Our friend Newt attended the Startup School this past weekend and raved to us about how great the sessions were. The schedule does seem really impressive; it reads like a Who’s Who of Web 2.0 notables. One talk that was particularly interesting was Paul Graham’s discussion on The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn. In a nutshell, Paul lists a number of tough startup lessons:
- Release Early
- Keep Pumping Out Features
- Make Users Happy
- Fear the Right Things
- Commitment is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- There’s Always Room
- Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
Of course, just reading the list doesn’t provide enough context for any real benefit; you should read the full essay. Paul lays out convincing arguments and compelling examples for each lesson, and his track record with startups proves he knows what he’s talking about. With respect to our startup, I was heartened to see that the article validates a number of beliefs we already have towards our project, and serves as a great heads-up for other points to keep in mind.
-JL