-There are many more ways to fail with a business than there are to succeed—unfathomably more. I tend to think that a strategy of “cross off all the possible failure modes, until you’re left with only success” is a flawed strategy for that reason.
-That’s also the reason that historically and empirically, entrepreneurs who succeed tend to have prior experience with their market through their employment. More recently, “lean startup” techniques have come about that allow you to gain a deep understanding of the market through rapid testing, market research and talking to your market. I recommend you read Running Lean by Ash Maurya and The Startup Owners Manual by Steve Blank for more on that.
-In terms of first principles, there’s also been a ton of prior work done and no need to invent the wheel. There’s TONS of work out there on business strategy and what makes a succesfull business, but I think if you read Crossing the Chasm by Clayton Christensen, and The Future is Predictable by Simon Wardley, You’ll be set.
A few thoughts here:
-There are many more ways to fail with a business than there are to succeed—unfathomably more. I tend to think that a strategy of “cross off all the possible failure modes, until you’re left with only success” is a flawed strategy for that reason.
-That’s also the reason that historically and empirically, entrepreneurs who succeed tend to have prior experience with their market through their employment. More recently, “lean startup” techniques have come about that allow you to gain a deep understanding of the market through rapid testing, market research and talking to your market. I recommend you read Running Lean by Ash Maurya and The Startup Owners Manual by Steve Blank for more on that.
-In terms of first principles, there’s also been a ton of prior work done and no need to invent the wheel. There’s TONS of work out there on business strategy and what makes a succesfull business, but I think if you read Crossing the Chasm by Clayton Christensen, and The Future is Predictable by Simon Wardley, You’ll be set.