Comments on: The Inquisition of the Entrepreneur http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/ experiments in refactored perception Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:42:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Venkat http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/#comment-4319 Venkat Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:51:01 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/?p=1529#comment-4319 I think the 'career advice' angle and the 'entrepreneur' angle are two sides of the same coin, since to be more than a 1-person show as an entrepreneur, you eventually have to turn this philosophy into a people management philosophy as well, and evolve how you think about euphemisms like "fit" and "development needs." Probably another blog post in there somewhere (MVP concept applied to people... minimum viable person instead of most valuable player). The customer-driven vs. auteur-driven divide isn't new or Jobsian really (in fact Jobs is criticized for being the opposite of MVP in one sense, only giving people fully-baked visions). Ford after all, said that "faster horse" thing. But yeah, there's more to be said, and puzzles to be solved in that divide. The question doesn't end at a disruptive/existing market distinction. I think the ‘career advice’ angle and the ‘entrepreneur’ angle are two sides of the same coin, since to be more than a 1-person show as an entrepreneur, you eventually have to turn this philosophy into a people management philosophy as well, and evolve how you think about euphemisms like “fit” and “development needs.” Probably another blog post in there somewhere (MVP concept applied to people… minimum viable person instead of most valuable player).

The customer-driven vs. auteur-driven divide isn’t new or Jobsian really (in fact Jobs is criticized for being the opposite of MVP in one sense, only giving people fully-baked visions). Ford after all, said that “faster horse” thing. But yeah, there’s more to be said, and puzzles to be solved in that divide. The question doesn’t end at a disruptive/existing market distinction.

]]> By: RG http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/#comment-4309 RG Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:49:34 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/?p=1529#comment-4309 I haven't added to the gushing you have been receiving a lot here recently so... the career planning truths at the end of this post are superb. But partly out of sync with the startup subject of the article--the tone is like coming from a corporate manager giving honest advice to job-seekers. Great stuff anyway. My first distasteful reaction on seeing a questionnaire evaporated with the scoring key, with its ruthless negative points, especially the tail-stings for inflexibility. Yours is much better than <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/02/should_you_be_an_entrepreneur.html" rel="nofollow">this one at HBR blogs</a>. I have been puzzling over the customer-need-driven versus Steve Jobs-ian approach, which is becoming part of the popular advice now. I wonder if there is something about technology that the latter strategy seems more applicable here as opposed to other kinds of products. Arriving at the PMF involves iterations, that may, in the extreme case, mutate the original product completely. Still, starting from product probably makes more sense because "I have this thing/capability that I am sure many would find useful" coupled with "I can tweak it to meet the need of these interested folk" seems more real-life than "I will find what many want and then create it (somehow)". I can see a parallel of this to the <a href="http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2008/04/15/the-coming-triumph-of-the-strengths-movement/" rel="nofollow">strengths approach</a> where talents (existing persistent personality tendencies) can be used as the foundation to attain excellence in a variety of roles/jobs in conjunction with different combinations of relevant skills and knowledge, as opposed to saying, "Whatever are the competencies listed for this job, I will ace in all those." I haven’t added to the gushing you have been receiving a lot here recently so… the career planning truths at the end of this post are superb. But partly out of sync with the startup subject of the article–the tone is like coming from a corporate manager giving honest advice to job-seekers. Great stuff anyway.

My first distasteful reaction on seeing a questionnaire evaporated with the scoring key, with its ruthless negative points, especially the tail-stings for inflexibility. Yours is much better than this one at HBR blogs.

I have been puzzling over the customer-need-driven versus Steve Jobs-ian approach, which is becoming part of the popular advice now. I wonder if there is something about technology that the latter strategy seems more applicable here as opposed to other kinds of products.

Arriving at the PMF involves iterations, that may, in the extreme case, mutate the original product completely. Still, starting from product probably makes more sense because “I have this thing/capability that I am sure many would find useful” coupled with “I can tweak it to meet the need of these interested folk” seems more real-life than “I will find what many want and then create it (somehow)”. I can see a parallel of this to the strengths approach where talents (existing persistent personality tendencies) can be used as the foundation to attain excellence in a variety of roles/jobs in conjunction with different combinations of relevant skills and knowledge, as opposed to saying, “Whatever are the competencies listed for this job, I will ace in all those.”

]]> By: MBA Depot http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/#comment-4304 MBA Depot Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:56:59 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/?p=1529#comment-4304 <strong>The Inquisition of the Entrepreneur...</strong> Venkatesh Rao tries to turn the lean startup conversation, anchored by Steve Blank’s book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany, into a self-administered inquisition. He offers a test, a round-up of the lean startup conversation, and a micro-riff on applying... The Inquisition of the Entrepreneur…

Venkatesh Rao tries to turn the lean startup conversation, anchored by Steve Blank’s book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany, into a self-administered inquisition. He offers a test, a round-up of the lean startup conversation, and a micro-riff on applying…

]]> By: startupbug.com http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/#comment-4303 startupbug.com Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:26:15 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/?p=1529#comment-4303 <strong>The Inquisition of the Entrepreneur...</strong> I have reviewed nearly fifty books on ribbonfarm, but I’ve never yet been reviewed by a book. That’s what reading Steve Blank’s The Four Steps to the Epiphany felt like. Blank, a veteran serial-entrepreneur, doesn’t actually set out to grill you, like ... The Inquisition of the Entrepreneur…

I have reviewed nearly fifty books on ribbonfarm, but I’ve never yet been reviewed by a book. That’s what reading Steve Blank’s The Four Steps to the Epiphany felt like. Blank, a veteran serial-entrepreneur, doesn’t actually set out to grill you, like …

]]> By: Venkat http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/#comment-4301 Venkat Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:03:55 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/?p=1529#comment-4301 Neat. I saw this a while back, but forgot. Added it to the trail, along with Hugh MacLeod's book "Ignore Everybody." Not so far off from this post btw. Look at the "correct" answers to Q6 and Q7, which will be very counter-intuitive for people who believe in traditional "requirements." Neat. I saw this a while back, but forgot. Added it to the trail, along with Hugh MacLeod’s book “Ignore Everybody.” Not so far off from this post btw. Look at the “correct” answers to Q6 and Q7, which will be very counter-intuitive for people who believe in traditional “requirements.”

]]> By: JLD http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/24/the-inquisition-of-the-entrepreneur/#comment-4298 JLD Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:42:29 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/?p=1529#comment-4298 <a href="http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/08/business-requirements-are-bullshit.html" rel="nofollow">really?</a> Bwahahahaha.... really?
Bwahahahaha….

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