Tag: startups

Enough with the Dead End Apps

In the tech world there’s a surreal level of hype surrounding mobile and tablet applications. The source of the hype wave comes from users, developers, and even investors. But mobile is just one edge or surface of network applications, and it’s thin valued novelty will quickly wane. It’s frustrating to see the majority of developer creativity and energy going into dead end apps which pander to the lowest common denominator.

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A single product champion is capable of only so much crazy

Product Engineering, Messier in Practice

  1. Got a brilliant concept which early feedback reveals as a huge market opportunity? [check]
  2. Have the sharpest minds and the most adept hands in the industry ready to execute a polished design and beta? [check]
  3. Turn the crank and toil away to a product success story right? [keep dreaming]

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Songify delights as a mobile app

Add…

  1. one part nonsense
  2. two parts mobile voice recorder and portable synthesizer
  3. a silly but popular vocal effect
  4. a handful of simple algorithms to sample and partition a recording
  5. one part mini game to blindly time your lyrics to the automated loops
  6. and a team sharp enough to recognize and build a micro business

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When to go out of book

Risk Reduction from Day 1

Regardless of your specific team role, there is a familiar pattern to breaking ground on a new program. Each time you create or join a fresh project it’s common to go through a ramp up phase which may last minutes or a few weeks depending on project maturity, complexity, and schedule.

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Joel’s Split, Early Equity Distribution

Joel Spolsky gives a strong case in favor of fairness for early startup equity distribution. Thanks to Fred Wilson for pointing out Joel’s answer. I pickup plenty of great startup advice from the AVC community, and on this particular post more than usual. I’ve extracted a few key points from Joel’s post below, but if you’re interested in startups I suggest you read his entire answer.

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Mobility may be Marvelous but Ubiquitous Access is Disruptive

This morning’s riff targets the opportunity of liberating activities that were once shackled to desktops and laptops by making them accessible anywhere. The massive shift to mobile is but one small step along the long road to ubiquitous access. By no means are mobile apps and phones the end form of access, instead they are a taste of what’s to come1.

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