Kawasaki: How I wasted $12,107 on Truemors
mathewingram.com
mathewingram.com
This is a marketing guy, and he pulled off a brilliant marketing coup. Don't confuse that with starting a mom and pops store.
You guys are soooo thinking within the box. Think laterally, even in business.
"For not a whole lot of money and time you can get something out there and see if it works."
This has been true for some time, and anyone with any technical inclination whatsoever has already figured that out. However, it doesn't mean his other conclusion is true:
"One thing is for sure: no entrepreneur can tell me that he needs $1 million, four programmers, and six months to launch this kind of company."
The reason it was that cheap and took that little manpower to build was because the idea was so simple and fairly derivative. It's basically Digg for rumors. Hey, it might work and a lot of people might use it, but you won't find many ideas that can be built off of a Wordpress installation, even though Pligg would've been a better choice as the linked article states. If your idea amounts to a list of things that people vote on, then yes, it will take very little time to build. There just aren't that many groundbreaking concepts that fit into that mold. I guess it depends what he means by "this kind of company", although there aren't many definitions that would render his conclusion valid. The vast majority of ideas will take a couple of months and a few programmers to put together, although he's right about the $1 million.
That's what he did, and he did it for bloody cheap. If you read the breakdown of his costs, you will see that the actual programming + site + logo just cost $4500.
Having dealt with code monkeys that need to be micromanaged, I'd much rather pay $4500 and see a finished product than waste my time micromanaging the development of such an application.
Is the idea stupid? No. It's a reasonable idea. It's a niche idea that has some potential if executed right. Did he overpay? No.
The hardest lesson I ever learnt was that it's often times really not worth it to do things yourself. As a hacker, it's tempting to always do things yourself, but realise at every single point in your life that it's time that is your most valuable commodity.
He's not a hacker. If he tried customizing pligg, it would cost him a lot more time than if he just hired people for $4500.
Yyyyyyes...but understand that Truemors is rather more "derivative" than, say, the iPod or Windows 3.11.
The only catch is, he may have learned less than he realizes. What he's learned is what it takes to make a prototype. Most of the work comes after that.
A VC with a working mind can learn this without spending $12k ;)
Wasn't Ycombinator itself enough of a proof?
You're being very charitable.
he may have learned less than he realizes. What he's learned is what it takes to make a prototype. Most of the work comes after that
Right, and it'll give him the wrong impression going forward.
Imagine being funded by him and having him complain to you that your site cost more than $12k to build.
That's one VC to avoid in the future.
Most programmers could have created Truemors for $0 over a weekend. What options does Guy have if he wants a similar ability?
Anyway, Truemors is NOT a waste. Guy has learned a lot from it and he will use the lessons he learned when he decides what and HOW to fund the next idea that some entrepreneur brings to Garage. He has recalibrated his brain's estimation tables and will use that knowledge to his advantage. That knowledge is priceless and I'm grateful that guy has shared it with us. You should be grateful too and please just ignore the jaded/arrogant/incompetent/jealous detractors that are trashing Guy in his blog.
To say that he has wasted a lot of money just shows how clueless and shortsighted some people are. I hope the author of this piece is not looking for funding or a job...
Let's not kid ourselves, if you're a programmer you can make a site like that in a few weeks in your spare time. Once you incorporate you are a ... web startup.
(fwiw, i thought rich dad poor dad was fairly interesting -- i'm not going to hate on it as much as others might -- although it's alleged that some of both some of his anecdotes and financial success were exaggerated or false. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kiyosaki ; google will turn up other criticisms.)