This is pwarden's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following pwarden's activity
pwarden
San Francisco, CA
A programmer who likes to get things done - pete@petewarden.com
Recent Activity
I've long been intrigued by 'micro-nations' as the equivalents of startups for countries:
http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/02/micronations.html
The history of most of them is riven with feuds and financial disasters, but startups have a pretty low success rate too. I'd argue we're living in the equivalent of 'Google' for startup nations here, the US was a radical new idea that worked.
The ultimate startup: Creating a New Country
The ultimate startup wouldn’t have a stock ticker, corporate headquarters, or even sell goods and services. It would, however, be held responsible for the welfare of its “customers.” Creating a new country is one of the most difficult, complicated and riskiest things you can do. But it can also ...
Everyone uses 'passionate' when talking about good entrepreneurs, but I prefer 'obsessed'. Everyone loves to think that they're passionate because it's got only positive connotations. A lot fewer people are willing to admit they're obsessed, but it's a much better description of the drive successful entrepreneurs seem to share. They're willing to sacrifice almost anything for their mission, and from the people I know that sometimes includes unattractive tradeoffs like losing marriages.
You Have to Be A Fool to Start a Company
If you really think about it, launching a business is pretty foolish. I don't have exact statistics but I'd bet at least 70% of start-ups are out of business after 5 to 7 years time (it's a highly contested debate: "failure rates"). Even if you are successful though, you have to have tons of res...
pwarden is now following The Typepad Team
Mar 15, 2010
Have you seen Yoram Bauman, the Stand Up Economist?
http://www.standupeconomist.com/videos-public/
Not quite as much bling though!
Hayek schools Keynes in rap video for nerds like me
I love this music video! (care of Fabrice Grinda's blog)
Great tips, thanks. On the deliverability front, I'm a massive fan of http://sendgrid.com. They automate the checklist you run through, with plans starting at $10 a month. I'm a bit biased because they're fellow Techstars, but I've also been an active user for the last six months, and I'm very happy with the results.
Sweat the Small Stuff
Here is something business schools and venture capitalists don’t tell you: in start-ups, little things compound to make an enormous difference. The little things add up just like compound interest adds up – they are vital to the exponential growth of any company. Sometimes the success of a comp...
I think another way of putting this is that internet startups are now dominated by market risk, not technology risk. Back in 2000 just getting a site up and running was risky and expensive, just like developing a new drug. Now the engineering is a lot more routine, so you're much more likely to be killed by lack of customers and revenue than technical failures.
I've talked to Eric Ries about this, and I see the Customer Development movement as a path for engineers to learn about the fundamentals of business in a way that resonates with the technical mind, to get to the market-focused approach you're talking about.
You Hardly Ever Fail Because of Your CTO
This has been said many times before but I'll say it again. It's not about technology or innovation. It's all about customers and sales. I've noticed recently that you have lots of entrepreneurs always pitching their newest "mousetrap". Unfortunately, the discussion about how you're going to fin...
I have to admit the first-person shooter part took me by surprise! Is it actually something more like 'violent video-games' in the contract, since otherwise GTA would seem acceptable?
Why Are There Simply Deals We Won't Do
I'll keep this one short but it answers a question often asked. As is probably the case with most VC's and their LP contracts, there are industries we can't invest in. Very simply put, we won't invest in gambling, porn, first-person shooter games and anything having to do with alcohol, drugs or ...
You're not missing anything, that sort of ironic sneering is the lazy man's substitute for wit, and sadly it's very acceptable in Britain. It makes it very tough to be openly passionate about getting crazy ideas off the ground, and it's the main reason I'm a lot more comfortable here in the US.
I did a post talking about this kind of negativity:
http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2009/07/you-cant-fail-if-you-dont-try-or-why-i-left-the-uk.html
There are some good people in the UK fighting to change attitudes, but it's an uphill struggle against the culture.
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work: A Pompous and Insensitive Book
My post earlier this week was about Morten Hansen's Collaboration, which I found to be one of the best management books that I had read in a long time. In contrast, I thought I would write about the worst workplace book that I have read in a long time, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain ...
Great 'back to basics' post. I guess the implicit argument behind a lot of the advice is that the VCs/entrepreneurs giving it see a strong correlation between the characteristics they're encouraging and making lots of money. It's worth calling out that assumption though, since then it's possible to test the evidence, eg look at companies that either made money or crashed and burnt and see how their characteristics measure up against the advice.
I just submitted this to news.ycombinator.com, since I think there's an interesting discussion to be had here.
Would the Real VC & Entrepreneur Please Stand Up
There is often conversation about what makes a great VC. The typical buzz words surrounding value-add, network, recruiting and so forth usually pop up. The same goes for entrepreneurs and their companies with their own set of buzz words. Yet, the reality is a bit different and I'm going to defin...
More...
Subscribe to pwarden’s Recent Activity