Creating a Product Focused Startup Culture

Creating a Product Focused Startup Culture(mikekarnj.com)

58 points by malcolmong 15 years ago | 12 comments

markszcz 15 years ago |

"Lastly, do not worry about competitors. Even if someone copied your idea completely, there are three areas competitors can never copy: 1) your team; 2) speed of product innovation of your team; 3) community of passionate users."

To stomach this startup mentality this quote drives home to me the most. I just came to the realization that there is a new product out that does what I want to do but not exactly. I put myself in a small panic/"is is worth it" kind of mentality but knowing that if something like this stops me from trying to accomplish my dream, then I dont have what it takes to start a startup. I won't be able to live with myself if I stop now and always have "what if's" floating around in my head. After reading this excerpt im fired up, im not going to let this speed bump stand in my way.

mover 15 years ago | |

Completely...I've been in the same position for a while. There are dozens of apps, hacks and sites (some competitive with yours and mine!) launched every day by creators that have identified and are trying to solve legit problems --the same ones you're trying to solve. Thing is, most of these creators don't have 1) the design discipline to make the products really appealing to serve their niche consumers and 2) the forbearance to stick it out during the inevitable long iterative process. Which means that if you have confidence in your own ability to do those things better than a competitor (especially if what you're doing is "not exactly" what the it does) then, onward!

krystalplomatos 15 years ago |

"Keep a keynote file of UX/UI examples: I take screenshots of websites, features, UI design, etc that I almost always reference while we build our site." --> This has been a major theme of my last month; paying more attention to the way I capture and keep organized. A little work as you go definitely saves time later, especially as Michael pointed out competitors cannot copy the 'speed of product innovation of your team.'

mryall 15 years ago |

Lots of useful general advice about building products. Cutting features is definitely the hardest part of his recommendations. Especially when a product is small and easy to enhance, it's tempting to add just one more feature. You just need to keep reminding yourself that getting it out the door will focus your efforts on what people actually want, and you'll know for sure whether that feature is worth building.

mikekarnj 15 years ago | |

Totally true. The hardest part of the whole process is cutting features out. For me, I imagine that our sink is shipping and we just have to throw things overboard to stay afloat just a little longer. This allows us to throw things out that aren't exceptionally vital for the product.

The funny thing is that once you throw out the feature that you really really thought you needed, you actually don't even think about it anymore. Strange how that works.

Aloisius 15 years ago |

I find the competing trends going on in the valley very interesting. It seems that there are still far more engineering-driven startups than product or customer.

Just last week I was visiting a startup where the lead engineer expressed outright disdain for product.

It'll be interesting to see which philosophy becomes dominant in 10 years.

SoftwareMaven 15 years ago | |

Personally, I wouldn't hire an engineer who wasn't preaching about products. I've seen too many companies tank (or nearly tank) as a result of technology-focused engineers. You aren't taking up my head-count for the sake of learning about new technologies and cool ways to code. You are on my team because you share the vision of making users' lives better, and that is done through the product offering.

mikekarnj 15 years ago | | |

So true. I think the overarching problem with that scenario is that the engineer is building the product for himself, and not for the team and end users. Rather than caring about what's best for the product, he/she thinks about his personal ego.

spencerfry 15 years ago | |

Carbonmade is an anomaly.

We're three designers, one project manager, one CEO, one customer service guy and only two developers.

That's only two developers out of eight people.

mikekarnj 15 years ago | |

That's an interesting insight. In New York, there seems to be an increasing trend that values both product (design) and engineering.

mover 15 years ago | | |

I see that too. I keep hearing time and again from investors like Fred Wilson and Chris Dixon that amid the difficulty of attracting and retaining good talent, the "unicorn" is the killer product person.