Nine Deadly Startup Diseases—and How to Cure Them | Hacker News Reader

Nine Deadly Startup Diseases—and How to Cure Them

sitepoint.com

50 pointsswombat13 comments

They forgot #10, putting a 1 page article on 2 pages to increase pageviews and then throwing a popup ad in there for good measure so that your site visitors never want to return...

No popups or page breaks: http://www.sitepoint.com/print/nine-deadly-startup-diseases

(and much cleaner layout)

I automatically hit the print link on most news sites these days: Clean layout, single page, readable font.

I can't believe I never thought to do that. Awesome idea, thanks.

Each point was probably refuted in practice by one or the other successful entrepreneur. When something fails, these are the causes that people intuitively come up with, but they don't necessarily always cause others to fail.

#1: Most software that's interesting is "useful to practically anyone".

#2: Mostly agree. But if you don't get the small distractions (like taxes) out of the way ASAP, they pile up and could still kill you: a mounting big honking stinking pile of annoyances that you know you'll have to face some day. It depends on the personality but for some it's easier to focus once the unimportant small fry is still sorted out.

#3: With the right people skills (I don't claim I have any), is there such a thing as a "wrong hire"? Sure you couldn't "build up" just about anyone without outright malicious intentions?

#4: Agree.

#5: One of those non-fatal delusions. Whether you're great or not, "stealth mode" won't hurt or help you much. How could it?

#6: This should be typically noticed early enough in the development cycle to be able to switch. How could you suffer through months before questioning your platform?

#7: I have yet to meet a great entrepreneur who didn't "suffer" from this. The key is probably self-management and discipline, not magically getting rid of a "personality trait" that brought you to whatever you're doing in the first place.

#8: Steve Jobs, anyone?

#9: Yeah... harsh but probably true :)

> #3: With the right people skills (I don't claim I have any), is there such a thing as a "wrong hire"? Sure you couldn't "build up" just about anyone without outright malicious intentions?

Probably, but that would take time and energy, and some people probably can't be 'built up' quickly, either. So they might make fine employees in other kinds of companies, but maybe not in a startup, although there are probably always exceptions.

This is a very credible (and succinct) startup list. Unfortunately, I've been through most of them.

A recommended read and not yet-another-one-of-those-lists.

This is just the sort of comment I really appreciate. I was on the fence as to whether or not to click through to the article and your comment helped me decide.

#6 Wrong Platform -- this one gave me pause. It's correct, but only in a more specific case than stated by the author.

Unless you're building an exotic application [1] choose a platform in which you are very productive and that is used by many other people for similar applications.

If you choose such a platform, commit to it. You may find that the ORM layer you thought would solve all your problems doesn't, or that the auto-generated URL routing doesn't do what you want, or a variety of other problems. But you'll find the same average number of problems with the other platform that's tempting you with its promises of superiority. Don't switch. You're just trading problems, and losing all the work you've already put in and expertise you've already gained.

If you don't choose such a platform and start hitting roadblocks, reconsider your platform. Ideally make this mistake very early.

1a. You're not building an exotic application. 1b. If you are building an exotic application, you probably shouldn't be.

I like this article but #6 the wrong platform is a rare mistake and not worth including on this list. Good programmers can figure this out without much trouble.

I worked for this company who implemented a product in Delphi. They knew it was the wrong but the fastest way to get the product to the market. After making a big profit the time came to rewrite the product and everyone knew that C++ was the way. Because of political manipulations Delphi was chosen again and it was back to square one after few months of development.

Wrong platform is a common mistake...

#10 - Having a business plan of collecting eyeballs and "monetizing them later". Good luck.

No mention of the deadly mortgage & spouse disease.

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