I guess these are points Evan Williams made last week at the Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford, Saïd Business School event I blogged about here. They should be read in full — evhead: Ten Rules for Web Startups. These are highlights only:
Be Narrow
… 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 … 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.
Be Different
Ideas are in the air. There are lots of people thinking about—and probably working on—the same thing you are.
Be Casual
We're moving into what I call the era of the "Casual Web" (and casual content creation). This is much bigger than the hobbyist web or the professional web. Why? Because people have lives. And now, people with lives also have broadband. If you want to hit the really big home runs, create services that fit in with—and, indeed, help—people's everyday lives without requiring lots of commitment or identity change.Be Picky
… Startups are often too eager to accept people or ideas into their world. You can almost always afford to wait if something doesn't feel just right, and false negatives are usually better than false positives.Be User-Centric
User experience is everything. … Always focus on the user and all will be well.
Be Self-Centered
… Create something you want to exist in the world. Be a user of your own product. Hire people who are users of your product. … (But don't trick yourself into thinking you are your user, when it comes to usability.)
Be Greedy
… design something to charge for into your product and start taking money within 6 months (and do it with PayPal). Done right, charging money can actually accelerate growth, not impede it, because then you have something to fuel marketing costs with. … The TypePad approach—taking the high-end position in the market—makes for a great business model in the right market. Less support. Less scalability concerns. Less abuse. And much higher margins.
Be Tiny
… It's standard web startup wisdom …
Be Agile
… Pyra was started to build a project-management app, not Blogger. Flickr's company was building a game. Ebay was going to sell auction software. Initial assumptions are almost always wrong.Be Balanced
… Yes, high levels of commitment are crucial. And yes, crunch times come and sometimes require an inordinate, painful, apologies-to-the-SO amount of work. But it can't be all the time. Nature requires balance for health …
(bonus!): Be Wary
Overgeneralized lists of business "rules" are not to be taken too literally. There are exceptions to everything.
Update (29.11.2005): Russell Beattie writes —
Number 12 on his list should be "Make it Mobile". Actually, I think it should be #1, but that’s just me be fanatical. Mobility is where the most opportunities lie for startups over the next few years. The next big success will be mobile, but also a lot of the next little successes will be mobile as well. There’s just so many possibilities right now - around the world and even in the U.S. with mobile penetration rates climbing over 80%. This is the market to focus on.
