Marketing in a not-too-horrible way

"I think we need more stories that celebrate the success of what seem like small, iterative product launches, but actually reflect triumphs in unsung disciplines such as systems operations, design process, business development and product management. There are lots of loud, pointless headlines about companies getting money from venture capitalists or angel investors. What I'd love to see more of in 2012 (and beyond!) is headlines about how a few small successes with users are a demonstration of a small company outperforming and out-innovating the biggest companies in the tech industry by being focused and disciplined in their execution."

"You're so busy, doing everything yourself. You know you need help, but to find and train someone would take more time than you have! So you keep working harder, until you break."

List of saas and other tools that might be useful for start-ups.

joshu asks: "These days, lots of that stuff is available as SaaS. What are the tools and services people use instead of hosting their own?"

"I would like to propose that technologists apply their ample skill to solving the real problems of humanity, not just the perceived problems of their very privileged social set. And for my good friends at several of the aforementioned startups, I challenge you to find a way to solve a social or human problem with your app."

"A product manager enables the team to execute the company vision."

"The key idea here that most entrepreneurs miss is that you really need to vet your own ideas. Many aspiring entrepreneurs dream up an idea, and then stick to it doggedly, either because its the only idea they have, or they find it technically interesting. They don't want to discover that it won't work, so they don't try to figure it out! This is a bit like writing some code, and then not testing it because you really don't want to discover that its buggy."

"The best way to come up with startup ideas is to ask yourself the question: what do you wish someone would make for you?"

Always do good things, never do bad things.

"I’ve seen a lot of web apps launched recently which haven’t succeeded. They’re not failing miserably, and they’re not wild successes. They’re just kind of puttering along, sapping just enough resources to be a problem, but not succeeding enough to really take off. The majority of these apps were built by small web design firms or freelancers who bought into the dream without really understanding how much time it takes to make an app succeed."

"A funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, bloggers, explorers..."

"When we decided to create project management software, we knew Microsoft Project was the gorilla in the room. Instead of fearing the gorilla, we used it as a motivator. We decided Basecamp would be something completely different, the anti-Project."

Heh, funny.

"Bottom line? As an entrepreneur you have to follow your nose and don't worry if you dump or change your original model. Evolution is the revolution. However, it you don't start you can't iterate."

"Either businesses aren't supposed to be like charities, and we've proven by reductio ad absurdum that one or both of the principles we began with is false. Or we have a new idea."

"Startups that hire incorrectly fail. They don’t probably fail, or maybe fail. They just plain fail."

"Here’s another take on that: Fire the people who are workaholics!"

Some good, some bad.

"I've been thinking about a number of new product ideas lately. In doing so, I've been trying to come up with a way more structured way of evaluating them. Here's a first attempt at defining that."

"An easy and fun way to talk about and share flickr photos in real time." Liking this very much.

"When building a web app, reporting is the last thing on many feature lists. Clear reporting is vitally important for the long term success of your web app and managing your growth."

"Great ideas are only great if they fit a purpose, as such it is important to be clear from the outset what your site’s core user proposition is."

"Microsoft threw an invite-only gathering at its London offices: something about start-ups and Web 2.0. [...] Here are the notes I took…"

We all [...] hope for the quick success of a Twitter instead of the starting and stopping of a flickr (started as a game). ImThere is a startup that started and stopped, and David Gorman documents their eventual success.

"What skills you’ll need, how to write your requirements, how to source developers and designers, how much to budget, how to agree a development contract, how to manage your vendors, how to plan your release, all the documentation you'll need, and much

"It was a leap of faith. By mid-2006, Matt Webb and Jack Schulze had been meandering along, doing a few jobs together and talking about "crazy ideas"."

"Best Working Conditions → Best Programmers → Best Software → Profit!"