Eric Sink on the Business of Software

What Hacker News says

1. scorpioxyMay 2008
   Well, for non-technical books; I have enjoyed the following in no particular order: - Founders At Work - Eric Sink on the Business of Software - The Great War for Civilization - Pity the Nation - On Intelligence - The State of Africa - Long Walk to Freedom ....etc
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2. larryfreemanMar 2008
   1) Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell (very interesting ideas)

   2) Innovator's Dilemma (for understanding what can work well)

   3) Inside Intuit (for a great business story)

   4) Eric Sink on the Business of Software

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3. peter_d_shermanMar 2023
   Interesting article!

   >"Remember: accelerators and their help are temporary but the equity you give away forever"

   True!

   But the other side of that argument ("The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." - Niels Bohr) -- is that some entrepreneurial endeavors require the assistance of multiple specialized parties without whose help the entrepreneurial endeavor will not succed, and:

   Owning only part of a business venture that is successful -- might very well be more valuable -- than owning all of a business venture that is unsuccessful...

   In other words, a founder who accepts capital for equity (AKA "Debt") in whatever form -- is paying a percentage of future rewards for a better chance at initial success, and faster growth once that initial success has been achieved...

   Now, the counter-counter argument to the one I make above, which is applicable to myself, which is applicable to a few other founders, is that we don't want to give away any equity in our future companies -- thus our trade-off is one of guaranteed or near-guaranteed (or at least easier) potential early success and faster growth curves (what we give up) -- in exchange for doing things the hard way, doing things the old-fashioned way, doing things the debt-free way -- at the expense of time (and watching many other people who took other people's money be more successful in the short and mid-term) -- but NOT at the expense of education -- a real and practical business education that could not be had at most universities, at most institutions of higher learning, even in their MBA programs...

   So which of these two approaches is right?

   Well, I don't think either one of them is wrong -- it all depends on the individual or individuals involved and their personal preferences, goals and values...

   The only one differentiator between the two, perhaps, could happen many years in the future -- a company which has sold too much of its equity could become the subject of a hostile takeover...

   A single founder who has never given so much as a single percent of equity -- will have his company taken from him over "his (proverbially) dead body"...

   That differentiator is ownership -- true ownership -- of a company...

   Still, there is value in "team lifts", and putting together teams to accomplish what single founders cannot accomplish alone...

   Related: Joel Spolsky, "Foreword to 'Eric Sink on the Business of Software'": https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/04/07/foreword-to-8220er...

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