Comments on: The Deadly Mistake That Kills Too Many Startups

By: Melissa Hill

Melissa Hill — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:41:37 +0000

“But the wave of tactical tip posts that we face has created a culture of trying to do a million little things at once, and not doing any one thing particularly well.”

YES. This a thousand times.

By: Sean Kirby

Sean Kirby — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 23:03:26 +0000

Wow, Alex. I really felt like you were talking to me in this post.

I don’t just get distracted by reading or hearing about new techniques. I actually get distracted by my own ideas, as well. I can’t tell you how many business ideas and projects I have started. That’s probably the biggest reason I’m only a wantrepreneur at this point.

I’m going to make a resolution to focus on getting one of them done, using your advice.

Thanks for creating this blog!

By: Madi

Madi — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 17:33:38 +0000

Thanks for this Alex! I’m starting a new business and have been so overwhelmed with “marketing tactics” to sell my ideas that I forgot the first part- what do my customers care about? It’s best to start there and stay there for a while before worrying about the rest.

By: Dennis Meng

Dennis Meng — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 05:31:24 +0000

Hey Alex,

Thanks for the perspective. In the early days, it’s hard to fight the urge that you should be trying every growth tactic that you think of. The gold nugget for me was: “Haphazardly trying dozens of things isn’t going to actually tell you if they work or not. What you’ll conclude is that none of them actually work, when you do a poor job of executing on them.”

Too true. Time to spend the rest of the night putting the “plan” inside my head on paper, so I can remind myself what I should be focusing on (and measuring).

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 01:02:27 +0000

Dan Sullivan has a similar framework called ‘The Impact Filter which I can’t recommend enough!

This video starts with Dan explaining what it is and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRp2Vnov_CQ&t=11m10s

By: Noya Lizor

Noya Lizor — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:54:26 +0000

Right on! Nice post Alex.

By: stevenally

stevenally — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 19:39:29 +0000

Ha ha five minutes of distraction for me. Good post.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:47:27 +0000

Great post. Most entrepreneurs have lots of ideas and fall in love with many. With experience I’ve learned to take a deep breath after I have a “great” idea, let it simmer for a while, and if it’s truly great I’ll love it in the morning.

By: Bounce Plan

Bounce Plan — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:38:06 +0000

This plagued me quite a bit and delayed my initial launch. I felt like I had to have everything done all at once and the more I read about the latest and greatest thing my site should have, there were more and more delays. I even found myself recently delaying promotional efforts because I read somewhere that websites should get rid of the hamburger menu… 🙂 I keep reminding myself that what is there should be improved upon and offered on its own merit. So I’ve redirected my focus to that and introducing the personality of my business to the world. 🙂 Another thing that has come up more than a few times is the urge to build another app at the same time… just another delay.

By: @AlexisKingsbury

@AlexisKingsbury — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 17:46:22 +0000

Great post Alex – one of my favs, thanks 🙂

By: Cadu De Castro Alves

Cadu De Castro Alves — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 17:21:25 +0000

Hi Alex, I’d been reading a lot about growth hacking some months ago. I spent a lot of time reading 1000s of miracle formulas. Then, one day I realized that I was (1) reading a lot but doing almost nothing and (2) becoming a more anxious person.

This year, me and my partner decided to make our business OKRs. Everything we do is 100% focused on our goals. Coincidentally, the best advice I read last year was given by you: blogging. It’s working very well for us.

We are a two-people startup so it forces us to be as focused as possible. I’m the CEO but I’m also the one who writes for our company blog, do customer support and code sometimes too.

To not lost any idea, I save them in Pocket or Trello. So, when I have a lack of ideas, I just go there and pull something.