Remarks to Software Forum Dinner Meeting (1997)

klhess.com

29 points·mishmax··6 comments

I'm genuinely surprised at when this was written. Without the year in the title, I would have easy guessed 2010 or later:

> 1.2X improvement doesn't even get your customer to raise his head from what he's doing. A 2-3X improvement may get them to look you in the eye. 10X improvements cause people to reach for their wallet.

> What can a startup do better than a larger organization? Create and build products. A startup can do this with more elegance and originality and with greater speed. The act of creation is what generates value.

These seem to be the advice-du-jour in the valley today, but seeing them given 20 years ago lends it a lot more credence.

The AutoDesk Files are even older, and more extensive regarding building a company in Silicon Valley: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/autofile.html

Absolutely. My thoughts exactly. It's like I can skip reading all the lore of today (and past 10 years or so) and just read this as all that I need to build a profitable software product.

> If you aren't the world expert, you're just kidding yourself about your chances for success.

Do you all agree with this one?

You might be kidding yourself even if you are the world expert. If you're doing something that's never been done before, even the most knowledgeable people can miss things.

The modesty in here is refreshing.

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