Yes, I know you’re a master of the web, that you’ve visited every website written in English, that you’ve been going to SXSW for ten years, that you were one of the first bloggers, you used Foursquare before it was cool and you can code in HTML in your sleep. Yes, I know that you sit in the back of the room tweeting clever ripostes when speakers are up front failing on a panel and that you had a LOLcat published before they stopped being funny.
But what have you shipped?
What have you done with your connection skills that has been worthy of criticism, that moved the dial and that changed the world?
Go, do that.
A great, short post from Seth Godin
I don’t care about “open” half as much as I care about “good”.
In most cases, the reason I don’t do special requests has to do with the customer’s reason for making it. Most of the time when a customer makes a special request, it’s not about the food but about his own desire to be in control and to establish his own specialness. Making people feel special through this kind of ass kissing is one of the services that a restaurant can provide to people who need it, but it’s not a service that I want to provide.
Shipping a 1.0 product isn’t going to kill you, but it will try
The problem with designing something that’s totally idiot proof is that society is always designing a better idiot.
The web was intended to bring us together. Yet in its first 10 years, it actually pushed us further apart.
We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products.
I’ll admit that I’ve yet to move to Fever (and right now, I’m not sure I will) however the TechCrunch quote from Inman really struck a chord with me:
The price for feed readers has bottomed out at free so anything more than that is going to turn certain people off. And I don’t mind the deterrent. Most products price to be inclusive, to make the most money possible. I designed Fever (like Mint) first and foremost for myself. Any money I make on top of the personal utility I get out of it is just icing on the cake.I also support my customers personally. Anything I can do to keep that level of support manageable helps — especially with two commercial products.
Stuart: You can use all the French you like it doesn’t make you right. Sheldon: Au contraire
Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.
© Nik Fletcher 2010 ~ Contact
