Here's an excerpt from my recent conversation with a friend online (re: web 2.0 site):
jingaling333: lol
xxx: and our biggest fear is that we'd have to compete with google or ms
xxx: so we want to shock and awe
xxx: have it all done when we start telling people
In addition, my friend is "paranoid" and will not disclose his idea until it is "finished" (which is not a problem by me, of course. I'm just a curious girl and love to hear about new ideas.)
This post is not to make fun of my friend as he is super-talented and an amazing computer scientist. I just find it amusing as I've heard the same exact lines echoed previously in blog posts I've read in the past year or so. In fact, here are some related, very useful articles by industry leaders and experts:
One of the key lessons I've picked up from visiting TechStars, talking with entrepreneurs, helping build a social web media player, and working at a startup is the importance of speed-to-market and customer feedback. It's so critical to rapidly prototype in order to churn around fast iterations of a product. This process of fast, agile development is advocated by heavily by Eric and Todd of MyBlogLog; it's also a trend we notice with the high influx of Facebook and iPhone apps. Yet, this seems to be at odds with the emphasis in design in my last few posts, right?
Naturally, there are tradeoffs to everything in life. It's hard to pursue several ideas at once only to "see what sticks" so to speak. However, I feel like what's more important is finding the right balance between all these different choices. I guess, at the end of the day, there must be a final team consensus -- make a decision and move forward.
technorati tags: entrepreneurship, startup, technology