How Not to Start a Startup
Step 1: Oh my gosh! I have a great idea! - This period lasts anywhere from 10 minutes to a few days. During this initial period of brainstorming an idea that I believe to be at least somewhat worthy falls into my head and I begin to obsess over it. I try to look at the idea from a few different angles, but honestly spend most of the time thinking about how good it will feel once the idea blows up to be way larger than it could ever possibly be. “Man, it will be so sweet when my blog about Polar Bears ranks inside the Technorati Top 100!”
Step 2: Groundwork/Research - I then spend approximately 5 minutes (max) Googling terms that are loosely associated with my idea. If I can’t find a match after a few searches I move on to step 3. If I do find something close to my idea I immediately give up on it. No use reinventing the wheel.
Step 3: Implementation - If I have made it this far in the process, then I begin the grunt work. Often times in this step I don’t put enough time or thought into the actual design hoping that the idea alone will carry the project. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Good ideas are one thing, but good implementation is what every startup needs.
Step 4: Loss of Interest - Inevitably I wind up here. For some reason I always become discouraged with my projects. If the idea is good enough to outlast this stage then maybe I’ll put a half-hearted version of my idea online. If not, then most likely the idea is scrapped and I am left with yet another unaccomplished item on my to do list.
Perhaps you have an actual success story about how you made your millions. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong 
This pretty much sums it up.
Comment by Butch — May 28, 2008 @
This is not at all an uncommon pattern, but don’t look at it with too much distress. Sometimes (such as in my case) my success came not from what i thought I was going to do, but from something incidental that ended up being much more powerful. In my case, it is particularly ironic that my success was built on from what I lacked, rather than from what I had! Happy to tell you all about it sometime.
Mark
Comment by Mark Spencer — June 7, 2008 @
hey Mark. Thanks for the comment. I’d love to hear more about your story. Actually, I’m vaguely familiar with your company and asterisk but that’s about where it stops. How were you first able to leverage your product into the success it is today?
Comment by Brandon — June 7, 2008 @
Actually, Asterisk was created because I couldn’t afford a phone system for Linux Support Services. It wasn’t until a couple of years into the business that it became apparent that Asterisk was the much more interesting thing and we changed the name of the company to Digium and started selling things around Asterisk. I’d say the success of Asterisk was built upon its pragmatic design, its being open source in a market that was incredibly ripe for it, and most importantly because of an almost impossibly long list of contributors — both code and non-code related — who helped influence the company and make recommendations that made it work. I’m fortunate because Huntsville is a town of many entrepreneurs and a town where there is a strong ethic of sharing and mentorship that brings them together to help get a new round of entrepreneurs going. If you’re ever up this way, let me know.
Mark
Comment by Mark Spencer — June 8, 2008 @