Strong Opinions @marksbirch: What Startups Are Like
What they’re not telling you is how liberating and affirming creating and nurturing your own vision into a business is. (Maybe they have no idea?)
Here is a collection of uplifting and heartwarming words of encouragement from the most sage voices in the tech startup world as you begin your own entrepreneurial journey.
- Throwing yourself off a cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down. - Reif Hoffman
- Being an entrepreneur is…
3 days ago - 
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This blog post is on the HackerNews Popular List right now:
http://boondainc.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/i-dropped-over-40-grand-when-i-could-have-spent-100/
While I absolutely understand the point here–and wholeheartedly subscribe to lean methodologies!–I believe Tim has overlooked a few things of great importance:
1. The survey question was worded in a way that’s potentially off-putting to female consumers.
2. Secondarily, I would like to hear more about HOW they were trying to create and offer that perfect fit.
3. By asking busy, high-income women to take time to measure themselves (which is a wildly unenjoyable experience, just FYI) you’ve asked them to trade a very precious commodity: time. Plus add in discomfort, then a possible trust issue with the “security” of that data.
4. Also: the richest women are over 35.
The truth is, women who wear sizes 0-12 just don’t find fit to be an insurmountable obstacle—it’s more of an inconvenience. Meanwhile, Plus Size women (size 14+), who actually make up 67% of the US population and spend $18B a year on apparel, DO find fit to be a huge problem.
So, at AbbeyPost we’re solving that problem. Partly by creating a “perfect fit” tool. The results in our target market’s responses are almost diametrically opposite Tim’s. Why? Because we’re solving a HARD problem, for an underserved (dare I say, nearly desperate?) market.
Just some food for thought on product-market fit.