Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 28, 2009

None of it would have happened if we had plenty of cash, or were content to count our progress by traffic or product development milestones. Labels: product development 4comments: Doug said. But code written that doesnt help the company succeed is a sunk cost. Thank you Eric. March 2, 2009 1:58 PM programiTV said.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2009

From my side, i network with many startups all the time, and i am constantly trying to persuade them to adopt the new age mindset, but its often no easy task. Im also in this for the long term and realise they may need to fail a few times before the message really hits home. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

Also SJ's obsession with better taste (positively) contributes to the overall product development process. There are some good anecdotes about Chief Engineers in the Toyota Product Development Book. I really enjoyed this article, my first time reading any of your stuff. Will start to pay attention. Great post Eric.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. How did they do it? By listening to their users.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

And they expose the startups to a vast network of mentors, none of whom get paid for their involvement. They dont invest a lot of money; just enough to keep them going through the summer. They take common stock, not preferred, a fact that the entrepreneurs mentioned to me many times. Some of the mentors are based in Boulder, but many are not.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

Ive spoken in some detail about a specific pivot that we went through at IMVU , when we decided to abandon the instant messaging add-on concept, and switch to a standalone instant messaging network. We went through another pivot when we switched again from instant messaging to social networking.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

If everyone I know is using a specific product, in most markets thats a heavy influence. And in some markets its decisive, because of well-known network effects (as happened with Microsoft, eBay, and many others). This can even vary by category, as people apply different criteria to games vs. utilities vs. social networking apps.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. then five years in Product Mgt. Good luck, engineering manager.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Im going to be speaking on June 3rd at an event sponsored by the Technology Entrepreneurs Exchange (TeXchange), "the premier networking organization in Texas for business executives and entrepreneurs to meet, exchange ideas and share experiences." Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 7, 2010

In fact, the curse of product development is that sometimes small things make a huge difference and sometimes huge things make no difference. When we’re optimizing, product development teams encounter similar situations. I mean, here we are, paying them to be there, and they won’t use the product!

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

I went to excellent public schools (so-called science magnets) that had computer classes, which meant they had networked computers that I could use. If we network them together, theyll answer each others questions and collaborate on projects we can hardly imagine. But I was also very lucky. Theyll take it from there.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

For companies in the early-adopter phase, you can play "the earlyvangelist game" whenever a customer turns out to be too mainstream for your product. Pick a similar product that they do use, and ask them "who was the first person you know who started using [social networking, mobile phones, plasma TV, instant messaging.]?

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Sometimes, a great hacker has the potential to grow into the CTO of a company, and in those cases all you need is an outside mentor who can work with them to develop those skills. At the end of the day, the product development team of a startup (large or small) is a service organization. Does this sound familiar?

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I'll add two ideas: The modern structure of university patent licensing and technology transfer works really well in the life sciences and other fields with expensive product development processes. September 9, 2009 7:00 AM Anonymoussaid. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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VC Cafe

JULY 2, 2012

The two companies have collaborated for a long time, with Facebook using Face.com’s technology to help users tag the faces of friends in pictures they upload on the social network with Face.com’s Photo Tagger service. Facebook’s acquisition of Face.com will enable the social network to embed face recognition software into its photo app.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

All the usual ideas are good ones: I support inviting more women to speak at conferences , the creation of women-centric networking events like Women 2.0 All the usual ideas are good ones: I support inviting more women to speak at conferences , the creation of women-centric networking events like Women 2.0

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 15, 2009

Processes that, in the Industrial Age, were tightly scripted, with predictable outcomes, must in the Networked World, become adaptable, contextual, and focus on getting measurable (often surprising!) results rather than specific scripted outcomes. Thanks for the post, Eric. Very well-thought-through.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

When I reviewed a recent product development book, it immediately shot up to Amazon sales rank 300. These individuals, possessing talent, experience or real-world networks, will continue to function as ‘virtual gatekeepers’ in the next-generation media industry. My blog has over 14000 subscribers, for example.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 11, 2010

High-profile startup Friendster had first-mover advantage in the social networking space, but created openings for competitors when it could not scale to meet demand. High-profile startup Friendster had first-mover advantage in the social networking space, but created openings for competitors when it could not scale to meet demand.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

You create an entire framework of understanding and action based on your product/idea that sets it in motion in a self-sustaining way. Launching is about creating circles within circles (groups of people that connect) and social networking, word of mouth, and real-world advertising are all contributing factors. Thats how to "launch".

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 4, 2009

This is true of most web application servers, caches like memcached, and all of the network infrastructure that connects them. Most components in a modern data center are completely stateless, meaning they just do batches of work that is handed to them, but dont store any data long-term. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 11, 2009

This model has not translated well to the world of social networking, because customers of social networks engage sites in a different way than customers of search engines. Social network page views are much more likely to be internally focused; ads are more of a distraction. As a result, CPI advertising is incredibly cheap.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 23, 2009

fbFund REV featuring Eric Ries The Lean Startup Host: fbFund Type: Education - Lecture Network: Global Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009 Time: 1:30pm - 3:30pm Location: fbFund REV Garage Street: 164 Hamilton City/Town: Palo Alto, CA RSVP Here So, if you are in the Bay Area and want to swing by Palo Alto on Thursday afternoon, come join the conversation.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 27, 2009

For network-effects businesses, like Skype , just being on the network is enough to create value. What differentiates this model from "free serves paid" is that the free users dont need to consciously do anything special to be valuable. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

Recently, hes been engaged in a customer validation exercise around a new concept for a political action-oriented social network. Recently, hes been engaged in a customer validation exercise around a new concept for a political action-oriented social network. When that concept didnt pan out, he decided to pivot.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

For example, if any of the mobile ad networks gets major traction, they may become a dominant way that people discover new apps. If the rating in the App Store is based on usage, I am sure those popular social networking applications are sure to be in the top and the hot seat always. The observation sounds strange.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 31, 2009

I hope people will use this to recruit and share jobs/candidates in their own networks, letting retweets etc. July 31, 2009 2:25 PM Eric said. I actually think the broadcast element of it is the least useful part. carry the word out wider. The world doesn't need another job directory. July 31, 2009 2:28 PM Saul Lieberman said.

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2008

Facebook , LinkedIn , and other successful social networks have elevated this technique to a high art. A lot of engagement problems are caused by the customer completely forgetting about the provider of the service. Direct notifications can help ameliorate that problem. Organic notifications. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

Could we have built the first college-based social network five years before Facebook ? Unfortunately, we were fixated on "building a real business" and never noticed that maybe students would want to share their profiles with each other. Maybe, but the thought never even entered our minds. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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