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Month: November 2022

Holiday List for Founders: The Laws that Drive Success in Technology

Holiday List for Founders: The Laws that Drive Success in Technology

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Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay

Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season and while tech never rests, those people on the money side of the table, be they potential investors, partners, or clients, do tend to slow down/take longer to make a decision or even take meetings.

As we well know, there’s little rest for the startup side of the equation, but here’s some not-necessarily-light holiday reading, the list courtesy of CBInsights, who asks, “What separates success from failure? These 11 laws contain some of the most influential ideas that the biggest tech companies use to run their operations, design business models, and build products.

Some, like Moore’s Law, have been extremely prescient. Others, like Conway’s Law, provide counterintuitive insights — such as why Microsoft sells Xbox consoles at a loss, or how Facebook became one of the most valuable companies in the world by offering a free service.” Read More...

Everything You’ve Been Told About Tech May Be Wrong

Everything You’ve Been Told About Tech May Be Wrong

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Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

At the dawn of the Age of Social, tech bros built promised the world  goodness and light – to bring the world closer together; to give everyone a voice – built walled gardens, amassed billions of users, made themselves more or less the only game in town and became a vital part of life. Which made them too big to fail.

Or so we’d been told. Often.

Yet by the end of September, Facebook’s Meta Lost Two-Thirds of Market Cap Value From 2021, NewsMax reported. Mark Zuckerberg Admits He ‘Got It Wrong’ as Meta Lays Off 11,000 Employees. At Least He Signed His Name. Twitter laid off 7500 employees – but at least Zuckerberg signed his name??? Which will no doubt make all the difference, especially once the benefits run out. Read More...

The Demise of Web 2.0: Ignoring Product-Market Fit

The Demise of Web 2.0: Ignoring Product-Market Fit

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Photo by Nicolas Cool on Unsplash

Anyone working on a startup – or an investor deck – knows that one of most important criteria to investors (besides what your company will do to ensure that they’ll see an exit at some point in their lifetime, or at all) is product-market fit, which is especially important at this juncture, given the downturn in the market. Although we will remind you once again that some of the biggest companies emerged during the worst of times.

That said, Big Tech is no more immune to the vagaries of the market and the importance of product-market fit than is anyone else, but one thing that they do have- so far – is deep pockets.

Does that really help? At Alphabet, “Revenue growth slowed to 6% from 41% a year earlier as the company contends with a continued downdraft in online ad spending,” said CNBC. It had missed analysts’ expectations. “CEO Sundar Pichai said in the statement that the company is “sharpening our focus on a clear set of product and business priorities,” while Ruth Porat, the finance chief, said “we’re working to realign resources to fuel our highest growth priorities.” So, does that mean so much for moonshots et al and, instead, sharpening the focus on what people do want, rather than what the company feels that they might or should want? Read More...