I like lists like this because they're so quick and easy to read, you only have to learn 1 or 2 new things to get great ROI.
For me, the items fall into 4 categories:
1. Go without saying, but need to be said anyway:
- Real businesses have customers
- It gets harder, not easier
- Investors are normal people too
2. Interesting observation:
- Being committed in the face of contrary evidence can sometimes be a game-maker. Generally though it’s just stupid.
- Even very successful people frequently misunderstand their own success
- There is no one thing that makes a company work.
3. Sound important, but really aren't:
- Everyone is basically scared of everyone else at first
- Bring a notebook; don’t take notes on your phone. People think you are tweeting or something.
- People without life responsibility (kids, wife, etc) are at a serious advantage in the beginning stages
- Every guy has thought about starting a dating site
4. Insightful:
- If it seems hard but important and you try to outsource it, you'll probably get screwed. Potentially for a long time.
- The more stability the rest of your life has, the easier it’ll be to deal with the massive instability of a startup
- Small problems between team members will become big problems given time
- Stop dancing around the thing and say the thing (I love this one.)
I think it's partly to do with the fact that in a complex system it's sometimes pretty difficult to clearly identify lines of cause and effect, but most smart people will think about it until they've satisfied themselves that they have figured it out.
This is why I'm not so sold on advice given by 'one-hit wonders,' people who scored big with a startup and are now seen as gurus because of it. I'm interested to hear what they say, but I'm skeptical.
No, I think Amir is suggesting something different here.
I suspect what Amir is saying is that some successful people attribute their success to one thing, but that may not be the actual reason.
As an example - where the successful person has been clever enough to recognise their initial hypothesis for their success may have had flaws - many early Paul Graham essays credited the success of his Viaweb startup to the use of Lisp[1], while now most of his advice doesn't touch on a specific technology stack at all[2].
From my experience the things successful people credit for their success are infrequently wrong, but very often incomplete.
For me, the items fall into 4 categories:
1. Go without saying, but need to be said anyway:
2. Interesting observation: 3. Sound important, but really aren't: 4. Insightful: Great list! Thanks for sharing, Amir.