I was watching this video today. If you are a small startup (typically bootstrapped), this is a must watch. Here are some notes:
- Keep the Momentum
- We work on projects that are chunked in smaller bits
- Planning is vastly over rated
- We don’t do road maps
- We do not write functional specifications ( They lead to a illusion of agreement )
- Decisions are temporary
- Red Flag words – Need, Can’t, Easy, Everyone, Nobody). He explains each one of the words and points out how they are red flags
- Interruption is the Enemy of Productivity ( the closer you are, the less work you get done)
- A fragmented day is not a productive day
- Creative people need uninterrupted chunks of time
- Focus on Passive Collaboration (email, wikis)
- Focus on what doesn’t change. What is going to be important Today and 10 years from now – Speed, Simplicity, Ease of Use, clarity, Reliability, Uptime
- Underdoing (instead of overdoing the competitors)
- Find markets where you can start on the low end and grow (Great thing about the market is the big guys do not care about them)
- As long as you deliver more value than the price, people will pay for products
- Follow the Chefs – they out teach, out share and out contribute
- what is your cookbook? You can either outspend or out teach your competition
- Always be questioning: Why are we doing this? What problem are we solving? Is this actually useful? Are we adding value? Is there an easier way?