2/27/2005

Starting a Business? Find a Soul Mate

"So how does a web-based application startup actually get started? Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start gives us good rules for getting going, such as

Think big. Don't just do things 10% or 15% or 20% better. Think 10 times better. Think more dramatic improvement. Think different curve, not same curve. Think getting to the next curve. Think creating the next curve.

When you design your product or service you should not be afraid; you should want to polarize people. You should want people to look at your product or service and say "I love it" or "I hate it". The worst thing is indifference.
But my favorite Guy Kawasaki rule for getting going is,
You need to find soul mates. You know, in America, and particularly Silicon Valley, there is the myth of the sole entrepreneur. This is the Steve Jobs, the Henry Ford, the Anita Roddick, the Richard Branson, the Thomas Edison working alone, genius doing it by all by himself. And in fact, I think if you analyze even these companies history is wrong. All of those people had groups and were members of a team. History is wrong.

It is not about one person, the sole entrepreneur, it about the group of entrepreneurs. Hence my second recommendation is you need to find some soul mates, the people who are drinking the same Kool-Aid that you are. Find some soul mates."


From this Adam Rifkin post.