Getting it right by not getting it wrong January 8, 2011
Posted by amrut in Starting-Up.trackback
Aks sent a link to a well articulated essay by Paul Graham (Y Combinator). Here’s the link - http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
It lists 18 common startup mistakes. My favorite is number 3 “Marginal Niche”.
Most of the groups that apply to Y Combinator suffer from a common problem: choosing a small, obscure niche in the hope of avoiding competition.
If you watch little kids playing sports, you notice that below a certain age they’re afraid of the ball. When the ball comes near them their instinct is to avoid it. I didn’t make a lot of catches as an eight year old outfielder, because whenever a fly ball came my way, I used to close my eyes and hold my glove up more for protection than in the hope of catching it.
Choosing a marginal project is the startup equivalent of my eight year old strategy for dealing with fly balls. If you make anything good, you’re going to have competitors, so you may as well face that.
Rest of my top5 – 18, 15, 12, 6.
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