Stop doing that. And that.
"Hey doc, it hurts when I do this..." patient
"So STOP DOING THAT" doctor
Lean is about doing the right thing, not the hard thing. Not the thing that takes longer. Not the thing that the tail wagging the dog investor asks for. In a world full of to-do lists, here is a list of things NOT to do when you are starting up. Explanations to follow. With inspiration from Patrick Leahy's recent post, do things that are useful, not things that are hard. Some things are both, but if you are doing something it HAS to be useful, it does NOT have to be hard.
Don't hurt your startup by wasting time. STOP. Hammertime.
***Some of these things may seem aggressive or even irresponsible. I will fill in the blanks with reasons when we top off the list- keep in mind I am not suggesting that you NEVER do these things, just do not do them before you have done a proper Customer Development experiment and proven (or at least have a reasonable argument with some evidence) that you are solving an actual problem for actual people.
"So STOP DOING THAT" doctor
Lean is about doing the right thing, not the hard thing. Not the thing that takes longer. Not the thing that the tail wagging the dog investor asks for. In a world full of to-do lists, here is a list of things NOT to do when you are starting up. Explanations to follow. With inspiration from Patrick Leahy's recent post, do things that are useful, not things that are hard. Some things are both, but if you are doing something it HAS to be useful, it does NOT have to be hard.
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- Write a business plan
- Raise one cent in capital
- Try and get featured on TC
- Chase a white whale partnership
- Make revenue projections
- Protect yourself from exploitation
- Make a top down market size measurement
- Make a bottom up market size measurement
- Obsess over your elevator pitch
- Brainstorm a name
- Brainstorm on anything
- Start optimizing text
- Start optimizing anything
- Design a logo
- Attend a conference
- Look for a co-founder
- Look for anyone to join the team
- Form an LLC
- Try and protect your IP
Don't hurt your startup by wasting time. STOP. Hammertime.
***Some of these things may seem aggressive or even irresponsible. I will fill in the blanks with reasons when we top off the list- keep in mind I am not suggesting that you NEVER do these things, just do not do them before you have done a proper Customer Development experiment and proven (or at least have a reasonable argument with some evidence) that you are solving an actual problem for actual people.
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