Image Courtesy of http://naz1barmitzvah.tumblr.com/
How do you not get caught up in the hype?
How does one ensure that they always remember why they are doing what they are doing. If you started coding that lucrative website for the sole purpose of making the lives of others better, then that should be the only thing that you ever focus your efforts on- in respect to your business. What that entails, however, can sometimes be quite difficult…
Look at a company like Digg, they became internet giants by giving their users the best service possible. Staying focused to their goal but as soon as market shares and short-term profits became factors, they used “bully” tactics like their Brigade to gain more control over their users. What they started to neglect, were the voices of the users and eventually the users were heard- when Digg was sold off for a joke of a price.
Read more on the story here
Staying true to the core value propositions that you offered to your first 1000 users is as important as extending the same courtesy to the 1 000 000th user- because he probably became a user as a result of these values. I feel as though too many entrepreneurs end up falling for the whole corporate illusion than trying to make their user experience better and better and better (or at least keep the users satisfied!!). This unfortunate truth hurts the whole “ecosystem” of entrepreneurship. Because you become the bad potato. Startups that become “suits” end up neglecting their users for profits thus elevating the importance of more money over loyalty to their users. And just as how hyper-imaginatively-ridiculous business models were a trend that hurt the ecosystem (refer to The DotCom Bubble) in the early years of the millennium, selling-out has the potential to do the same.
As entrepreneurs, we’ve always been the dreamers. How about we work hard towards living out our dreams and at the same time respect the art that is entrepreneurship?
Project ZooLoo 