Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> 90 Things I Learned ...

Clearly, appealing to a popular audience wasn't on the list. Rescue your article by changing its title and make a few editorial changes:

Title: "My Ten Principles for Startup Success"

Edit the article to highlight the ten most important principles from your long list -- write this section carefully, knowing that most people aren't going to read any further. Then append a list of 80 corollaries for those few souls willing to read a longer article.




Hi. I'm the author. I like it as it is. 10 is a list. 90 is a compilation of lessons. Thanks for your input though! Don't stop learning.


Good job! I've been codifying lessons learned as I learn them and show them to be repeatable. The problem is that you don't know if it's a lesson vs. luck vs. something that happened once and won't happen again in that way in the future to draw a lesson from.

One lesson I have learned, however, is that largely hiring PR firms are a waste of money. Not sure that fits anywhere, but there you go.


One thing that made me chuckle is "Ship it fast and ship it often", which is both good advice for building software and for order fulfilment.

I like Fab.com and I'm a repeat customer, but the terrible shipment times are something I use as an example in my work. I'd buy a lot more if I knew I'd get things delivered faster than the usual 3-4 weeks.


This has been our biggest blind spot. Until now.

We're been making great progress on it and 70% of Fab orders will ship within 1-5 days anywhere in the u.s. in Q4 2012.


Check out Jason's blog for photos of their new warehouse space. Very impressive.


I'm amazed at your ability to tolerate BS, unreason and good ol trolling, both here and on your blog.

Shouldn't this be one of the lessons on the list?


> I like it as it is.

Yes, and if you were the only person ever to read it, that would be a reasonable criterion.

It's generally accepted that people can be persuaded to read a long article, but only if the article is written in a way to get people started. Ninety points up front doesn't really entice those who don't read many books (the majority at present).

Just a suggestion for attracting readers.


Doesn't seem like he needs help attracting readers. #1 on HN.


I'm very glad, I don't think any of the 90 was redundant...


Running a company would be 100x easier if the principals could be made across in 10 points. I think you're doing his list an injustice. It's just a brain dump of the collection of intricate lessons you learn as an entrepreneur, with some personal stuff thrown in.

I actually liked it and I think the "10 most important"-anythings really fail at conveying what a delicate, complicated and demanding thing running a company is.


Agree. 90 times over.


Just wanted to clear up that this isn't my list, I ran across this article and thought it was a good read and wanted to share it with the community.

Like previously stated, it's hard to put into perspective running a company with just 10 points. Besides, everyone and their grandmother always publishes a "top 10" list. It was refreshing that someone put in the time to lay out such a vast article of all the lessons they've learned. And with 90 lessons, I can be rest assured that this is truly their own experience and not something pulled from other articles to make for good content.

It's a good article to read through and catch yourself nodding at the points that resonate and pick up a few key points of reference for your own startup.


Counterpoint.

I read it, and I'm glad to occasionally read articles for a niche that I truly care about no matter how long they are.


Thanks!




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: