Technology Looking For A Problem

All too often you have, especially here in Silicon Valley, the case of “technology looking for a problem” — some brilliant hacker comes up with a super-clever solution for… what? And so the search begins. Meanwhile the hacker is doing what he knows best — make an even…

A Problem Worth Solving

I recently received the following question on the art of finding a problem worth solving: “I feel many entrepreneurs are not solving real problems; instead they invent some imaginary problem in order to justify their solutions. Why is that? Can it be that all problems have been solved…

Second System Effect

One of our fellow Heretic tribe members asked: “At what point should an entrepreneur consider splitting a single product into different products (because of too many functions being added)?”

Startups Are Not Hard Science

I had an interesting discussion this morning with an early stage VC. He cares deeply about entrepreneurs and their success (not only the ones in his portfolio but in general) — he’s truly one of us. We talked about how founders often search for a playbook; something which…

Speed is your Superpower and Kryptonite

Speed is often your only advantage in a startup. Simply given your sheer size (or lack thereof), your nimbleness, your grit, your willingness to do what it takes to get shit done — you can easily outcompete even some of the biggest, baddest mega-companies in…

Reject Group Thinking

Are you working on something which requires creativity? Say your marketing campaign, a clever algorithm or your new business model?

Then think about this: Decisive, breakthrough creative decision-making is almost always made by one, two, or possibly three minds…

Chaotic Discontinuity

A while ago one of our fellow Heretics asked me about my opinion on “The Internet of Things” — how real is it, when will it come, what does it mean?

For me the whole space suffers from a “meme stigma”: We have been talking about smart fridges (literally) for such a…