Rules of Thumb

Virtual and On-Line Are As Superfluous As Horseless and Electric

Rules of Thumb / By /

I think “virtual team” is rapidly becoming redundant: just as “horseless carriage” became car I think “virtual team” will become just team. Most project teams will have a virtual component (e.g. on-line workspace, chat histories) and geographically remote members, if only to involve suppliers, partners, and customers more seamlessly. More broadly I think that virtual […]

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Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised

Customer Development, Rules of Thumb / By /

Customer Development Requires a Willingness to Be Surprised And by “surprised” I mean: able to admit that your assumptions are wrong open to new insights from prospects willing to change your plans for your product or your startup willing begin again with a better frame of reference Inspired by Bob Lewis’ “Holiday Card to the

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Three Tips for Small Talk and Casual Conversation

2 Open for Business Stage, Rules of Thumb / By /

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.” Wilson Mizner One of the more challenging aspects of entrepreneurship for engineers is the need to be able to engage in “small talk” and casual conversation with strangers. I have three suggestions that go to state of mind more than

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Knowledge That Is Not Written Down, Yet

Rules of Thumb, skmurphy / By /

There are categories of knowledge that are not written down, yet. They include observations that have not been curated but drive intuition-based decisions, first hand stories of events–successes and failures–that have not been filtered and sanitized but still offer insight and explanatory power. They are important because they are sources of competitive advantage. Knowledge That

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Mavericks, Iconoclasts, Dropouts and Misfits

Rules of Thumb, skmurphy / By /

“The truth is, start-up-land is littered with mavericks, iconoclasts, dropouts, and misfits.” Sramana Mitra in “The Real VCs of Silicon Valley” Entrepreneurship is Involuntary I have come to the conclusion that most entrepreneurship is involuntary. Either someone is an entrepreneur from the time they are young, which was my personal experience, or they are thrust

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Gabriel Weinberg Interviews Me For His Traction Book

3 Early Customer Stage, 4 Finding your Niche, Customer Development, Favorites, Rules of Thumb / By /

Gabriel Weinberg is a serial entrepreneur (latest startup: DuckDuckGo), a Hacker Angel, insightful blogger, and frequent contributor to Hacker News. He is writing a book on how startups get traction and interviewing folks like Patrick McKenzie to collect lessons learned from a variety of perspectives. I was delighted when he approached me to take part

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