The Snow Lay Round About, Deep and Crisp and Even

Luck is like snow, a certain amount falls on everyone. But unlike snow, you can increase your luck.

The Snow Lay Round About, Deep and Crisp and Even

One of the things it took me a long time for me to get used to living in Silicon Valley was the lack of snow.  Not snow that you could visit in places like Tahoe but snow that visited you.  A few years have seen snow in the foothills but nothing like winter mornings in St. Louis where the landscape would be entirely transformed by snow and/or freezing rain.

We have a week left in 2010. This is  a short post to collect some odds and ends on the day after Christmas, also known as  Feast of St. Stephen or Boxing Day depending upon where you are reading this.

We have the last three  Bootstrapper Breakfasts® of 2010 this week:

• Mon-Dec-27 Mountain View (Holiday) 9am register
• Wed-Dec-29 Chicago 7:30am register
• Thu-Dec-30 Sunnyvale (Holiday) 9am register

96: TZ Interview – Sean K. Murphy / Startup Strategy

I was interviewed last week by Justin Vincent and Jason Roberts for their 96th Techzing podcast. It’s about 90 minutes and covers a wide ranging set of topics, including:

• Some common mistakes that bootstrappers make
• Our startup stages model
• Key long term trends in the evolution of technology entrepreneurship
• Why product market fit is a fraction not a bit (I think it’s a measure of the relative fitness at a point in time for how well a product solves a problem for a particular customer set)
• Why threatening to kill your product works against the trust needed to establish an ongoing business relationship
• Operating plans for a startup vs. a fund raising “business plan” and how to evaluate funding alternatives.
• A detailed walk through of Jason’s pricing model and insertion strategy for AppIgnite

Related Blog Posts

• Increase Your Luck Surface Area To Get More Customers
• Cultivating Luck in Business Endeavors and Relationships
• Entrepreneurs, Luck, and Silicon Valley
• Naval Ravikant on Avoiding Bad Luck

Postscript: Good King Wenceslas

The title of this post is taken from the first stanza of lyrics by John Mason Neale to “Good King Wenceslas.” The last stanza suggests two additional ways to increase your good fortune: follow the examples of good men (“In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted heat was in the very sod which the Saint had printed”) and invest effort and resources in improving the lot of those less fortunate (Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing, ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.”)

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel

Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing