How things get done

I can say from experience that as you get older and develop a broader understanding of the world, two things conspire against your focus; old ideas presented as new ideas, and scars of things not done.

In the first case you will find you are presented with some "new idea" which is so revolutionary it has its own set of buzzwords, its own methodology, and its own unique values. Except that it isn't new, its like those folks who drag up popular HN posts from 2 or 3 or 4 years ago and re-post them for the quick karma hit. There is are people who re-wrap old ideas and pass them off like holiday presents at a white elephant gift exchange. The trick there is to spend enough focus points to validate that the idea isn't really all that new, identify where (and if) it varies from what you've already seen/heard/done and then either discard or integrate it into the same slot.

The second is tougher. There was a really funny skit on Saturday Night Live where two psychics meet for their first date. As psychics they foresee all of the events from first date to heady romance to angry bittering to rejection and separation. They decide not to go out. As an experienced entrepreneur it can be really disheartening to be asked to walk down a road you've been down one or more times before where you know there is a pit of pain at the end of it. And then not proceed knowing the probable outcome without risking the possible better outcome. For example, try to find anyone, who did any startup in the 90's. to do a startup where you are selling pet food over the Internet.

Because of these effects I think experience can really have a damaging effect on focus if you don't actively work to avoid it.

I left this on the main blog but think it relevant to the HN discussion too:

I’ve heard a lot of different theories about how things get done. I’m interested in this topic, so I pay attention and see how the theories hold up.

This is tangential to the rest of the post, but you should get a copy of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey, which is a compendium of short, fun descriptions of the conditions in which artists do their art.

The similarity between artists and entrepreneurs is strong, even if stories about the eccentricities of the former are far more common than similar stories about the latter.

Life, and therefore getting things done (especially as a startup CEO) is all about setting priorities. The number 1 priority always somehow gets done, regardless of what it takes. And there are things that one "should" do, and never does.

But then there are also the hybrids, the ones that start out as unimportant back markers, and then move up the ranks over time, predictably so. It's funny to observe how you absolutely know they are there, how you see them coming, getting closer and closer, how you know they will become critical at some point, because you have been there before, and how you still manage to find something "better" to do up until the very last minute. They feel like that heating pipe in your basement that you only fixed provisionally with duct tape on a summer weekend and meant to get repaired for real before the cold season starts. It's always on the back of your mind as summer comes to an end and fall approaches, but, well, "tomorrow" will do as well....

As time goes by, you live more and more in denial, you start getting anxious to the point where you are simply angry with yourself for not taking care of it while it was still easy, hassle-free, inexpensive, and non-pressing. In the end, you find yourself in a situation where something becomes your number 1 priority not because it is per se important, but only because you have no other choice but to make it happen on that very day.. "Again?" is the question you ask yourself when you finally dig through all the documents you need for preparing that damn corporate tax return on the 14th of March. "Really?" goes through your mind when you start packing a bag for an upcoming trip 2 hours before you have to leave in the middle of the night.

And as frustrating and senseless as it might be, it seems to be one thing above all: human. As a startup founder, I have come to appreciate that in the end it doesn't matter how you got somewhere; the only thing that matters is that you made it.

Totally agreed with Sam here. We built Parse with this simple program:

  10 Ask users what they want
  20 Synthesize the feedback and build it
  30 GOTO 10

"The best hires I’ve made or seen other companies make are usually friends or friends of friends."

perhaps this is confirmation bias -- that by hiring friends your actual relationship becomes the interview and therefore by the time you actually hire, you have pretty much minimized your risk of a bad hire.

The other problem is that that this is not a secret. And therefore everyone "networks" and nowadays more and more people see their relationships as a form of currency. When you meet someone new and "interesting" there's a subtle hope for some sort of payoff into the future.

Then again, anything I say isn't from experience, just my inner internet troll offering unsolicited criticism. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

I've been hacking at features for my startup for a couple months now. As I progress, I get increasingly nervous about the process of turning the product into a business. I'm not so worried about the community or functionality because I am talking to people and getting great feedback. It's encouraging to hear that the stuff I'm nervous about ("corporate structures, interviewing lawyers...") is exactly the stuff that I shouldn't be focusing on, but it leads me to a tricky question... If I don't, who will?

Investors: Don't talk to any lawyers or think about corporate structure so we can fleece you :P

I kid, I kid pretty much spot on. Talk to customers, make sure you got the right ones and solve painful problems -> code. Talk to customers again to make sure your code actually allows them to solve their problems/ease their pain.

"Most early-stage startup founders do a bad job of getting the company to focus on just two or three critical priorities—they chase whatever shiny new object appears that day."

This is true of everywhere. Companies like to call themselves agile and flexible, but when it's just the boss changing focus every few days, nothing gets done. This also highlights the importance of saying "No" to a lot of interesting and useful things.

This is great advice for YC-stage companies. For bigger companies, the biggest challenge is how to continue to focus on the “write code and talk to users” part, while having to deal with everything else, which unfortunately becomes harder to ignore as you grow. "Why organizations tend towards inefficiency as they grow" should be a fascinating chapter in the "How things get done" book.

> The sort of people that start companies generally like doing new things, not executing relentlessly on the same things. But restraint is critical...

I haven’t started a business, but I mean to. Is it really so common to be all about the new? “Restraining myself” would actually mean starting new things when I’m supposed to, instead of working relentlessly on one thing to completion like I prefer to do.

How things get done? Through a combination of focus and personal connections. Focus at YC is “write code and talk to users”.

Here is the Charlie Rose interviews Paul Graham, YCombinator video:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/14928956