I'm sceptical about the usefulness of the dataset. One of the first things we learn as startup founders (or interns for Dr House) is that if you ask a person to analyse or predict their own behaviour, chances are the answer is way off. Even upon careful reflection and introspection, too many biases are at play.
I first learned this doing customer development for our current startup. We surveyed potential customers until almost being arrested at a private conference. We thought "this time is different" because we planned to validate the concept until we went numb. But we relied too much on others' self-assessments.
I'm not suggesting self-assessment is pointless (clearly it underpins our personal development), but rather in fleeting engagements with people who lack vested interest (e.g. surveys), it can do more harm than good.
Additionally, I found the Startup Genome survey so long-winded that my answers ended up being rubbish. It would have taken all day to get passed my own biasses and really think through that many questions. I understand there's more to the project than the survey, but that's the part I'm particularly sceptical about.
I first learned this doing customer development for our current startup. We surveyed potential customers until almost being arrested at a private conference. We thought "this time is different" because we planned to validate the concept until we went numb. But we relied too much on others' self-assessments.
I'm not suggesting self-assessment is pointless (clearly it underpins our personal development), but rather in fleeting engagements with people who lack vested interest (e.g. surveys), it can do more harm than good.
Additionally, I found the Startup Genome survey so long-winded that my answers ended up being rubbish. It would have taken all day to get passed my own biasses and really think through that many questions. I understand there's more to the project than the survey, but that's the part I'm particularly sceptical about.