tdullien

Oh my. It gives me headaches to think about what "no steady state" means for the statistics of benchmarking and perf optimization.

Author here. To clarify: when I talk about dichotomy in this context, I refer to the idea that these two systems are in opposition, and that ignoring one system (and set of data) is somehow enlightened.

There's no point in denying that both emotions and rational thought exist, and that different regions in the brain are responsible for them. I do advocate pretty explicitly that all information sources should be considered when making decisions, including emotions - as a lot of them carry actual important non-verbalized information.

Point 3 was heavily influenced by reading the book "Descartes Error", fwiw, and I recommend that book to pretty much everybody.

I should add something about this, but if a market looks like a drunken bar fight, I'd probably not want to go there.

That said: A good market will become crowded quickly in either way.

Good point, will add that. Thanks!

Yeah.

Also - I use the term "coach" broadly here. Many people react very poorly to the term "therapist", and "coach" is a much broader term encompassing both therapy or just people that have significant experience in a field. Or just an older relative or acquaintance that is willing to provide regular advice/feedback.

There's definitely charlatanism, particularly when people advertise themselves as "business coach" or "startup coach".

I don't think you need 8 years to build a product people like, Prodfiler got good resonance and we built it in ~18 months, it would probably take 4 months now...

Yes. Usually, the VCs will want you to not take an extravagant salary, but a solid family with which you can keep your family comfortable. And that's normally the right bar.

And if there are liquidity pressures a few years into the process, and you have traction at Series B or C - don't hesitate to think about a small secondary.

You don't have a product until there's ~3 customers, with perspective to more. Before that you're essentially a consultant. I'll add that to the next version of the doc, too.

The point is: For anything you build, you can find 1 customer. It's only when there's multiple customers that like the product and want to improve it where you move from "consulting" or "custom development" to "product".

I will add a section. Pay yourself a salary at the very latest the moment you've raised funding. If a VC objects to you doing that, get a different VC. You're in for the long run, and support from your family etc. is important, and you're already taking on a huge risk by pooling all your risk in one company, vs. the VC who is happily diversified.

Investors who imply you shouldn't take a salary are no bueno.

Definitely - but those are normally called "development partners" in B2B, right?

Good question. I think I did it to indicate that we sold to public companies.