New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

Tyler Smart March 19, 2011

Mr. Myers,


I am a Ruby on Rails programmer (something I recommend everyone learn! :)) and am following the bootstrap startup scene (aka Steve Blank)
I am curious as to whether you have ever read the book by 37 Signals and David Heinemeier Hansson, Getting Real. I am a software developer and am considering my own venture using their model. http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

Their thought seem to be "let's underdo our competitors and deliver solid, working software that simplifies the problem"


At least, that's what I get about it. They also seem to take the approach of "who needs VC? Just sell your product." See the lecture here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY

What are your thoughts?

Wade Myers March 21, 2011

Much of what they espouse is good. My recommendation is to start with real customers and real problems rather than launching a venture around a software development process and a problem that just you experience.

On the funding aspect, whether or not you require external financing has everything to do with the size, cost, and speed of your launch which you should carefully plan out with multiple scenarios.

Tyler Smart March 24, 2011

Thank you Mr. Meyers for responding. I have enjoyed the DVD lecture series from New Venture Labs.

I know people take money to scale the product, but in our case once the SaS product is built, it is a matter of acquiring more customers, not adding features. I suppose people take money for that reason as well, to become fulltime salesmen?

In any case, we are still in the customer development stage, so for us it is a moot point :)

James Barnes April 12, 2011

Hi, in this webinar you mentioned that you read a lot of stories on the internet. What are some the best blogs, websites, ect. you would recommended reading?