Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/19/stealth-startupsget-over-yourselves-nobody-cares-about-your-secrets/

Since there is only one Steve Jobs who makes things before you know you want one, talking to as many potential customers as possible will help you focus on what to build first.
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Comments

  1. I agree with this Thomas – nice post!

  2. Jonathan Buford says:

    I also agree, but I think you also have to balance out how much time you put into promotion. I don’t think that the traditional stealth mode of working in absolute closure will get you anywhere, but it is also tricky figuring out how much time to spend with making those connections and fostering them. This is particularly true when the company is only a couple of people who are having to handle all aspects of getting the company up and growing.

  3. Some of us programmers (others too I suppose) are not good at handling criticism on a work in progress… and will just vigorously defend our incomplete work and say “You’ll like it when I finish it” anyways.I think it’s more of the ability to find people to get feedback, and to accept it – then to change something that they have decided previously. The stealth mode thing is more like an excuse I think – “I’m set with how I want this done, now just let me get to work”I can definitely see myself like that :)

  4. Jonathan Buford says:

    Very true and is a cycle that is difficult to break out of. I don’t think anyone likes criticism. I guess the best approach for this is to get trained up to where it is all about focusing on the improvement that comes out of the feedback, rather than thinking of it as criticism.