Getting Real

Today I thought I would tell you about a book that has helped me a lot. It is a book that made me see challenges in a completely different way. The book also gave excellent tips on everything from business model to product development. Like many others, I could get caught up in small problems instead of taking a step back and working on important things.

A selection from the book

Chapter four, build less. Here the author talks about the importance of developing less and focusing on what is essential. It’s easy to create a web service that adds a lot of unnecessary functionality that is not needed to complete the service. Dare to minimize functionality is an important quality to have with you.

Chapter six found yourself. Not bringing in external capital may sound silly. But there are several good reasons for this. It is better to avoid this and ensure that you have a working business model before doing this.

Chapter 19, scale later. I do not know how many projects I have sat in discussions about building a scalable solution. If you need to scale and have a working business model, then this is not a problem. But do not do it until you need it.

Chapter 32, avoid preferences. When creating a service, avoid eligibility as much as possible. Make it simple. You know best, too much choice can only do something that is merely complex and confusing.

Chapter 68, Hollywood launch. Instead of adding sporadic marketing. Make a Hollywood launch — 1) Teaser, 2) Preview, and 3) Launch. A cost-effective method that many startup companies today use. It is a working model.

This is just a selection of what is mentioned in the book. I can recommend that you read it. You can read it in one day without any problems.

The book I am talking about is called Getting Real and can be read for free. Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson wrote the book.

You can read it online for free here Getting Real — A must-read for anyone building a web app.