How to (In)validate Your Startup Idea

Re:How to (In)validate Your Startup Idea by JesseAldridge on Friday December 17, 2010 @07:28PM (#2018461)

I think there's an important distinction to be made between lying to potential users and lying to friends, family, or business partners.

Morality is ultimately about results. I mean, it would be ok to lie in order to prevent the apocalypse, right?

Lying to users could be justified as a means to an end, if the end is sufficiently worthwhile. Lying to someone close to you has a much greater cost due to its potential to ruin your relationship, create lots of emotional pain, and end up causing a lot of collateral damage.

Things should work out as long as everybody is clear about where the line is: white lies to potential users -- maybe ok; white lies to somebody close to you -- not ok.

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Re:How to (In)validate Your Startup Idea by gintas on Saturday December 18, 2010 @07:19AM (#2019381)

> Morality is ultimately about results.

Or it's not. See deontological vs. consequentialist conceptions of morality.

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Re:How to (In)validate Your Startup Idea by JesseAldridge on Saturday December 18, 2010 @09:11AM (#2019515)

"Nothing in the world—indeed nothing even beyond the world—can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will."

And if you have a good will then you seek good results, so both philosphies end up in the same place, right?

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Re:How to (In)validate Your Startup Idea by philwelch on Saturday December 18, 2010 @12:46PM (#2019821)

No, not really. The question can be summed up as "do the ends justify the means?".

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