A Web Developer’s Critique of Start-Ups: Two Things Entrepreneurs Do Wrong

Photo atop piece is adapted from “Mistakes” by Chris Brown (Flickr, Creative Commons).

Much of the online writing about start-ups comes from entrepreneurs starting up their own companies. Quite often, the more exciting perspectives tell the tales of either well-funded VC efforts or shoestring-budget miracles that somehow took off. This article will offer a slightly different view that I hope many entrepreneurs will appreciate.

You see, one of the first things a start-up does once it gets going is where my company comes into play. Yep, they need a web site. Usually they have the domain already by the time I talk with them, but the actual web site design and development comes up next. It could be a placeholder site for whenever their new platform is ready, or maybe it’s the platform itself that needs development. It all depends.

Not many of these are VC / angel investor / super-funded efforts. Nor are many of them asking for web site development in exchange for equity or some other barter. Most are just normal business people with an idea — or, I should say, a “vision.”

Now, I’m a self-employed guy myself, so I certainly understand how business works. And yes, I’ve worked in corporate America, too — even put in some time at some serious players like Deloitte and Simon & Schuster, to name drop a few. So, I can appreciate even the most demanding executive…