Sneakerhead VC - Latest Comments

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

phineasb — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:57:32 -0000

You are welcome to it

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

Cynthia Schames — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:52:33 -0000

In my opinion, culture is the key here. I LOVE the phrase "culture of why", and all it infers, and will hereby steal that, thankyouverymuch.

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

phineasb — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:12:13 -0000

Good points

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

Alan Wells — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:54:23 -0000

I think part of the art of good product ownership/product management is knowing how to push the limits of the product in directions that feel challenging but possible, rather than outright impossible (ie Shane's 300mph car example). Having credibility with your dev team is critical to being able to to this - you need them to trust you when you ask them to consider something slightly outside of their comfort zone.

As a product owner or designer, you can cultivate credibility with your engineering team by doing the things you've mentioned - understanding the constraints of the system so you know why some things are easy and some things are hard. If your product decisions have no basis in reality, your relationships with your dev team will most certainly be strained because they'll eventually start to think you're a bozo.

I talked a bit more about some of this in an answer on Quora: http://www.quora.com/What-are-...

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

Abhay — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:11:01 -0000

Good read. It is equally important for a Product Owner to spend quality time with engineering as it is with customers/ sales or market. Also positioning of requirement is important, as you mentioned that focus shifted from NO to WHY.

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

Giles Farrow — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:07:16 -0000

Cross-functional teams get more stuff done.

Understanding the "why" helps the people who build.
Understanding the "how" helps the people who plan.

Startups naturally have this advantage, they're too small to have any functional silos

I recommend anyone facing product prioritization decisions or software development issues or struggling to get market traction... to stop now
1. read Lean Startup by Eric Ries
2 get everyone else to read it

Re: Has your CTO become Dr. No?

shane Shane — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:40:03 -0000

Great article, when communication breaks down it can be demoralizing for everyone involved.

I like to compare it to building a car. When UX envisions a car that goes 300 miles an hour and gets 100 mpg, and UI draws a breathtaking picture of a car that can go 300 miles an hour, there's still a huge gap towards creating a car that actually goes 300 miles an hour and gets that mileage, and often engineering is faced with either being Dr. No, delivering something far beyond the (unrealistic) expectations of the business, or burning themselves out trying to build the 100mpg/300mph car by themselves.

Re: All VCs are tools

phineasb — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:51:50 -0000

I guess I should update the post and link to beat made -- just didn't think that many entrepreneurs are literally chopping wood
Phineas Barnes
Principal, First Round Capital phin@firstround.com<mailto:phin@firstround.com> | @phineasb | sneakerheadvc.com<http: sneakerheadvc.com=""></http:></mailto:phin@firstround.com>

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

chrisdifonzo — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:42:24 -0000

Great post Phin - Kudos for sharing something so personal, real, and poignant. You sum it up well with this sound bite: "Hustle without depth and focus is a waste of time."

Re: All VCs are tools

Jonathan Drillings — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:28:16 -0000

Great post - rings true - there really needs to the be the right fit, not only from a personality/partnership perspective, but also the right leverage points (VC's experience, connections, etc.)

Love the Best Made Co. image usage

Re: All VCs are tools

Robb Myer — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:31:19 -0000

This is hilarious and true. My grandfather used to say, "You can fix anything if you have the right tool." So in this context, it's not what you know, but rather what tools you know that make the difference.

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

phineasb — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:30:18 -0000

Exactly. Hope you are continuing to get better (your health)

Phineas Barnes
Principal, First Round Capital phin@firstround.com<mailto:phin@firstround.com> | @phineasb | sneakerheadvc.com<http: sneakerheadvc.com=""></http:></mailto:phin@firstround.com>

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

Rich Sedmak — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:48:52 -0000

Totally agree. Some adversity this past year really made me realize how much this is true. I spent the last few months of 2011 in and out of the hospital unable to work if I tried (gives you some serious perspective too). As I've been recovering and have limited energy, it forced me to understand which of the things on my to-do list were creating actual enterprise value versus merely keeping me active. I've resolved to do one big thing every day that I know has an impact, and take the time to do it really well - everything else, I call them as I see them, but I know I can sleep well knowing that my limited energy had yield.

Re: All VCs are tools

dherman76 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:56:07 -0000

You should come work at our agency!

Re: All VCs are tools

phineasb — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:14:39 -0000

But you could pound a nail with a screwdriver if you didn't have a hammer...or if you didn't take the time to realize you would be pounding nails, not screwing screws
Phineas Barnes
Principal, First Round Capital phin@firstround.com<mailto:phin@firstround.com> | @phineasb | sneakerheadvc.com<http: sneakerheadvc.com=""></http:></mailto:phin@firstround.com>

Re: All VCs are tools

phineasb — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:14:02 -0000

Word play in headlines as link bait...

Phineas Barnes
Principal, First Round Capital phin@firstround.com<mailto:phin@firstround.com> | @phineasb | sneakerheadvc.com<http: sneakerheadvc.com=""></http:></mailto:phin@firstround.com>

Re: All VCs are tools

dherman76 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:59:14 -0000

When I read the title, I thought of "tools" in terms of the urban dictionary meaning http://www.urbandictionary.com...

Re: All VCs are tools

Jesse Bushkar — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:57:38 -0000

Great article. The only problem with the metaphor is that there aren't a bunch of screwdrivers trying to fool you into thinking they're hammers :)

Re: All VCs are tools

Daniel Horowitz — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:56:42 -0000

Nice post.

Re: Hey, big baller b-school 2nd year — working at a start-up is not a stepping stone in your career

Craig Micon — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:13:48 -0000

Love it! It can be very tough to fight the NPV urge, but striving for long-term happiness as opposed to $ has truly changed my life.

I worked for a startup in college my junior and senior years and loved it. Then I did the "smart" thing and went into management consulting for 2-3 years after graduating. I just moved out to SF to work for a startup again where I'm at the bottom of the totem poll, but couldn't be happier!

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

Stephanie Yuhas — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:19:46 -0000

Thank so much! It dawned on me this week that somehow, my business has quadrupled in size and at this level, is no longer sustainable. Looking back on 2011, I actually felt ill thinking about how much wasted time I spent on e-mail, appeasing people that did not have the courtesy to do 2 minutes of research on their own, answering to demands rather than realistic, mutually beneficial goals for sustainability. I've identified my goals and even more importantly, the people that I legitimately want to work with in the coming years - and I'm going to put some blinders on. And the next time someone complains that I missed their tweet, didn't see their g-mail, didn't notice their "blah blah" on Facebook...I'm referring to this article.

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

Matt Conant — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:17:48 -0000

Thank you for this!

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

phineasb — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:51:45 -0000

Tonight I am after b)...

Phineas Barnes
Principal, First Round Capital phin@firstround.com<mailto:phin@firstround.com> | @phineasb | sneakerheadvc.com<http: sneakerheadvc.com=""></http:></mailto:phin@firstround.com>

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

JD Conley — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:39:46 -0000

I love this motto. I've been a practitioner of this for years. Usually before I do something I ask myself if it's either a) The most important thing I could be doing right now or b) Something fun I need in order to relax.

Re: My New Year’s Resolution: Do Less, Slower

bfeld — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:53:50 -0000

Awesome!