Allegory on bootstrapping (opens in new tab)

(blog.limedaring.com)

20 pointshyfen12y ago4 comments

4 comments

The problem with allegories is that you can use them as a way to say something in a way that both belabors the actual point and uses some bad metaphor that really doesn't have much to do with what you're actually talking about. That's why they're kind of hard to do.

Instead of stuff like this, could you just say what you're saying? Tell us about your actual experience. What's your product? Who are/were your competitors? How did you slowly add features to your product whilst holding onto customers in the face of much more well-funded competition? I'm assuming that, as a founder, you have concrete stories to tell, here, that might be quite helpful. As is, it's too vague to be of any use.

Otherwise, this post would have the exact same informational content if you just wrote:

"I took things slowly with my product, but it's getting better bit by bit, and I'm okay with that."

limedaring12y ago

Sometimes it's fun to write a story, rather than a lesson. :)

I've written more about my startup experiences here with less prose and more instruction:

* http://blog.limedaring.com/why-im-an-entrepreneur

* http://www.limedaring.com/the-worst-enemy-to-my-startup-is-d...

* http://www.limedaring.com/im-a-designer-who-learned-django-a...

brd12y ago

I think the take away here is that although competitors may push a faster pace, they can fizzle out faster too. This is basically the startup version of the tortoise and the hare.

I appreciate the reminder that slow and steady is ok even though its not what you generally read about.

mindcrime12y ago

That's the same thing I took away from this story, and I also appreciated the reminder. This story might not appear, on the surface, to have a high degree of "information content" or whatever, but it's still useful as is.

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