A fantastic set of notes from Peter Thiel’s CS:183 class on startups. This session was specifically about distribution and Blake has 18 more class sessions worth of notes.
Tag Archives: business
The employee is the company. Meet someone who treats you like you are a visiting alien from Uranus, and you will have a low opinion of the company. When a salesperson is rude, the company is rude. But when an employee provides outstanding service, we view the company itself as outstanding.
Ilya Lichtenstein on the Fear of Money:
Their fear is justified, because the second you start charging for a product, all of the bubbly bullshit falls away. The market is cold, rational, and effective. It doesn’t care about your lean startup methods, your rockstar team, or your fawning tech press. All of your assumptions, vision, business plans and pitches are irrelevant.
You’ve either built something worth paying money for, or you haven’t.
Everywhere at Once: Chef Geoff Tracy’s Data-Driven Empire. Geoff Tracy and his brother use a set of 800 standards to measure the performance of their restaurants. A couple examples:
Did Elizabeth bring your Pinot Gris within three minutes of the time you ordered it? Were your appetizers delivered within seven minutes, entrées within ten, desserts within seven? Were these plates described at the table before they were set in front of you? Were napkins refolded when you went to the restroom? Was non-bottled water referred to as “ice water” (correct) or “water” (incorrect)?
On the Market. This is a really interesting peek inside the world of fine art auctions and trading at Sotheby’s Inc.
The business of bookmarking. Maciej Ceglowski covers the basics of Pinboard’s business. Fascinating look at what goes in to making Pinboard run effectively and profitably. (via Marco Arment)
Don’t Be A Free User
What if a little site you love doesn’t have a business model? Yell at the developers! Explain that you are tired of good projects folding and are willing to pay cash American dollar to prevent that from happening. It doesn’t take prohibitive per-user revenue to… Continue reading →
Startups: Stress and Depression
What matters is that you get back to the basics — as my friend so eloquently stated — and focus on relieving stress. The hour away from work can greatly increase your productivity when you come back to the office more relaxed and fresh. Use that… Continue reading →