Why your startup should not copy 37signals or FogCreek
We are advised from all sides - learn from the leaders. Your business should be similar to Toyota or Google, your blog should be similar to Joel Spolsky or Seth Godin, your software should be similar to software from Apple and 37signals.
Perhaps I myself am guilty. Too many books I read, too many blogs subscribed.
However, just because someone has a strategy or a product, it does not mean that you should do the same.
')
The problem is that all the tips are different, and often opposite. For example, Zappos uses Twitter as part of its awesome client service. Their CEO, Tony Hsieh, even wrote an introduction to Twitter for newbies .
All on Twitter barricades. But wait, but Seth Godin, the 12th most popular blogger of the universe, says that Twitter is full bullshit . And not only Twitter, but all social networks are overloaded with rubbish and empty chatter.
So what is Twitter? A key link in terms of world domination or a miserable waste of time?
Same with blogs. Leaders of the world blogging write more than once a day, and many consider this an important element of success. Nevertheless, in my reader there are blogs with more than a hundred thousand subscribers, whose authors write no more than a couple of times a week, and many less.
Copyblogger says that you need to write simply and clearly as a third-grader , and write headlines in the style of Cosmo . Does this mean that my blog is doomed to failure if I do not follow these rules?
I do not think. My readers will be able to wade through the jungle of complex sentences and will not blush at the sight of the word "transcendental."
It is easy to see that neither Twitter nor the frequency of posting will be the decisive factor that will allow you to succeed.
The problem is that we are trying to learn from examples that lie outside the “normal” range. On statistical anomalies, in other words.
Malcolm Gladwell calls them outliers (emissions). Taleb has black swans.
Outstanding success cannot be predicted. An attempt to disassemble it piece by piece will fail.
Take the athletes. In childhood, coaches teach everyone the same way. Nevertheless, many outstanding athletes do something not by the rules. Not so holding a racket, not throwing the ball, not sitting in the saddle.
They are so far from the norm that standard rules simply do not work.
This explains a lot. This explains why Zappos sold shoes for more than a billion dollars last year by providing fantastic customer service, while Amazon, the largest online store, does not even write on its phone's website.
If you think, there is still something in common with these companies. They are not afraid to go against the generally accepted point of view (*).
Moreover, these companies have changed the very notion of "common sense". Common sense is what works.
Now it's your turn. Are you ready to go against the wind?
- (*) in the original “buck conventional wisdom”, which can be translated as “fuck common sense”
Based on an article by Jason Cohen .
Perhaps I myself am guilty. Too many books I read, too many blogs subscribed.
However, just because someone has a strategy or a product, it does not mean that you should do the same.
')
The problem is that all the tips are different, and often opposite. For example, Zappos uses Twitter as part of its awesome client service. Their CEO, Tony Hsieh, even wrote an introduction to Twitter for newbies .
All on Twitter barricades. But wait, but Seth Godin, the 12th most popular blogger of the universe, says that Twitter is full bullshit . And not only Twitter, but all social networks are overloaded with rubbish and empty chatter.
So what is Twitter? A key link in terms of world domination or a miserable waste of time?
Same with blogs. Leaders of the world blogging write more than once a day, and many consider this an important element of success. Nevertheless, in my reader there are blogs with more than a hundred thousand subscribers, whose authors write no more than a couple of times a week, and many less.
Copyblogger says that you need to write simply and clearly as a third-grader , and write headlines in the style of Cosmo . Does this mean that my blog is doomed to failure if I do not follow these rules?
I do not think. My readers will be able to wade through the jungle of complex sentences and will not blush at the sight of the word "transcendental."
It is easy to see that neither Twitter nor the frequency of posting will be the decisive factor that will allow you to succeed.
The problem is that we are trying to learn from examples that lie outside the “normal” range. On statistical anomalies, in other words.
Malcolm Gladwell calls them outliers (emissions). Taleb has black swans.
Outstanding success cannot be predicted. An attempt to disassemble it piece by piece will fail.
Take the athletes. In childhood, coaches teach everyone the same way. Nevertheless, many outstanding athletes do something not by the rules. Not so holding a racket, not throwing the ball, not sitting in the saddle.
They are so far from the norm that standard rules simply do not work.
This explains a lot. This explains why Zappos sold shoes for more than a billion dollars last year by providing fantastic customer service, while Amazon, the largest online store, does not even write on its phone's website.
If you think, there is still something in common with these companies. They are not afraid to go against the generally accepted point of view (*).
Moreover, these companies have changed the very notion of "common sense". Common sense is what works.
Now it's your turn. Are you ready to go against the wind?
- (*) in the original “buck conventional wisdom”, which can be translated as “fuck common sense”
Based on an article by Jason Cohen .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/77239/
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