Collaboration and the creation of the Xbox 360
Lessons Learned:
— from Death by Analysis by Steve Blank
Would add to this in that it’s about building tools, not features. Sloppily implemented features that exist only because they’re on a punch sheet and not because they’re solving a core problem your product addresses will always end tragically. (most likely, rm -rf <feature-name>/). Read the whole post though. It’s quite excellent.
Clients From Hell: Blue skies thinking -
Client: “I love what you have come up with here, but I feel what we need here is some blue skies thinking.”
Me: “(pause for effect) Can you explain what you mean?”
Client: “You know, think outside of the box, push the envelope. I just don’t think we are both singing from the same hymn sheet…
“When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.” —
Scarily similar to step 4 of how to survive the apocalypse… (thanks @atmyers)
Book covers on t-shirts… now thats something I can get behind! (Out of Print Clothing)
likes Super Taranta! by Gogol Bordello on Boxee
likes J.U.F. by Gogol Bordello Vs Tamir Muskat on Boxee
I often get emails from folks that have never done a startup asking me how they can “break into” the startup world and join a great young company.
The traditional way is to network into that company. Find someone you know that knows the people in the company or perhaps one of the investors or board members. This often can work out nicely (assuming of course that you are excellent and fit into the company culture). Those methods are tried and true.
But what if you don’t know anyone at the company?
One suggestion: become an activist of the products that you love. Use them. Blog about them. Write about stuff you want to see in the future and why you think it’s important or fun or whatever. Build stuff with those products. Give feedback to the company. Participate early and often. Get involved. Comment on other blogs with your insight. Maybe the company hires you or maybe you’ll be inspired to start your own company.
Many of our portfolio companies look to hire users of their products. Many if not all of the early employees hired at Twitter, Boxee, Tumblr and others came out of the community. These folks are not only talented and smart — but they are passionate about the product and it shows.
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