Re:Poll: Bay area startup founders/C*Os/early employees: how...
by neilk on Sunday July 12, 2009 @07:54PM
(#700749)
I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
Most of the blowout successes I'm aware of have had a long period of protection from competition while the founders became world-class experts in whatever it was they were doing. That could mean a period in academia, open source, or a long period of learning at some other company in the industry.
There are a few cases I know of where the founders were not experts, but in those cases it was because they stumbled onto a new market, so nobody else knew more than they did. And even then they were well prepared to exploit it, through related work.
Also: 40 hours a week is a LOT. If you don't fritter it away with meetings, office hours, coordinating with vendors, and so on.
Most of the blowout successes I'm aware of have had a long period of protection from competition while the founders became world-class experts in whatever it was they were doing. That could mean a period in academia, open source, or a long period of learning at some other company in the industry.
There are a few cases I know of where the founders were not experts, but in those cases it was because they stumbled onto a new market, so nobody else knew more than they did. And even then they were well prepared to exploit it, through related work.
Also: 40 hours a week is a LOT. If you don't fritter it away with meetings, office hours, coordinating with vendors, and so on.