Believe me, any advice you can get from an industry veteran who has navigated their way successfully through the school of hard knocks (there aren’t many), should be taken on-board, whether discouraging or not, when deciding to make the plunge into your first startup. Forwardness and honesty should be embraced and learned-from… Not frowned upon.
> On Mar 19, 2015, at 3:28 PM, robbyba...@gmail.com wrote: > > Geoff McQueen, > > Just a friendly word of advice, mate. You are your brand and a brand can be > destroyed in moments. You are headed for a very hard fall if you keep > representing yourself in this way, and promoting your 'mentor' position with > startmate. Nikki Scevak may take issue with how your are attacking Elly in > this public forum. > > What's the definition of a mentor? Someone who is undermining, discouraging > and verging on abusive? > > Your specialty is one thing. Everyone has a specialty, but not everyone has > an inflated ego and abusive tone with people who show interest in their > specialty. What's ironic is that you don't even know what Elly's planning. > > I say, go for it, Elly. You'll learn a lot along the journey and no one can > say you won't make it even the first time around. Go for it! > > In any case, this thread certainly makes for some interesting publicity down > the track. > > Robby. > > > > > On Friday, March 20, 2015 at 2:06:05 AM UTC+11, Geoff McQueen wrote: > I think he bit you're missing in that reply Elly was the thank you for > Geoff's time & advice and apology for being a dick. LOL? Yawn. > > --- > Sent from my Android - pls excuse typos > > On Mar 18, 2015 7:13 PM, "StartUp Mosman" <mosman...@ <>gmail.com > <http://gmail.com/>> wrote: > You just had to get that last dig in, didn't you Geoff L?! LOL. Okay. > > On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 1:11 PM, Geoff Langdale <geoff.l...@ <>gmail.com > <http://gmail.com/>> wrote: > http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/that-escalated-quickly > <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/that-escalated-quickly> > > Huh. I thought I was being constructive, or at least informative. Let me > unpack my comments a bit: > > 1. I certainly am not prejudging your idea as "bad". Just saying that > practically everyone is in love with their own ideas to the point that not > only do people not want to steal your idea, it's unlikely you'll be able to > *make* them steal your idea if you wanted to. > > 2. I'm not being snarky about the whole idea of "seeking a tech cofounder" - > just pointing out that it is *very* hard to find uncommitted tech folks > willing to work on someone else's idea as a tech cofounder. Not saying you're > a running joke, just that the undersupply of tech cofounders and constant > requests for same became a running joke here a few years back. I think a lot > of the "teach yourself to code" momentum came about as a way of addressing > that. > > 3. Invoking Alan Downie's advice about this ("work for someone else's startup > for a while") is in not meant to be dismissive (i.e. "your idea sucks, go > work for someone else"). The process of working for someone else's startup > gives you a chance to see a lot more about how the whole thing works, meet > people, iterate on your idea in the off-hours, etc. > > 4. If you are going to learn some tech skills, UX and the ability to tell a > detailed story about what it is that you want is key. I think 'coding skills' > are very hard to develop but the ability to construct a detailed storyboard > that lays out what will actually happen in a UI interaction what precisely > what needs to be done is a very good bridge to those coding skills. The gap > between a hand-wave prototype and realizing "Oh crap, it's going to take > someone 19 separate annoying steps to do something simple with my app" lies > in this area. I think this is eminently solvable by training and was > encouraging you to focus on that more than trying to teach yourself to > program from scratch. > > I don't know for sure that I'm insecure; I have a few years in the trenches, > an exit, a first name which doesn't vary from post to post and a last name. > > Geoff. > > On Thursday, 19 March 2015 12:52:57 UTC+11, StartUp Mosman wrote: > Hi Geoff M > > My comment was for Geoff Langdale. I apologise if you thought my comment was > direct at you. It wasn't at all. I appreciate all the feedback on here. I do > think Geoff L's feedback was coming from an insecure place, hence the barrage > of negativity and "can't do" attitude. Some people just aren't mentor > material. > > I agree with Simran's well articulated response: "but if it comes from a > really negative place (egotistical, know-it-all, you have no idea, i'm the > king of the world types) then it's not even considered - and the person > giving it has wasted his time and the other person's time." Well said, Simran. > > Certainly, Geoff M, I valued your advice. I'm okay with frank and > constructive advice. It's the destructive advice that has no place here. > > Cheers > > Lilly > > On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 11:25 AM, Geoff McQueen | AffinityLive <geoff....@ > <>affinitylive. <http://affinitylive.com/>com <http://affinitylive.com/>> > wrote: > Right, good to clarify that discouraging and uninspiring advice from someone > with a lot of experience in this sort of thing isn't welcome. In that case, > my advice at the top should have been: > Quit your job. Now. Carpe Fucking Diem. If you get to the end of this email > without jumping up and shouting "I'm out of here to pursue my startup dreams" > you're just not cut out for it as you'll have proven your lack of energy, > passion and risk taking isn't up to being an entrepreneur. > Move to the Bay Area. Now. This is where it is at and starting a company > anywhere else is a waste of your life. Visualize the success you deserve, > truly deserve, and then go out and snatch it. There's money falling from the > sky here - small companies that do nothing (Yo) raise millions and pin boards > for homemakers to daydream with are worth over 10 billion dollars. The only > real step to achieving your dreams is to get over to San Francisco and you're > made. The investors will be impressed by your willingness to move across the > world where you have no networks, no connections, no credibility, no product, > no customers and no traction and were still brave enough to do it!! Crazy > brave! That's what they're looking for - crazy brave thunder lizards!!!! Why > shouldn't it be you? > Dream big and don't let anyone tell you you're wrong. You've thought about > your idea a lot longer than them, so what would they know? We all know > contrarians changed the world so going against the tide is a sure sign you're > onto something big. The secret to success is to just keep going, no matter > what, and you'll get there in the end - so taking outside advice and opinions > on board is really just a sign for the weak who want an excuse to give up. > Keep your idea secret and don't tell anyone - it is too valuable! There are > so many vultures out there with almost limitless technical talent resources > and commercial experience and connections die for, but they're just unable to > think of their own good ideas - and if you're not careful they'll steal > yours. They hang out at the Grove and the Creamery just trying to overhead > incredible original ideas and then steal them - the only way to make sure > they can't is to never tell anyone anything. > Seriously though, you've come onto a list and asked for help and advice and > experienced people have offered to help. They could have said "another > non-technical wantrepreneur trying with an idea for a tech business who > thinks their idea is awesome and wants to know the secret in getting from > underpants to profit; yet another deluded fool and wasting their life on > something that will never get anywhere". But they didn't. And now I'm > genuinely concerned for the next guy or girl who posts to this list and asks > for help and having experienced operators like Geoff Langdale just ignore > their request for advice because it isn't what someone wants to hear, because > while they probably won't read your post and disrespectful response to > someone answering a request for advice, the people who can help on this list > will all remember it and the community will be the worse for it. > > Good luck. > > Geoff > > > > On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 4:49 PM, simran <sim...@dn.gs <>> wrote: > Good point Mike, although if i may, i'll give a slightly different > perspective (not referring to *any* of the earlier posts or with reference to > any person - my comment is solely a response to your statement): > > Encouragement is perhaps equally valuable if not more. Hearing an opinion > from anyone (and it is just an opinion albeit, sometimes based in more > experience) can be really valuable, it's always worth considering and then > discarding if need be... but if it comes from a really negative place > (egotistical, know-it-all, you have no idea, i'm the king of the world types) > then it's not even considered - and the person giving it has wasted his time > and the other person's time. > > It's *always* worth trying to understand the context the question is coming > from, and then responding in a way that can be understood. > > If after all, we *only cared* about "hard facts as we see them" (according to > our experience) - then each schoolteacher would be yelling at every school > kid all day... and i for one don't think that would produce good results :) > > On a separate note, i think we can learn a HUGE amount from dog trainers... > you'll be amazed at how totally *positive* driven training is... it's got > there as positivity bought forth much better results... i think we can learn > a lot from that. > > Having said that, absolutely, one needs to give their opinion, factually, > unmasked and as they see it, but it *is possible* to do it without yelling / > screaming as that usually never gets the point across... :) > > > > On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 10:29 AM, Mike Gardiner <m...@ <>limerocket.com > <http://limerocket.com/>> wrote: > Elly some of the most valuable advice will be things you dont want to hear > and at these early stages you dont need to be inspired and patted on the back > you need people telling you how it is. > > Cheers,Mike. > > > > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org > <http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/> for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > <http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs> > > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-bea...@googlegroups.com <> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com <> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > <http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en> > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Silicon Beach Australia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to <>silicon-beach-australia+ > <mailto:silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>unsubs > <mailto:silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>cr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. > > > > -- > Geoff McQueen > Founder & CEO > __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ > <http://www.affinitylive.com/> > Office: +1 800.425.7315 <> > Cell: +1 650.450.4384 <> > Skype: geoffmcqueen > > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. 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