The long lost formula for start-up success.

I second the above recommendations. Read these blogs religiously and prepare to have your mind blown.

You can also join the lean startup circle on Google Groups, and watch this Steve Blank video: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2056

Four Steps To Epiphany (Steve Blank's self-published book) will teach you something new every paragraph. Buy it. The only complaint is that the publishing is cheap, and your highlighter marks will show through the thin paper.

Your friends hate to see you disillusioned, so they let you perpetuate the self-illusion that what you're proposing in your project will work. You best friends are the ones who disillusion you.

Ditto.

The policy I have been following for my new start-up is to not proactively tell friends. Instead I'd rather they tell me "omg I hear that's your website!". More of those I get, more it validates my idea and marketing. This works especially well at a uni environment and for my startup which is very super focused on my uni.

I have always instinctually kept my business and personal lives separate. Maybe this is why.