Andrew Hyde - Latest Comments

Re: Everlater Announces Funding from Highway 12 Ventures

hubs — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:40:28 -0000

Pretty cool. But 20 minutes? ouch.

Re: Who Will Hire Don Dodge?

hubs — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:39:36 -0000

IBM

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

Brian — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:17:12 -0000

I say go for it! You have a lot of friends who are interested to hear, happy to provide input, and willing to help out in any way possible. Being open is the best way to connect with people and build that kind of micro-community.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

PStamatiou — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:50:10 -0000

I'm looking forward to keeping up with your journey Andrew!

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

chipd — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:28:33 -0000

Where do I sign up? :)

Re: Who Will Hire Don Dodge?

Don Dodge — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:18:40 -0000

Andrew, You are pretty close. There are several more big companies that might be interesting; amazon (cloud), Cisco (cloud/collaboration), and AOL.

There is also the Venture Capital path. There are several VC firms that could be interesting.

Lots to consider. I'll let you know when I have narrowed down the choices.

Don

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

Dan Moore — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:05:29 -0000

Hey,

Love the idea; but a bit worried that
* the publicity might be a distraction from the work
* 3-4 months wouldn't be long enough
* your 'safety net' at TS at the end of 4 months might be detrimental

I'm not sure that you're setting yourself up for success, and from what I've seen, startups are too much work not to knock down every obstacle you can.

That said, I love the idea of following you through the ups and downs. As a bonus, this has 'book deal' written all over it, methinks.

Dan

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

Kay Hebbourn — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:51:52 -0000

Brilliant Read

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

Kay Hebbourn — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:51:14 -0000

Absolutely Brilliant a really good and honest account

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

billmcneely — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:10:26 -0000

Andrew,

Can the production crew of "The Founders" follow you along the way? Something similar to Startup.com?

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

alabut — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:48:25 -0000

I'd love to see it in action because I was considering doing the same thing for 14gears, especially if we go through the ycombinator session. I've often wondered about the nuts and bolts of the program and it doesn't have fancy video segments like techstars :)

We found out today that we made it to the interviews in a few weeks - wish us luck!

(apologies for the cross post)

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

Jan Kabili — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:33:35 -0000

Absolutely terrific idea. Please do it.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

mattmazur — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:25:58 -0000

Andrew, this is a great idea. It would definitely help those of us who, like you, look at the cloudy slopes with excitement and wonder what lies ahead.

Go go go!

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

dar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:24:24 -0000

Courageous if not fearless. Can't think of a more positive or trustworthy person to provide insight into the startup process. Your productivity will set an example. Upvote for .(dot)hyde. No one can copy it.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

stp — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:03:50 -0000

I attempted something like this, although had a spin on it [Ringside Startup]. http://blog.stevepoland.com/day-1-320-the-press...

This would be great if you could do it. I just find at this point [doing a startup myself], that I do have competitors, [that have already launched], and I don't want to expose any secret sauce of mine... or my current pace/etc.

But I can't recall anyone publicly blogging about their excitements, fears, let downs, ups, etc... through an entire startup process. The best thing we have is the documentary 'startup.com', which was wonderful.... had all the juice you want in a story -- long hours, big wins, bankruptcy, long-time friendship jeopardized, etc.

Also, your business plan will likely change... you might change the main focus of your startup.. you may want to consider not using a public name for it, but rather "Project Hyde". That way, no one along the way puts a preconceived notion of what 'XYZ' is [or was], despite it changing throughout the months.

Private beta's seem to work well; to get some honest feedback, etc.

But I, as others, would love to read about the lessons and funding process, etc.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

hkoren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:01:45 -0000

It's a great idealistic principal, but has a bunch of devils in the details. Who owns it? How do you control for the quality of the participants? How do you assess the value contributed by each members participation?
How open do you make it? Open Source? Who ultimately makes the decisions, is it a dictatorship or a democracy? Does its openness give you a competitive advantage or disadvantage? Do you open yourself to being copycatted?
I can imagine a google wave pluggin designed to answer all these questions would be an open startup project in itself.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

anulman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:43:58 -0000

You bet I'm interested in this. In fact, I'm doing the same thing! It'll be great to "compare notes."

(Though you're DEFINITELY more experienced than I...)

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

andrewhyde — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:06:17 -0000

Would love to chat, calling now :)

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

ZingerSteve — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:04:37 -0000

It not only sounds like something I want to follow, but something I'd want to do! I've been thinking that with my startup, I need to engage more with the customer community. Being more transparent about the process of building the service and company may be the ticket. I'm really interested in what you have to share.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

ericaogrady — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:46:21 -0000

This reminds me a lot of BareNakedWebApp - the project that Ryan Carson did a few years ago - and I say go for it. With that in mind - I think I might still own the domain BareNakedStartup if you'd like to use if (of course I have to check and make sure I renewed it).

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

avirajsaluja — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:42:54 -0000

This sounds fantastic, Andrew. Count me in for the ride. Oh, and good luck!

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

yanphun — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:39:29 -0000

I have been learning a lot from web-designers like Andy Clarke who open up their design process and seek for feedbacks to further improve the design process. There are plenty of tiny details which are usually not obvious or not shown in most of the web-design tutorials especially for stuff like how they first setup their files, or how they mockup and plan the various comps.

This is usually not seen in startups. It would be good if we can get a peek behind the scene of the journey of the startup. I believe that there are a lot to learn, especially in the details and experiences. Looking forward to your journey sharing. =)

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

Ryan Howell — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:38:18 -0000

I think it's a GREAT idea. Let me know if I can help.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

brentspore — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:35:57 -0000

Sounds like Starving Designer but for startups... LOVE IT! kudos bro. Let me know how I can help along the way.

Re: Being Open and Honest About Startup Process

BrettBorders — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:33:16 -0000

I'd be interested in reading more because I have my own real, viable startup idea. Something I think will really make it, something i KNOW there is a burning need for. The mountain is tall, my income is modest, my time is limited... my work is demanding. .but I know I can do it!