Myths

• Someone will steal my idea
• I need to get it perfect before I launch
  • It's all about the idea
  • It's all about the clever system I devise
  • I can guess how users think/respond
• I need 100% uptime
• Venture capital is a goal

Mistakes

• Needless NDAs, overly cautious conversations
• Buying hardware, overpaying for hosting
• Spend too much time over-engineering your product
• Talk, talk, talk, never get off the ground
• Argue about your starting point
• Freemium, charge later
• Thinking local (investors, competitors, partners, resources)
• Make small changes to a failing product
• Diffuse communication, decision-making, responsibility

Truths

• It's all about execution, not your idea... a brilliant idea with shitty execution will fail. A shittiy idea with a brilliant execution will succeed.
• "Stealth is a customer-free zone"
• Your product will change. Your whole business may change.
• Software is free. Hardware is cheap/free. Use it.
• You must have incredible endurance to survive.
• Make your customers happy
• Bad communication will kill you

Awesomes

• Take all advice with a grain of salt
• Build metrics as an early part of your product.. no a core part. right from the beginning
• Do not waste time arguing... try it out, test changes, and decide by the numbers
• Consider the possibility you're wrong
  • Try to view arguments objectively
  • What underlying assumptions lead to the debate?
  • Are they arbitrary? Measurable? Who's more valid?
  • Always be willing to change your mind in the face of reason
  • If you're still in the right, you vs. world is totally valid... keep on going
• Launch early, get immediate feedback, and iterate -- lean startup
• If it's failing, make big changes
• Talk to your customers like a real person
• Launch simple, test complexity
• Minimum viable product
• Charge people right away
• Ramen profitable
• Ask for help, reach out to people
• Just don't die

Resources

• AWS, Cloudfront, App Engine, BizSpark
• Techcrunch
• Paul Graham
• Eric Ries
• Hiten Shah
• Incubators (y-combinator, fbFund, techstars, etc.)
• Contests (fbFund, AWS, etc.)