Ryan | Ryan Kuder - subscribed blogs

garry says...

Nov 24, 2009

Subscribe

You don't really need those features... yet.

It’s tempting to look at any dot com success and assume that all the features they have today are what made them take off. It’s almost never the case.

In fact, most of the success stories launched with what seems to be an impossibly small set of features. For example, when Basecamp launched in 2004, it didn’t support file uploads. Their solution was to let you upload a file to your own server, and then hotlink it. Sounds ridiculous now, doesn’t it? Nor for that matter could you receive notifications by email, edit a comment that has been posted, reply by email, or assign a date to a to-do item. Put simply, they didn’t start out the way you see them today. They were just getting started.

Similarly Amazon launched in 1994, but only added book reviews in 1996; they focused on getting users first. They didn’t add CDs until 1998, and it was 2001 before they even posted a profit. It’s easy to ignore this, and look at their success from this point onwards, but you’re not starting out where they are today. You’re just getting started.

via contrast.ie

I need to remind myself of this sometimes. We are just getting started. There are must-haves and there are nice-to-haves. And the things that are burning in your heart to get into the product may not always fall into must-have.

That being said -- keep rolling.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comment (11) »

garry says...

Nov 05, 2009

Subscribe

Get things done. More building, less talking: A simple rule of thumb for raising money.

We're impressed by teams that get things done, and unimpressed by teams haven't even started to build something. I've often found myself thinking, "If you think this is so great an idea, why haven't you spent some weekends building a version 0 prototype?"

--Trevor Blackwell, partner at Y Combinator, via news.ycombinator.com

Seriously, whether you're raising pre-seed from YC, seed from angels, or Series A from VC's, you've got to get moving.

This is not college admissions -- nobody is here to pat you on the head. If you want to get ahead, you've got to build, build, build. A great idea on its own is worthless without a team that can make it real.

Filed under: startups, venture capital

Loading mentions Retweet

Comment (15) »

Mona says...

Nov 05, 2009

Subscribe

Just When I Thought I Couldn't Love Google More...

via google.com

My favorite :) C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!

Filed under: Permanently filed under: LOVE

Loading mentions Retweet

Comment (1) »

Chris says...

Nov 02, 2009

Subscribe

An international school in India with a message for the world

I spent seven years of my life right here in Woodstock School, Mussoorie, India.

To my mind, this is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth, 7000 ft up in the Himalayas. But actually that's not the most important thing about it. I was invited back there this past week to give a speech to the students, and had a chance to say something I'd wanted to say for years. I told them this:

The last time I was in this hall was in 1970 when I was in the 8th grade. And if you could zoom a camera back through time to that seat right there, you would have seen a shy, geeky, overweight kid wearing badly-fitting clothes and spending an unhealthy amount of time bemoaning the fact that none of the cute girls would go out with him.

But if you could have somehow continued to zoom the camera right inside the head of that 8th grader you'd have seen something strage. You'd see that something subtle had happened to his brain, something that was directly attributable to his experience of being at Woodstock, something that would profoundly shape his future. And I'm not talking about Math or Social Studies. I'm talking about something that few of the world's children get to experience.

Most kids grow up with people who, by and large, are like them. Same town, same country, same color, same income level, same cultural assumptions. At Woodstock... not so much. When you first come here, it's a jolt, isn't it? Admittedly it's one of the world's most beautiful places, but you have to mix with kids from what, 25 countries? And some of them seem downright weird. But then over the months and years, you get to know each other. You learn their stories, they learn yours... and without even really thinking about it, you learn that those superficial differences of race, nationality, color really don't matter that much. We're all just people. We all laugh, we all cry, we all love, we all bleed.

Now tragically that way of thinking puts you in a small minority of earth's people. After you've been here a while it seems strange anyone could think any other way. But they do. When I went back to England for a year aged 8 I was baffled when they beat me up for being born in Pakistan. I didn't get how anyone could be so prejudiced. But actually most people are. And it's not because they're evil. It's because they're human.

Psychologists think that there are distinct brain circuits that drive two very different modes of thought in regards to other people. We can treat them empathetically as humans we identify with, where the watchwords are: respect, kindness, compassion ...or as outsiders who we view as 'other' where the watchwords are fear, intolerance and disdain. The first category are granted moral consideration, the latter are threats to be dealt with. Now these two modes of thought are present in every human and depending which one is active, people will behave very differently.

It is of crucial importance to the world's future as to which mode of thought becomes dominant. Here's the thing. The difference between them is not hardwired. It's possible for a child to learn to gradually expand the circle of people she or he can identify with. It might start with just family and friends, but gradually it can extend to the local village, or town or country or race or religiion, or even, just maybe beyond that to the entire human family.

There are probably many things that can cause this change, and finding out what they are might just be the most important educational research agenda there is. But I'm certain of this: that one of the most profound and lasting impacts of a Woodstock education is indeed a dramatically extended circle of empathy. You come to think of the world differently from many others. You love your friends who look so different from you. You're appalled when you hear people mouthing ignorant, offensive generalities about other races or religions.

Now in the past, this has often caused Woodstock students problems. They returned to their countries and found themselves the odd ones out. They struggled to connect with the values and assumptions of their peers. I did. Some of my classmates did. But I think that's changing. Here's why. The world is getting ever more inter-connected. Driven by the Internet, telecommunication in the 21st century doesn't know any borders. Neither does trade. Neither does terrorism. Neither does the atmosphere. It's becoming ever more obvious that all of our main problems ... and also all of our opportunities... can only be tackled by people taking a global perspective.

In the future, those who use the language of fear and ignorance to stigmatize others will be increasingly regarded as backward, small-thinkers. The future belongs to global souls. To people like you. Because the true global souls are those who don't just talk it... they feel it. They know in their core that the only concept of "WE" that matters is the one that includes everyone.

Look, I don't just mean all this in a kumbaya knd of way. This is real and because of where the world's heading, it's actually going to help you in life.

Certainly, the Woodstock-inspired global soul instinct has been very good to me. When my life in England started feeling too small and I felt America calling... that was Woodstock. It opened doors of opportunity I could never otherwise have discovered. When I took over the TED conference and decided, with my team, that the content was so good it had to be shared freely with the world... that was Woodstock. It turned out beautifully with millions around the world now participating in an event that had been closed. And when just this year we started giving permission to people around the world to organize their own TED events so that already in year one 40,000 people in 50 countries have met locally to celebrate the power of ideas... that was Woodstock.

I owe this place an extraordinary debt of gratitude. And whether or not you feel it right here right now, I promise you, you will too.

So that's my message. Think long and hard about this amazing gift you're receiving here. Without really trying, you are becoming a global soul. A child of the future. Cherish that. Be thrilled by it. You and your classmates are on the winning side here. The world's ready for you. It needs you. Good luck.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comment (39) »

garry says...

Sep 20, 2009

Subscribe

Urgency: For early stage startup founders, you live and die by it.

At the exact moment you had your idea, ten other people had the exact same idea. There was just something in the environment that made it the right time for folks to think that one up. The race has already begun! Who’s going to execute first? Who’s going to execute best? If you want to waste nine months trying to raise VC money for that idea, great. But six months in, you’re gonna cry when you see someone else put out that same product you’re pitching me right now. Like I said, forget everything else and just get your product out the door. Now.

--Seth Sternberg, Meebo via techcrunch.com

Awesome article over at techcrunch -- must-read for the creators out there.

Get. Your. Product. Out. The. Door.

Filed under: startups

Loading mentions Retweet

Comment (8) »

UniqueVisitor says...

Sep 18, 2009

Subscribe

Online Identity Fragmentation + The Dilution Of "Friend" = Problem / Opportunity

Over the last several months I've been thinking a lot about online identity fragmentation and whether it's a problem or not. You know, Twitter account here, Facebook account over there, Flickr account around the corner, and so on. Sometimes they're linked, most often times not. There are at least six companies working on ideas that in some form will aggregate your various accounts in to one "social media hub" and provide an integrated stream of all your and your friend's online activities. That's all well and good but it misses the bigger problem/opportunity. In short, it's necessary but not sufficient.

At the same time, I've been talking with my friend Chris Arkenberg about how Twitter and Facebook (especially) have unintentionally contributed to the degradation of the definition of the word "friend" and how none of the popular social networking/social media sites give users the ability to indicate the strength of the ties between you and your friends/followers. As a result, the ability of 3rd parties to determine or infer levels of influence/trust/reputation/etc between you and your "friends" is seriously constrained.

The intersection of these two is filled with multiple opportunities. People have been asking me what projects I'm working on lately - this is one of them.

Filed under: Social Media

Loading mentions Retweet

garry says...

Sep 10, 2009

Subscribe

The Joy of Minimalism: I removed something from my bike that I didn't need, and cycling got more awesome

For Christmas last year, my little brother built me a single speed / fixed gear bike. He was kind enough to add both front and rear brakes, so I could get up to speed with riding it without, uh, dying. I started riding single speed -- it felt like I always had the wrong gear. Too slow, too fast. I was bored.

Then I started riding fixed-gear. Its true what they say: You feel more in touch with the road and the bike. But I still had front and rear brakes -- and I used them quite a lot, even though I didn't need to. I still hadn't broken with my non-fixie habits.

Today, I removed the rear brake. I took off the whole mechanism -- cable, calipers, everything. (I kept the front brake just to be safe.) The bike looks a LOT cleaner. But that's not interesting. What matters: It changed my entire cycling experience. I'm right handed, and the rear brake handle was on the right side of the handlebar -- so now that it was gone, the urge to brake went away. I regulated my speed according to my surroundings. I didn't brake. I way more free to just roll naturally, as I had one less knob or control to worry about. It was liberating.

When it comes to software and products of all kinds -- think about what removing a rear brake might do. There are so many needless dialogs, radio buttons, menus, alerts, gradients, drop shadows, mouseovers, text, icons, lines, boxes, and so on. Its absurd. Every single element in a UI exerts some cognitive load -- some weight on the brain. Its slowing you down. You're trying to get to a destination, and all the inessential UI is just screaming for more of your precious brain power.

Get rid of the things you don't need. Keep the things you do. Yes, you can add to the experience by subtracting.

Filed under: fixed gear bikes, minimalism, product design

Loading mentions Retweet

Comment (22) »

Scotty says...

Sep 05, 2009