News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:What I Wish Someone Had Told Me (about starting a company) by hariis on Monday November 16, 2009 @06:01PM (#945532)
yep, find passionate users, if not, redesign your product/service and try again.
Re:What I Wish Someone Had Told Me (about starting a company) by jerf on Tuesday November 17, 2009 @01:13AM (#946055)
Even if you find some passionate users, they will be a tiny minority against the sea of ambivalent geese. Getting the passionate ones on your side is a good move, but if you have to choose between the passionate ones and getting more of the flock through the pay gate, the latter is frequently a good choice. It depends, of course; you can't ignore your passionate ones either or they will passionately turn against you, but some balance is called for. And in fact the article warns you, though not in these exact terms, against letting that one passionate customer turn you into their personal consulting service while the rest of your customers get left in the lurch. It's not necessarily wrong, but it is dangerous.