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Chris Anderson

• As more content/choices come out, the demand is distributed among the population.
• Most of your market will be in the middle of a bell curve. Niche markets on the other hand are away from the middle and thus smaller.
• In our current market, 20% of the products account for 80% of the sales.
  • Caused by networks and word of mouth.
  • “Word of mouth travels at the speed of light.”
• The other 80% of the products are now coming to market and become popular due to sites like youtube. This is content that would not normally be seen on television.
• Online stores, such as Amazon or Netflix, offer products retail markets don’t have. These products account for a large slice of overall sales.
  • Offer a variety of products for people of diverse taste.
  • “Instead of focusing on dozens of markets of millions, focus on millions of markets of dozens.”
  • The Long Tail

Paul Graham

• 0% of the people who do startups would not want to trade their job for a cubicle.
• Why don’t people do it?
  1. Too Young
     • Some people are 19 when they first get funded.
     • Age isn’t important, maturity is.
     • Difference between a kid and adult:
       • Kid - “I can’t do it, will you do it?
       • Adult – Doesn’t flake.
       • Kid – Submission when given a different opinion or criticism.
       • Adult – Asks why when given criticism.
  2. Too inexperienced
     • Do it anyways and learn from your mistakes.
  3. Not determined enough.
     • This is a problem because determination is one of the largest factors of success.
  4. Not smart enough.
     • People who worry whether or not they are smart enough are probably smart enough. Don’t underestimate your intelligence.
  5. Don’t understand business.
     • Business should not be the hard aspect. Instead concentrate on building something great. You’ll learn the business aspect along the way.
     • Businesses buy startups for their ideas anyways.
  6. No co-founders
     • People prefer to invest in a startup with a co-founder. If you can’t find a co-founder, then change your idea. This problem should be one of the most important when starting out.
  7. No idea
     • No problem. Ideas are a dime-a-dozen. People will give you ideas along the way.
  8. No room for more startups.
     • There is always room for valuable ideas to evolve.
  9. Family to support.
     • This is a problem. Instead think about starting a consulting firm.
  10. Independently Wealthy
      • “Why the fuck would I do that again?”
  11. Need for structure
      • Some people just need someone to tell them what to do. If this is the case, then don’t do a startup. People in startups don’t tell other people what to do.
  12. Fear of uncertainty
      • Who knows what will happen? You will probably fail. However, it will be interesting and you’ll learn something along the way.
  13. Some people don’t realize what they’re avoiding
      • Real Work.
      • Startups work from real pressure.
  14. Parents have aspirations for you, such as being a Doctor.
      • They want you to be rich.
  15. A job is the default.
      • What is normal is awful

Michael Mandel

• Innovation makes big companies skin crawl due to the uncertainty of the success.
• In an economics 101 class, it does not mention innovation.
• Innovation on the other hand is the reason for growth in the economy.
• Faster innovation = more start ups.
• Governments can’t innovate, but they cant prevent it.

Max Levchin

Product Management

• Most start ups fail.
  • Why? Engineers suck at details.
• Most of product management is the UI.
  • If you have a good idea, but a bad UI, you will fail.
• Think like the person you are designing for.
  • Become the user. Out of body experience.
  • Observe the user.
  • Study group (Expensive alternative)
• Measure everything about a product.
  • Look at Google analytics and find trends and patterns.
  • Develop your own program to do this.
• Don’t use Red/Green contrast (color blind people).
  • Use blue instead.
• Overcommitment (forms) drops most users. Use 1-click systems.

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