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Usually we advise startups to launch when they've built something with a quantum of utility—when they've built something sufficiently better than existing options that at least some users would say "I'm glad this appeared, because now I can finally do x." If what you've built is a subset of existing technology at the same price, then users have no reason to try it, which means you don't get to start the conversation with them. You need a quantum of utility to get a toehold.

Since there are a large number of points on the perimeter of most existing technologies at which one could push outward to create a quantum blister, what to build first is one of the most important questions we talk about. The general answer is to pick something where the product of how fast it can be built and how excited users would be about it is high. (How excited is distinct from how many would be excited.) But in practice the answer tends to be very specific to each startup. The goal is for office hours to end with the founders having a clear direction and saying "OK, we'll go build x." That goal is almost always achieved, though in practice about 10% of the time x turns out to be a bad idea and we have to go back to the drawing board.

Data Mining: Automated data mining and screen scraping software still requires a human to verify and correct the data.

 
• Verify names, titles, phone numbers, and email addresses.
• Gather company addresses with the URL you provide.
• Complete missing fields based on information you provide.
• Update and correct formatting.
 

 

Ever wondered why Firefox and OpenOffice work better on Windows?

Linux is a complete, irreparable mess the moment you go further than the command line. That’s why server and embedded Linux is doing just fine, and desktop Linux is nowhere to be found.