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New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 1,552 posts.
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Closure. "I had the only farm capable of nuclear weapons design."
For those that know me, I’m kind of a “life is too short” kind of guy. I liked to fail fast, move on, and not look back. However, in catching up with the VP of Sales of Ardent last night, I was rem…
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Presenting Founder Collective
programming, philosophy, history, internet, startups
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Steve Blank: Relentless – The Difference Between Motion And Action
Never mistake motion for action. -Ernest Hemingway One of an entrepreneur’s greatest strengths is their relentless pursuit of a goal. But few realize how this differs from most of the population. W…
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The returns to entrepreneurship
I was at dinner the other night with a group of entrepreneurs. One told the story of a 27-year-old whiz kid whose company will likely exit for $500M – $1B – the business now being less than two years old. You can imagine the effect that this had on the brilliant, hardworking 35+ entrepreneurs in the group, who have…
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Having Co-founders Is Valuable But Not Crucial
Many experts, including my personal hero Paul Graham, strongly advise against founding a company on your own: All investors, without exce...
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Figuring out what your company is all about
What is your company about? Recently I got inspired by Kathy Sierra, whose blog Creating Passionate Users and Head First series of books revolutionized developer education. She kept saying the same…
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The most important question to ask before taking seed money (from VCs)
programming, philosophy, history, internet, startups
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What’s in a name – Tips for naming your startup
Essays by Thomas Petersen
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What Startups Are Really Like
October 2009 (This essay is derived from a talk at the 2009 Startup School.) I wasn't sure what to talk about at Startup School, so I decided to ask the founders of the startups we'd funded. What hadn't I written about yet? I'm in the unusual position of being able to test the essays I write about startups. I hope the…
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The Ideal Startup Career Path
programming, philosophy, history, internet, startups
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Starting a business isn't as crazy and risky as they say
If you're thinking about starting a new venture right now, you need to understand the risks, but you need the real risks. The truth (as always) lies between baseless off-hand remarks about how "95% of businesses fail" (false!) and those startup blogs that show only the rosy side of things.
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Rich vs. King in the Real World: Why I sold my company
Reflecting on selling Smart Bear in 2007, offering insights for entrepreneurs facing similar decisions.
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You Know You’re Getting Close to Your Customers When They Offer You a Job
In 1985 Ardent Computer was determined to create a market niche for personal supercomputers. To understand our potential markets, we started by analyzing the marketing literature from Cray Research…
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Supercomputer Porn - Letting your competitors do your market research for you
As VP of Marketing at our new startup, the CEO literally threw me out of the building and told me not to return until I understood the market and could identify the key applications and customers f…