Brands have value only where consumers have choice.
If the pre-product/market-fit phase of a startup is about efficiently testing hypotheses, then continuing to test an idea only makes sense if you have a strong theory about what has gone wrong and how things will improve.
Specifically, you should have a theory about: 1) how to modify your product, 2) how to modify your marketing/distribution strategy, and/or 3) how external events (a new technology wave, cultural events, regulatory change, etc) might make your product take off.
For all its valuation, the social network is just another ad-supported site. Without an earth-changing idea, it will collapse and take down the Web.
Great work by Google using a concept video to show potential of a product. I have a feeling Google Creative Lab had a hand in this:
We believe technology should work for you — to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t. A team within our Google[x] group started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. Follow along with us at http://g.co/projectglass as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?
Once you have built your product and it’s in the market, there are only three things that matter: distribution (getting the product into users’ hands), engagement (validating that you’ve built the right product and that users are using it), and monetization (making money from those engaged users).
But frankly it’s hard for me to see how all of this does not afford opportunities to fund better entrepreneurs faster. Because that, fundamentally, is all that we do: enable the best entrepreneurs that we can find to build the best companies that they can build. As with any solid disruption, all we have to do is find a way to harness it.
No venture fund larger than $750M has ever returned more than 2.0x to its limited partner investors. Fewer than a dozen funds larger than $300M have. On the other hand, over 250 funds smaller than $300M have cleared that same bar
The default state of a startup is failure
“On the flip side, first-time entrepreneurs often fail to realize that when you build something new, no one will care. People won’t use your product, won’t tell people about it, and almost certainly won’t pay for it. (There are exceptions – but these are as rare as winning the lottery). This doesn’t mean you’ll fail. It means you need to be smarter and harder working, and surround yourself with extraordinary people.” - Chris Dixon
