Hot products make successful startups (Scripting News)

Hot products make successful startups (Scripting News): "As a general rule, no one in a startup works harder than the founder, and no one watches pennies more carefully than the founder. If the founder upgrades to business class, so does everyone else," writes Sunday, March 09, 2008 by Dave Winer.

Companies even small ones are out of control messes that waste a lot of everything. All organizations do. Can't help it. Yet some of them don't fail.

Helge: What makes companies fail or fly?

Imho, having started two companies -- one that failed and one that succeeded, and watched dozens of others over 30 years, the difference is the ones that succeed have a hot product that lots of people want, and the ones that fail don't. I don't think whether you savor every penny makes much of a difference, in fact if you pinch it too hard your people are going to hate you, and they have to love the founder, just as the customers must and the press and even the competitors.

Helge: There is truth in this. What made Mac, iTunes, iPhone, Nokia Phones, Porsche, Ferrari, miniskirt, McDonalds (service + availability = fast food distribution), etc.?

"When I think about the people who had runaway successes that made them fortunes the ones that had great products and were admired by many were the ones that really hit it out of the park. I can't think of anyone who had a great product and failed because they didn't watch every penny," Dave Winer continues.

Helge: 1) product 2) price 3) place 4) promotion 5) politics...