joshuago’s business Bookmarks

A well-articulated viewpoint that resonates: "I want to putter about, feel connected to the process, and have fun doing so. I want to make things that don’t scale. To see people tuck into them and enjoy them as people, not as stats."

The founders should end up with about 50% of the company, total. Each of the next five layers should end up with about 10% of the company, split equally among everyone in the layer.

Why would someone spend their money with you — so what is unique about you? Why would somebody work for you? Why would society allow you to operate in their defined geography — their country? And why would somebody invest their money with you?

Don't be afraid of big companies entering your market. You can move more quickly than they can. Besides, you also have the option of allying yourself with another big company. Don't get into price wars or an arms race on number of features. See what you can do to bring your users traffic and your partners money.

The value of a problem directly correlates to the time people will take to tell you about it.

It’s important for a leader to hear about his blind spots on a regular basis so working on them is periodically top of mind.

Today’s polite, pleasant personality is, above all, a commercial personality. It is the salesman’s smile and hearty handshake, because the customer is always right and you should always keep the customer happy.

Video of Steve Jobs and team during the early days of NeXT.

Most entrepreneurs pursue the question, "How can I succeed?" From day one, Packard and Hewlett pursued a different question: "What can we contribute?"

Software is eating much of the value chain of industries that are widely viewed as primarily existing in the physical world.