Personally, I'm more interested in the "soft" side of this but I'm sure that many of the hacker crowd would love to hear your take on things like languages (lisp vs. world, etc.) and tools.
I'm interested in this response as well. If I was forced to speculate though, I would guess market when it comes to the idea. I would guess drive, curiosity, and ethics when it comes to the people.
"A project that spends a lot of time upfront on scalability is the one that can’t afford to fail. And a project that can’t afford to fail is an inherently uninteresting idea for a new growth business. You can’t carry around the label of Zero Risk (TM) and expect to be the next big thing. It will focus your energy on all the wrong things."
Personally, I'm more interested in the "soft" side of this but I'm sure that many of the hacker crowd would love to hear your take on things like languages (lisp vs. world, etc.) and tools.
Or do you primarily rely on the "culture" that was created while it was small to carry through?
pmarca has one of the most consistent track-records in the valley, so he's the best person to ask. How do you filter your ideas?
Sweet, thanks. I was looking for that reference.
Hey Paul,
I'm interested in this response as well. If I was forced to speculate though, I would guess market when it comes to the idea. I would guess drive, curiosity, and ethics when it comes to the people.
Hey tomkit,
Marc has a whole series on career planning. You can check the first in the series here.
Good question - I asked a similar one.
"A project that spends a lot of time upfront on scalability is the one that can’t afford to fail. And a project that can’t afford to fail is an inherently uninteresting idea for a new growth business. You can’t carry around the label of Zero Risk (TM) and expect to be the next big thing. It will focus your energy on all the wrong things."
http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/dont_scale_99999_uptime_is_for_walmart.php