The Ten Rules for Web Startups from Evan Williams' blog. Evan's the founder of Odeo, an audio recording and sharing web app built with my current favorite new web technology, Ruby on Rails.

#1: Be Narrow
Focus on the smallest possible problem you could solve that would potentially be useful. Most companies start out trying to do too many things, which makes life difficult and turns you into a me-too. Focusing on a small niche has so many advantages: With much less work, you can be the best at what you do. Small things, like a microscopic world, almost always turn out to be bigger than you think when you zoom in. You can much more easily position and market yourself when more focused. And when it comes to partnering, or being acquired, there's less chance for conflict. This is all so logical and, yet, there's a resistance to focusing. I think it comes from a fear of being trivial. Just remember: If you get to be #1 in your category, but your category is too small, then you can broaden your scope - and you can do so with leverage.

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Posted by timshim at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A short passage I found somewhere sometime back. Don't know where it's quoted from but it must have been meaningful for me to have copied and pasted it into Notepad. Here it is:

'Starting a company is not like finding a new job. With a new job, you want something that is interesting, pays well, enables you to reach your personal goals, etc, etc. It's a stopping point along a journey.

Starting a company is very different. Your passion for the business should come from your heart. It's not something that "matches your abilities," but something that compels you to put everything on the line. So when something moves you to this extent, you've found it. You don't necessarily go looking for it like you would read the "Jobs Wanted" section of the classified ads.'

Posted by timshim at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)