David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails and partner at 37signals, argues that planning is guessing and startups should focus on today. He says constraints are an advantage and that startups can bootstrap profitably in sizable markets.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN recommends it as the classic counterpoint to Silicon Valley growth-at-all-costs startup thinking.
“His talk "How to unlearn your MBA" in particular was fantastic in providing a counterpoint to Silicon-valley style Startups”HN comment, 2017
“His talk "How to unlearn your MBA" in particular was fantastic in providing a counterpoint to Silicon-valley style Startups”
Counterpoint to Silicon Valley startup thinking, bootstrapping in sizable markets
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I would check out the writings of 37Signals (now Basecamp)/RoR founder David Heinemeier Hansson, who advocates bootstrapping for not-necessarily small markets. His talk "How to unlearn your MBA" in particular was fantastic in providing a counterpoint to Silicon-valley style Startups: this video . He directly comments on the YCombinator model at 53'57" ( this video ), but the whole thing is worth watching.
Strongly recommendsAgloeDreamsSep 2020
“very controversial but incredible talk by @DHH of Basecamp/Hey”
Profit-over-growth thinking for businesses that don't need scale
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Reminds me of this very controversial but incredible talk by @DHH of Basecamp/Hey: this video Things that don't require scale require a VERY different line of business thinking, generally centered around profits vs growth.
Cites itredthrowMar 2022
“gave the classic "Unlearn Your MBA" talk in 2010”
Classic talk from 2010 on unlearning MBA thinking
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DHH (who also happens to be from Denmark) gave the classic "Unlearn Your MBA" talk in 2010: this video
