This week's Curated is not only about the path 0 to 1 products take, but also about reflections on the past and good intentions for the future. How to prioritise (say no more often!)? And why should you include customer development in your startup's DNA?
Now December is upon us, have you started thinking about your good intentions and/or roadmap for 2018? We'd love to do a write-up with your lessons learned in 2017, and intentions for the new year. So do hit reply if you've got something to share!
Must read
The 4 stages of 0->1 products
As Julie Zhuo, VP product design at Facebook, points out "Like humans, products go through different life stages". And this calls for different tactics and strategies when a product matures. This must-read offers a comprehensive and extensive walk-through of the four stages of taking your product from 0 to 1.
Culture
Being a quitter makes you a good entrepreneur
"Finding the optimal path, that is, doing only the stuff that matters most and quitting the rest, is paramount to an entrepreneur’s success." -- Nir Eyal on why prioritizing is so important.
Want some more advice on how to be a good quitter? Learn from this post how to say no more often.
Confessions of a failed entrepreneur
"It doesn’t matter how well researched your business plan is, there are always bumps in the road and mistakes to be made."
Modern Entrepreneurship
How startups should do customer discovery
Steve Blank on why continuous customer discovery should be in your startup's DNA.
Startups that seek to "disrupt" get more funding than those that seek to "build"
Using the words build or disrupt when you describe your company can have a very different effect on your business. It's all about choosing your words carefully.
Startup mortality: what end-of-life care teaches us about startup failure
"Failure is not choosing to shut down a startup; it is not having the agency to determine how the story ends."
Innovation metrics vs execution metrics
Execution metrics differ immensely from innovation metrics. A short read on how to make sense of them.
Growth
How to get unstuck and start growing
In other words, how to make sure your company isn't stuck on Groundhog Day.
Product
On hardware startups and tech monopolies
There's a growing graveyard of hardware startups, as the big players are determined to control the ecosystem.
Team
Start a company with a stranger
Friendship isn't always the vital element of a successful founding duo.
Interested in more news related to team building? This podcast discusses how to build a sales team as a technical founder.
Finance
Here's why it looks like Silicon Valley has become boring - and why that's wrong
"Pop quiz: What's the hottest consumer tech startup to come out of Silicon Valley this year?"
There’s an implosion of early-stage VC funding, and no one’s talking about it
This read scrutinizes the (global trend of a) quiet implosion of early-stage capital.
Thank you
Thank you for finishing issue #148 & credits
Thank you for reading Startup Curated, and special thanks go out to Raymond, Ayush from RefR, and Vartika from the BFF app for curating!
If you value Startup Curated, feel free to forward this copy to your friends to help us grow. Or consider sponsoring, simply reply and we'll talk!