Personally, I can't stand when people claim ideas are worthless and execution is everything. The fact is that ideas INFORM flawless execution. Ideas and execution are inextricably linked.

I like the $1 per video idea. It sounds like an absolute steal. Another possible experiment is to have a monthly subscription fee for companies to have their name/logo show up on the pages of relevant videos. The minimum fee could be $5/month for companies (so barrier to entry is low), but precedence would be given to companies paying the most for particular pages.

Agreed (sorta). I think achieving a certain level of proficiency is a necessary condition (not a sufficient one). However, as noted in the article, sometimes reaching a particular level of proficiency creates the "I like this" emotion.

Sure, but "sometimes" without any particular predictive ability isn't very helpful.

I suppose he could be saying "before you done something for awhile, you probably won't like it." That would be a statement with more content. It's a different argument than the one he made, though.

Exactly. All the strategy/techniques/hacks mean nothing without the discipline to actually consistently carry them out.

Is someone disagreeing with a member of 37siganls really that surprising? 37signals is a pretty opinionated bunch.

At any rate, when Jason states in his post that he "doesn't know the full backstory," that signaled to me that I'm reading a post that's based on a premise that could be completely wrong. And I was okay with that because Jason appropriately couched his post.

If the only two things the author got out of the 4HWW was (1) money is a means not an end, and (2) do less emailing, then the author should try actually reading the book instead of skimming it.

You can't "review" a book you haven't read.

... but you can "comment" on an article you haven't read.

As ScottWhigham mentioned, "The Art of the Start" is a great place to start. But if you don't want to wait until you're able to get your hands on the book, you can check out a presentation the author did on it: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/06/the_art_of_the_.html

Thanks a lot. The video will be very helpful.

The author offers many criticisms but few real solutions.

I'm not sure that was the intent. Security is hard. Most of the time these "simple" solutions are applied in the thought that we can fix our security problems easily. I think the author was just pointing that out.

One strategy for becoming relentlessly resourceful is to refuse to accept conditions you find undesirable. And as someone who has taken the oath to become relentlessly resourceful, you illustrate your refusal of external circumstances by finding a resolution that ultimately solves the issue or works around the issue (a.k.a. a hack).

I believe that when 37signals created Basecamp it was for internal use. They built it for themselves. As time went on other small consulting firms (possibly that 37s knew) saw it and thought it was useful. From that point, Basecamp just continued to grow in popularity.

When nobody knows you or your startup do you really need a closed beta??