.w, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1So by "A Couple" he means twelve? Don't take business advise from any one that bad at counting.
- allfatherblack, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1The answer to what would you rather see is whatever is on the front page of Digg. If you didnt want to see it, you wouldnt have read it.
- burdalane, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Most of the "rules for startups" articles, including this one, share two common rules: You have to be passionate about what you do, and you have to spend lots of time working on it. However, I fully intend to start a startup and violate those two rules. I'm not passionate about what I do, only what it can bring -- freedom, money, possibly attention, fame or infamy. I'm a lazy person, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time doing anything. I'd probably be fired from a fast food restaurant for being too slow.
As for this specific article, tea is even cheaper than soda, and much healthier. Tea bags are cheap and reusable for more than one cup. Hot water is basically free. Telecommuting is cheaper than working in an open office when you can have no office at all. The lack of privacy in an open office might make it more efficient for some people, but at the same time, lack of privacy does not make a nice work environment, and might hurt other people's productivity. - rmxz, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1And why not - it's
(a) certainly more fun than working for your average boss,
(b) more profitable if it does well, and
(c) arguably safer from layoffs that big companies often have - or at least more in your control whether, when, and how it happens. - cpovey, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1same here... I wish I could digg down this guy's blog...
- allfatherblack, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1This is good stuff. And not just for start ups. There are millions of well-established companies that could benefit from... ooohhhh every one of these.
- allfatherblack, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Also I think the idea is that you shouldnt even start unless you have the confidence that it wont fail...
- digghasnoethics, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Rule no.1
If your idea involves having offices full of people reporting to you as the great god - get a better idea.
People are expensive and a damned liability if things take a downturn. Automate it and keep the numbers way down. Everything else is secondary. - replaysMike, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1For the love of the digg gods, digg me down.
- inactive, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1so clear and concise like a syllabus
- Firehed, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2Or if you have something in mind, you'll actually have an idea of which direction to take the business. Which is a Good Thing.
- Radigg, on 03/22/2008, -0/+1suprisingly good tips!
- kalvinb, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2"6. An expresso machine ? Are you kidding me ? Shoot yourself before you spend money on an expresso machine. Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs."
In other words, hire young single people out of college looking for experience that have nothing better to do than to be your low wage slave with the promise that they'll get paid the big bucks in the future when the company is successful. If you need more than 8 hours a day to do your job on a regular basis then your boss is either giving you too much work to do and needs to hire someone else to help or you suck at your job and you need to find something you're good at.
If you're working the hours of two people then you should be paid the hours of two people.
Working 12 hour days on a regular basis is not going to get you experience. It's going to get you trapped because you don't have the pay or the time to improve your education and find a better job.
"7. No offices. Open offices keeps everyone in tune with what is going on and keeps the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show them how to use the lock on the john."
Yeah, who doesn't work better when everyone is looking over your shoulder?
What a terrible person to work for. - rmxz, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1My apologies for quoting myself from elsewhere in the comments; but it's worth pointing out that The Article was right and these guys saying an exit strategy is important are wrong.
If your startup is doing well, you'll have many exit opportunities.
If it's not, you won't have any nice ones regardless of your "strategy".
Spending time thinking about exit strategies is a waste of time until you already have one offer on the table. Then you can see if even more attractive strategies exist. - stix213, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Best Line:
"...If you know Apple, use it. If you know Vista... ask yourself why, then use " - allfatherblack, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Support your thesis please...
- TRScheel, on 03/20/2008, -3/+3Planning to fail though leaves you with a way out. A cornered dog fights harder
- albinorhino101, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1This information either sucks or is common sense. Not having an exit strategy is a stupid idea, it doesn't prove that you're obsessed with your start up, it just shows that you're not a serious entrepreneur.
- ePuck, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1I GUESS this is a good 'blog'... front page wt?
- MentalHazard, on 03/20/2008, -1/+0Money > Popularity.
- rksprst, on 03/20/2008, -3/+2Well since Obama flip-flopped on race. Saying multiple times in debates that this presidential race is not about race or gender and then making a speech saying that its exactly about race.
He's become a typical politician. - MentalHazard, on 03/20/2008, -1/+0This is a good idea.
You win capitalism. - rmxz, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1"And EVERY single advisor will tell you to have some sort of exit strategy in mind."
Then you have pretty poor advisors. If your startup is doing well, you'll have many exit opportunities. If it's not, you won't have any nice ones regardless of your "strategy". Spending time thinking about exit strategies is a waste of time until you already have one offer on the table. Then you can see if even more attractive strategies exist. - MentalHazard, on 03/20/2008, -1/+0Enjoy your AIDS!
AIDS = Authoritarian Inhumanity & Dire Starvation. - Mongolai, on 03/20/2008, -7/+4"Digg algorithm" freakout. 62 diggs and 4 comments now and front page, by my perspective. Digg is ***** up. And I expect to be buried in 3..2... *****. (period)
- ePuck, on 03/20/2008, -5/+0I meant to link this:http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Clinton_takes_le ...
oops :) - ePuck, on 03/20/2008, -10/+2THIS (Clinton takes lead over Obama in Gallup poll) article should be front page, Not this blog one.
Where all the Obama fans go?
http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSN203 ...
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