Curtis Yarvin wrote in a blog post announcing his departure from Urbit, that building a product is like an annealing process. It starts as gas (an idea, amorphous and unconstrained) and ends in metal (a product in the hands of users). In the process, it can cool too fast causing structural weakness requiring heat to temper it (iteration and refinement).
See also:
- Product work is hard because it necessitates change
- The number one job of a startup CEO is finding product market fit
Links to this note
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Why Product Engineering Always Feels Kind of Wrong
Something I’ve noticed about building products over the years is that it always feels like I’m doing it wrong. At the same time, it’s a clue about what’s really going on and what to do about it.
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A Cathedral for Creation a Bazaar for Growth
There are two approaches for creating something of significance, the cathedral and the bazaar. The cathedral is best for creation and the bazaar is best for growth.
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An algorithm for working on hard problems is to shake and pull. Complex systems and problems are like a tangled up wire that by shaking (introducing randomness to open new paths) and pulling (stretching the system so there are no tangles) you can solve the problem quickly. If you were to pull without shaking you would tighten the knots which is like going depth first. If you were to only shake you wouldn’t actually try any new solutions.
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You Should Be Able to Get from Seed to Series a on Your Network Alone
Most early founder-led sales will come from the founder’s personal network. Once you are bootstrapped with a few customers, you should also receive referrals from them (if you are not, that’s a signal that you don’t have something people love). For B2B startups charging high 5 figures, low 6 figures per installation, you should be able to close all of the sales you need (learning and adjusting along the way) to get from seed stage to raising your series A.