The article says that PMF is random to find. I think this is a perspective that a lot of founders may agree with. You don't know what the market will actually buy, and many times PMF is found that is counter-intuitive. Rarely it does happen that an idea takes off as expected.
I’d have to agree that it’s random to find. The entire time I was exploring PMF it felt like coin flips. I couldn’t help but wonder if the feedback I was getting is just a string of tails or something actually converging to .5. I think getting expert advice makes it a little less biased in the outcome. Still, it feels very much random. I feel sorry for the people who spend years trying the PMF lottery. It’s hard to know when to quit an idea for so many reasons, financially, emotionally, etc.
It is an incremental process though. It's not like it's just happening, it's something you work towards to. The response may be random, but what you put in is not.
I've been using Type for a month now and it has really helped me. Its nice to just have a fully feature rich editor that is modernized with AI /ChatGPT too. Nice work to the team!
Glad you've been enjoying it. I'm continually surprised by how much more I feel I can do working with ChatGPT/AI in a doc editor interface versus exclusively chat (though each have their unique drawbacks).
Think for a minute about the words “microblog” — a twitter-like presentation format limiting individual content chunks to a few sentences in length — and “book”, a longform collection of prose typically running tens of thousands of words in length.
The underlying platform of Micro.blog, the specific service sotu was asking about, is built on Hugo. If you make a Twitter-sized post, it will show up just like it would on Twitter or Mastodon or another microblogging platform; if you make a long post, you'll get a field to add a title, too, and when you read it on the timeline (and when it gets crossposted to Twitter, if you have that enabled), you'll just see the title and a link to the longer post.
I don't know how Manton made that site, specifically, but focusing too much on the terminology here may lead you astray a little in this context. :)
I use flashcards with active recall style learning. There's actually a great app I use called "Active Recall" that sets you up with this - you have to work a bit to get the cards you want but after you can refer back to them easily and it helps with memorization
I've found this really effective too. I've been using Anki instead but same general idea. Ramping up on new topics still takes decent time and effort but I've been really surprised how easy it is to retain things after the initial learn.
google competitors already exist they're just not obvious - When you want to find a place to stay you dont search google you go to airbnb.com when you want to buy random stuff you go to amazon, even coming to hackernews is a competitor. You are seeking something and find it. I do get your point tho about a direct competitor, at the end of the day - all the innovation around search is happening in that we are unbundling the search engine and turning each category/search result asset into a monetizable marketplace. My .02
I worked at an SSO Vendor for years, in our early days when we were 20 people we had a whiteboard with funny SAML names.. one of my favorite was King Federate which we abbreviated as K-Fed!
Hey eloff - I'm a founder who's spent a great deal of time in the trenches and is now scaling a startup so maybe I can share my sliver of experience.
Firstly, in order to be successful you need these two things:
1. Your must believe it is inevitable, if you don't build it someone else will
2. You must fall in love with the outcome
I will never tell another founder to quit because I remember when I was told discouraging advice along my journey and how hard it was to hear it and keep trudging. Starting a company is a lesson in mental health and managing your happiness.
If you are discouraged it is not because of your startup - it is because of the anxiety you are feeling around your future family's situation. What does your future family need to be OK? What does it mean to be serious? What do you need to feel like you are a good parent and father?
Do you need more money? Are you anxious about buying a home? Do you believe you can not raise a family well if you rent? These are all questions that me and my friends who are startup founders (or trying to be anyway) talk about with each other constantly.
Even if you know that people want your product the hurdle of taking it to market is equally hard and cumbersome. When you start a startup its because you are on a journey.. just like running on a treadmill sucks if you watch the distance with every step, startups are the same way - try to forget about "the end" and fall in love with the path.
I'd venture a guess that you are an intellectually curious person.. probably curiosity is a value of yours, maybe your startup is just a manifestation of your curiosity? That's a beautiful thing. It is you being you to your fullest.. think about the wisdom and knowledge you have gained and can pass off to your kids now that you tried your hardest to follow your values and heart. Would a house and yard teach them that?
Give up? Grow up? Get a job? There's no right or wrong answer. The only thing to do is ask yourself why you are worried and address those things independently.
What does getting serious about your family mean? What are the exact things that it means to you and your wife? Quantify it.. if it means make more money.. ask why? if its because you want to own a house, ask why again? If its because you believe you can not raise a family because of a house, ask why again - try to get to the root of your concerns. Perhaps it is not logical.. or perhaps it is and you will emerge with conviction.
I think the question you are asking is healthy but no one can answer it for you on hacker news, only you can answer it (in partnership with your life partner)
You answered my question with a dozen more questions :) Thank you, these are important things to think about and discuss with my wife. I appreciate the time and effort you took to respond to me. Good luck in your endeavours as well!
Mission Statement is what drives your company day in, the how you are gonna get to your vision statement.
The Value Prop is the "problem" you are solving - jobs to be done helps you find the problem. The Value Prop is really the problem as described by your customers using their language.
IMO mission statements are for your employees - same with vision - and your overall brand. Value Props/Jobs you help customers accomplish are what you build your features around.
