7 ways I’ve almost killed FreshBooks | Hacker News Reader

7 ways I’ve almost killed FreshBooks

entrepreneur.venturebeat.com

42 pointsaliasaria7 comments

"Doubt is born out of fatigue and loneliness, and there is a lot of both when you are running a start up. Hang in there and keep your feet moving - there’s still a lot of time for you to change the world."

What I needed to hear right now. Right now we're facing very similar competition and finding it hard to crystallise why we are different. Maybe it's time to throw in the towel but sentiments like this keep you going.

Don't worry so much about the competition. How many operating systems are there? How may databases? How many bags of chips and loaves of bread and accounting systems and types of yogurt?

Build your stuff to last, keep your customers happy, slowly accumulate more and more and be tight with your money so you don't die.

That is how real businesses are built and have been built for centuries. Just because we are using "bleeding edge" technology doesn't change anything. How many different technologies have come out in history? Automobiles? Airlines? Television? VCRs, dvds, laser disk?

Focus on your business and your customers and your survival. Most of your customers don't even know your competitors exist and even if there are 10, then odds are if you are all the same, you'll get 10% of the market.

Go to wal-mart and see how many shampoos there are and pain killers.... all those companies are doing fine.

This is what I was thinking during the Twisted vs. Tornado stuff. Sometimes it's not Not-Invented-Here, but rather Want-to-get-involved-in-a-growing-market (and markets exist in open source, even if money doesn't change hands). Increased competition changes the constraints in different ways, you no longer need to be just good enough, but rather need to be innovative and come up with interesting, differentiating features.

Although this message is comforting in my IMO the comparison is not that relevant. There is difference between digital and physical goods when it comes to marginal cost, complexity, and other limits in serving each additional customer.. Also if it is online only marketing with no "human factors" (as in the case of db/OS vendors) involved in the sales process then again the make or break avenues are limited.. Good things are with digital goods you can iterate quickly both in terms of product features and getting the message out.. so if you let nature take its course then a strong and smart competitor will kill you..If you have to win then you have to outsmart at least in a niche..

Mike's amazing at 'Marketing 2.0'. Smart dude working in what could have been a dull space that he and the freshbooks crew manage to make interesting.

Each point had me saying "ok tell me more!". I wish he had elaborated more on each point.

Thinking we had to move faster than we did...Turns out I was wrong

This runs contrary to a lot of current wisdom.

I often find myself feeling like I'm moving a little too fast, wanting to say, "Whoa, slow down and think this part of it through a little more." Then I feel guilty. Am I crazy or should I trust my gut?

I wish OP would say a little more about his experience. Why does he feel this way now? A few reference points sure would come in handy.

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