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by pdimitar 2904 days ago
> Sometimes it's "get over this budget hump using two devs instead of five or we go out of business". And then you do get over it and all of a sudden the company is hugely successful...

Seems you are judging from the SV / startup / USA bubble. Most of the world works in VERY different conditions than that.

I mean yeah, bosses whipping their devs for maximum throughput happens everywhere but the combination of factors you describe seems to be specific for USA.
1 comments
tchaffee 2904 days ago
I've worked in Europe, Asia, the USA, for quite a few startups, huge corps, and have started a couple of successful companies here and there myself. I have a long and varied career that I am very grateful for.

A lot of startups are actually obsessed with quality to the point of failing. I've seen that. I've also seen the opposite. There is a lot of variation in the myths founders create that they follow like a religion because they believe it's the one trick they need for success ;-)

You do eventually run out of money. It's so much more important to ship something to customers to get some feedback than it is to get it perfect. It's a very tricky balance to get right though. It has to look and work good enough to not scare potential customers away.

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pdimitar 2904 days ago
> It's so much more important to ship something to customers to get some feedback than it is to get it perfect.

I don't disagree, that's unequivocally true.

As a programmer myself however I know that "I'll get back to it later and fix it" is usually a lie...

Haven't founded a business yet and I think I'll do that eventually but it also seems that "do your market research first and foremost" is an universal rule.

EDIT: As an European I should add that most of us never start a business unless they already have several customers willing to pay lined up in an orderly queue. I feel that too many Americans (probably not only them) start a business based on pure enthusiasm and hand-waving that motivated them during a few business events where people vaguely expressed an interest in their idea.

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