Getting Real

What Hacker News says

1. rodolphoarrudaNov 2022
   It was a sequence of books that I read not immediately one after the other, but that had an impact on me once I started to connect some concepts and ideas among them:

   1. Simplicity, William Jensen 2. Getting Things Done (GTD) 3. Getting Real, Jason Fried

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2. rodolphoarrudaSep 2022
   Getting Real, Jason Fried.
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3. combatentropyNov 2016
   Ever since Getting Real (https://gettingreal.37signals.com/) I've agreed with practically everything Jason Fried has ever said. Wish there were more CEOs like him.
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4. krpDec 2015
   The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene. I began reading it with a "know your enemy" frame of mind, similar to why I read some Ayn Rand, hoping that I'd better understand why some people behave certain ways. As I got further into the book I began reflecting upon the past, becoming consciously aware of all the faux pas I've made over the years. I started identifying with all the honest, outspoken historical figures that would speak their mind and end up without a head. I used to pride myself on my honesty above all else way of life, thinking how virtuous it was to be like Socrates or Galileo. Now I realize that more often than not, I'd just seem like a dick, and probably wouldn't have a head if the guillotine were still in use. Now I put more energy into understanding others points of view, and understand others better as a result. Much of my old behavior was childish.

   Others that changed my way of thinking in some way or another:

   Rework, Getting Real, and the recent Reconsider post - DHH & Jason Fried: I'd always considered external funding as the best way to grow things I've built in the past, and wrote off the few bad experiences with this approach as being outliers. After also reading others' bad experiences throughout the year, now I'm wondering if my experiences were perhaps representative of the industry as a whole. Confirmation bias? Maybe. I'm sure there are the rare few good angel/VC's somewhere out there (no doubt someone will reply with "YC"). However, after watching several things I'd passionately built over significant amounts of time be driven to failure by others, I'd much rather bootstrap future projects. I learned a lot from each failure, but trial and error is a shitty way to spend years of your life. Far better to learn what worked from those who succeeded.

   Business Adventures - John Brooks: Until this book, reading about businesses was one of the most boring things I could imagine. Some of it is dated, but there are also many valuable gems that still hold true 50 years later. I now see that with a good storyteller, even seemingly boring subjects can be fascinating.

   Freshbooks: Breaking the Time Barrier - McDerment & Cowper: This tiny book (free from their website) helped me think of new ways to improve my consulting services and emphasize value instead of focusing on hourly rates, which made it easier to make more money.

   Various online sales & marketing resources: My viewpoint on the importance of sales & marketing has also completely flipped since the beginning of the year. I used to have the mental image of a used car salesman whenever I heard the word sales, and of Mad Men when I heard marketing. Now I understand that if you don't market what you build, nobody will know that it exists. If you don't experiment with different sales tactics, you'll miss out on a huge amount of users who would otherwise love using your product, but who avoid it because it's priced wrong, or you're unable to convince them of why they'd want to use it.

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5. pacnwJun 2015
   The obvious ones: The Lean Startup - Eric Ries, Rework - Jason Fried & DHH, Getting Real - Jason Fried
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6. productguySep 2011
   I have been reading Hacker News for the past couple years... anyway I am currently working as a product manager in my day job and am interested in starting a startup / small business. And let me underline the "small business". Many cofounders are too keen on tackling big billion dollar ideas, but I think there are many low-key ideas that can generate good revenue without even getting VC funding.

   I am presently making $144,000 salary as a Director of Product Management, but I really feel it is futile to continue serving the corporate masters. There is this void that I feel in going to work every day -- dealing with commutes, bad stress (not good stress), dumb co-workers, and the office politics. And I realized that while the paycheck sounds to be good on paper, the salary after taxes, living expenses, etc - it is really not that much. I really don't have that much real work per se ( so are the other peers -- no one would want to admit) - a lot of it is really busy work ; preparing Powerpoints, replying to emails, etc. But we all show our face and warm our chair from 9 am to 6 pm because everybody is afraid of being labeled a 'slacker'. Having been through one layoff and one micro-manager, I realize that working in a company is really not that stress-free, secure, or financially viable in the long run.There's no such thing as job security.

   I am looking to create a startup / small business (funding can be optional) where we can be the sole owners and make good income over and above what we could earn from working at a day job. Ideally, we will start doing this on the side until it matures. For the past two years, I currently have a side online business where I net about $38,000 per year so I have some experience in starting an online small business, but it is not enough for me to quit my day job yet.

   I am not shooting for millions or billions, simply a small business where we could earn $400,000+ so each of us can get $200,000 and then stop working at our day job and then grow the business.

   I attended a lot of events and talked to a lot of people and read a lot of books. Some of my favorite business / work philosophy comes from:

   . Founders of Atlassian (Jira and Confluence) -- try Google them

   . 37 Signals' Getting Real . David Heinemeier Hansson at Startup School 08 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY

   . 37 Signals' Re-work

   . Blue Ocean Strategy book

   My background:

   . BS in Computer Science ( graduated with perfect GPA)

   . Worked as programmer (software design engineer) at Microsoft

   . MS from Stanford

   . worked over 10 years as engineer and later product managers at various high tech companies in the bay area (Yahoo, PayPal, etc).

   . strong SEO, online marketing, web app, viral, affiliate marketing, etc.

   . smart and organized

   What I am looking is:

   * programmer / coder that could build beautiful web applications from scratch , say in RoR

   * programmer / coder that wants to be owners

   * you want to be in charge and are looking to break free from your modern day slavery ( day job )

   Ideally: * you have enough free time on nights/days to do coding, perhaps aside from your not too-demanding day job

   * you have the know-how and skills to build medium-scale to large web application from scratch

   If all this sounds interesting to you, let me know please.. my email is: productguy09 (at) gmail dot com

   Thank you for your time!

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