Comments for Kibble

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Jason Baudendistel

Jason Baudendistel — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:06:26 +0000

This post is chocked full of wisdom. I am so glad when I left my last startup I kept your blog bookmarked. The huge thing about building a concept or idea is understanding the market you are targeting and helping with a real pain point either solving it or solving it more than an existing solution. There are way too many people starting businesses just because everyone else is doing it. I can tell you I have learned over the last 5 years if they are not ready to learn, persevere and fight through some pain they have picked the wrong career.

Comment on I hate firing people by Bernard

Bernard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:43:30 +0000

Hi Marc – right before reading your post I read a review of HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by Eric Ries. Check out the first part and especially the initial data/graph “The Rich vs The King tradeoff” – amazing! All Founding CEOs should pay close attention

http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2012/04/founders-dilemmas-equity-splits.html

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Daniel Cole

Daniel Cole — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:59:41 +0000

Very insightful post Marc. The “me-too” copycat startup model or rebuilding an empty mall can be a devastating waste of time. I appreciate Johnathan’s comment on “why now” as timing can be a major external factor in technology companies. A devastating failure such as pets.com can return successful 10 years as wag.com with a minor change in strategy.

What’s difficult is after all the study, customer development, and white boarding you often can’t tell if something is truly a mirage until you get close and touch it. Or as Mark Twaine once said, “If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.”

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Seth Cohen

Seth Cohen — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:12:07 +0000

Dave — couldn’t agree more. I think you are dead right. Send Justin your idea — I think he would relate.

Best,
Seth

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Marc Randolph

Marc Randolph — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 01:05:30 +0000

Each of the exceptions you’ve listed may be a very valid reason to take another run at a category or an idea that has been tried already. But it’s having the exception that is the important part. What I was trying to illustrate was the frequency with which people take on old problems without having figured out what they would do differently. If more experience, or better ip, or a leveraged entry from an adjoining space, is truly the thing that will allow you to succeed where others may have failed, then that’s a much fairer fight. (It’s always going to be brutally difficulty — even with advantages — but a fair fight none-the-less).

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Richard Weisberger

Richard Weisberger — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:57:11 +0000

I agree with your post, but it may have overgeneralized. Where do the exceptions come from? it could come from someone with years of experience in an industry. Or it may come from someone with a defensible intellectual property. Or it may come from a sector where new products ans services are part intrical to the space (food n beverage) .. There are more but they follow a similar theme.

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Dave Doolin

Dave Doolin — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:03:59 +0000

MySpace (since it’s come up) would be well served (and I’ve tweeted this before) to go after the “Web Vegas” space.

Not gambling of course… You know, fun, sorta kinda trashy, what-happens-on-myspace-stays-on-myspace kind of thing. They have all the pieces in place to be absolutely impregnable in that niche.

What an Epic Pivot that would be.

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Marc Randolph

Marc Randolph — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:12:46 +0000

True, and one of the ultimate challenges for any startup. I’m starting to think that an essential skill for young startups is to try and be a bit early, but to be developing the attributes that will make you successful when you are early, but still be compelling when the market starts coing your way. Netflix for example was very early for streaming, but built all of its customer attributes around being compelling to disc renters that would still be compelling when streaming eventually came around. Ie., we were about selection (which is delivery agnostic) rather than around plastic shipping (which is not). That allowed us to grow, thrive, and be in a great place when customers eve tual.y wanted to try getting their entertainment digitally.

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Marc Randolph

Marc Randolph — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:08:02 +0000

A good point, that illustrates that earl success may not always be an indicator of the future, especially in your case where you have achieved success at small scale and fear what happens as you get larger. Especially challenging when getting larger doesn’t just mean more customers, but also means moving into adjacent spaces. If its any consolation, that never gets easier. Go for it, but keep you’re yes open.

Comment on Are you Chasing a Mirage? by Jonathan Jaeger

Jonathan Jaeger — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:11:08 +0000

One thing to keep in mind is timing. There were tons of video sites before YouTube. YouTube executed well, but they were also very lucky to strike right when video on the web started being a very viable idea from a technology standpoint. So when asking “why you” you might also want to ask “why now?”.