[corruption]

The odds are stacked against you if you don't know the area you are in. This is because you can't control the competency of the people you hire or the work they do, so you have a random factor that has a direct and long lasting influence on your companies success.

After my first software startup I tried a hardware product and failed miserably because of my lack of knowledge. To remedy this for next time I am formally learning the areas where we failed (electronics + cad) and when I'm ready I will try again.

Theres so much that can go wrong with a startup that it's just not worth adding another element into the mix.

[tyng]

Thanks for sharing your insights. How much do I really need to "know" the area? Do you mean actually knowing what's going in the technology or just an understanding of industry/process?

I assume the next time you see an opportunity in the hardware business and want to jump onto it, you wouldn't be taking a 4 year undergrad course to know the drill.

And what's your experience of "learning by doing"?

Thanks!

[corruption]

You need enough knowledge to know when someone is making the right decision or not for your business. I run a successful software company, have hired and managed many programmers and still got it wrong with hardware.

>I assume the next time you see an opportunity in the hardware business and want to jump onto it, you wouldn't be taking a 4 year undergrad course to know the drill.

That's actually exactly what I'm doing - although after you have a degree it only takes a year or so to go through the relevant programs, and if you know people in the university it's easy to get private tutoring for specific gaps. It's not like the courses are difficult once you learn how to learn. Plus, you get to see who would be a good fit in your next startup.

Learning by doing: Perhaps I'm just not smart enough, but I need to understand some theory before I can do it right in practice, and I learn best talking to knowledgeable people. I fumble and make too many costly mistakes when learning something completely new without guidance. We all have our weak points :)

[tyng]

Thanks for you advice, especially about the reduced learning curve. Really appreciated!