Evolution vs. Intelligent Design
For years, we have been fascinated by the fact that many of the very best startup companies come out of "side projects". They are accidents really. eBay, Google, and Yahoo! are all examples of this mode of starting companies. Delicious was born this way. One of my favorite web services, Sitemeter, started this way. So did Vimeo. I could go on and on, but like an Oscar speech, I need to stop. Sorry to all the "side project" startups I left off this list.
Brad and I have been seeing a lot of "one man bands" as well lately. Companies that have been single handedly started by one person with some outsourced development. These people see something they'd like to have and they build it. And all of a sudden, they are in our office with a pitch deck and the need for money to turn the thing they've built into a company.
So I was at breakfast a couple weeks ago with Nick Denton and we got to talking about this phenomenon. So Nick says, "it's the evolution vs intelligent design debate".
Nick is right, there are two ways to build a company (and probably many more).
You can design it from scratch, figuring out exactly what you want to build, getting it all down on paper, raising some money, and then building it. And there are plenty of success stories for that way of building a company.
Or you can just find yourself doing a startup because something you started as a hobby, or to serve your own needs, just took on a life of its own and you have no choice but to evolve it into a business.
We don't have a preference for one way or the other, but I will say that there is something particularly special about the companies that are created via the evolution approach.
They seem more "authentic", to borrow a word from David Beisel.
There is so much more that can be done with this line of thinking, but I am going to stop here. This may become a series of posts where we talk about various differences between building evolved companies versus designed companies. Or maybe others in the VC/entrepreneur world will pick up on this "meme" and run with it, which would be awesome.
I want to thank Nick for putting this idea into my brain. We've enjoyed thinking about it. I hope you do too.
November 22, 2005 02:03 PM, By Fred Wilson
Tags: design evolution startups
Comments (4)
Well,
there is such a thing as working "synchron".
Our company started 13 years ago as a total bootstrap startup. Born out of a career desparation - LOL.
Did not take very long to realize that structure and planning had to take place - oh yeah, not to forget at least a ten to 15 year forsight, with technology starting to grow up.
After many years of seeing one hype after another come and go - the wheat separated nicely from the hay.
For example - our mission has not changed since day one
- our customer base grew 200% per year since the "big dot com" crash
- DB and backbone are merciless teachers to structure
design - when the lightbulb goes finally on that it has
have a strategy and room to grow = trust me, if you
need to totally restructure a site of 45 thousand
[a few years ago] you will KNOW that you better
ALWAYS be prepared for growth with room for EASY
expansion at least for another 5 years ahead.
Microsoft with its "fortunate" budget - just look what it takes to implement even one structural change. Oh yeah, they are well planned for a number of years, but they weren't for the first 6 years
ergo they became a monster that takes years to make one turn.
They can digest such timeframes - most other businesses it's representative of the archilles heel.
So - summing up: evolution design and planned structure are perfectly capable of being twins.
And Kevin you are RIGHT - you need to know what the customer wants - but this is the easiest part of the business because THEY let you know, if you want to hear it or not. Comparable to a spoiled bunch of kids, they want it all immediatly. You TOO are a consumer -
so, think like the consumer and incorporate your gut inclusive of feedbacks and upkeep what the trend is 1 year from now.
I do not mean to be patronizing here - am just speaking out of experience.
Posted by Michele Krammer , November 29, 2005 07:10 PM
i am not shore what to beleave i am only12!!!
Posted by allie , December 21, 2005 11:44 AM
I believe in Intelligent Design!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bob , January 26, 2006 03:19 PM
Yeah.
I think the examples you selected might have been accidental evolutions. There's one thing about intelligent design because you KNOW what you're getting into. With an evolutionary process you don't know how it's going to come out on the other side.
I think this is one interesting aspect of the hard vs. soft launch. Maybe if you're Steve Jobs you KNOW what the customer wants. Not all of us are that lucky.
This prevents startups from performing too much engineering in private. You might end up with a product that no one wants.
I'm trying to walk the line with TailRank (my startup). I generally know what I want and what the blogosphere wants but I'm trying to incorporate feedback as much as possible.
I don't know whats going to come out the other end but I know that if I want to excite consumers I better listen to them.
Posted by Kevin Burton , November 24, 2005 04:37 AM