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Jack of All Trades
Posted on Sunday, April 18, 2010 - 20:28 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
In Poker a Jack is as good or better than about 3/4  (OK 76.92%) of the cards in the deck, losing only to Queen, King, and Ace.  So a “Jack of all Trades” is good at many things. The full verse is “Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one.“ Scott Adams offered “Career Advice” in July of 2007: But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: Become the best at one specific thing. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility.
Sean Murphy
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Better, Impossible, and Unthinkable Products
Posted on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - 09:31 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I think that there are better products, impossible products, and unthinkable products. Better products follow an established trajectory in an industry. They are “15 minutes ahead” and the easiest to sell…for a while. Examples include: Faster computers with larger memory Cars with better gas mileage Impossible products find a way to relax one or two constraints that designers of better products have taken as fixed.
Sean Murphy
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Saras Sarasvathy’s Effectual Reasoning Model for Expert Entrepreneurs
Posted on Sunday, February 7, 2010 - 18:47 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
Recapping ideas, papers, and books that had changed my life yesterday reminded me of Saras Sarasvathy’s Effectual Reasoning Model from her 2001 paper “What Makes Entrepreneur’s Entrepreneurial” (There is an annotated version on the Khosla Ventures site at http://www.khoslaventures.com/presentations/What_makes_entrepreneurs_ent... ) What follows are some quotes from “W
Sean Murphy
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George Grellas on Insightful vs. “Window Dressing” Advisory Boards
Posted on Sunday, October 25, 2009 - 19:17 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
George Grellas is an attorney in Cupertino whose firm has specialized in business and corporate law for more than 25 years. He has a number of excellent articles on startup legal issues “Startup Law 101 Series” including “Ten Essential Legal Tips for a Startup Team in Formation” that any team of two or more entrepreneurs should read. He posts on Hacker News from time to time and in response to a question “Should Your Startup Have an Advisory Board” posted a very cogent set of tips that have yet to make it to his website.
Sean Murphy
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8 Tips for Evaluating Funding Alternatives
Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - 00:03 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
Many entrepreneurs planning their first software startup get stuck on funding and ownership issues. Here are some simple rules of thumb that may help you reframe an issue: Revenue, especially break even revenue, is never dilutive of your ownership. The right co-founders, while dilutive, substantially increase your chances of success: they give you a smaller piece of a much more valuable pie. Paying customers are real proof that there is demand for your product.
Sean Murphy
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Time is the Limiting Resource for Bootstrappers, Not Money
Posted on Friday, October 16, 2009 - 11:45 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I think a bootstrapper’s true scarce resource is time. Determining how to be most effective with how you spend your time is more important than spending too many cycles on trying to save nickels. As a side effect of cutting out ineffective activities you will tend to cut unnecessary expenses. “Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.” Samuel Smiles
Sean Murphy
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Eleven Work Weeks–Or Less–Left in 2009
Posted on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 - 23:10 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
I blogged about end of year issues last November in “6 Work Weeks or Less in 2008” and I thought I would issue the “Warning Dates in Calendar are Closer Than They Appear” a little earlier this year because a lot of new businesses need to take action in the next few weeks to get ready for 2010.
Sean Murphy
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Sign-up for Software Startup Checklist Seminar at Silicon Valley Code Camp
Posted on Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 01:12 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
With Athol Foden’s encouragement I have submitted the following session (links added) for this year’s Silicon Valley Code Camp: Software Startup Maturity Checklist This session is for both aspiring and active entrepreneurs. We will walk through a 36 point checklist that covers Product Development, Customer Development, and Business Operations.
Sean Murphy
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The Limits of “I Know It When I See It”
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 - 18:56 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
Both engineering and entrepreneurship alternate exploration and verification cycles to develop a solution that satisfies a customer’s need. Both of these rely on the scientific method of “observation, hypothesis formation, prediction, and experimentation” to develop and validate testable theories, engineering solutions, and profitable products.
Sean Murphy
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Athol Foden at Friday May 8 Bootstrapper Breakfast in Milpitas
Posted on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 12:33 by Sean Murphy from the site SKMurphy
Athol Foden  of Brighter Naming is our guest speaker Friday May 8 for the Bootstrapper Breakfast™ at 7:30am at the Omega Restaurant in Milpitas. Athol has over 16 years of experience helping clients name companies, products, services, and taglines. Athol’s opening remarks will be followed by a question and answer session on developing the right name. His website has a number of excellent articles on name generators, characteristics of good names, and naming biases and influences. His “Top 10 Characteristics of Good Name” is an excellent place to start.
Sean Murphy
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