Episode 706 | 2/20/200 Validation, Prior Art, and Designing by Committee (A Rob Solo Adventure)

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Mar 26, 2024

Rob dives into the importance of recognizing prior art in business, stressing integrity within the startup community. He introduces the 220-200 Validation Framework for evaluating ideas by learning from past mistakes. The discussion also highlights the downsides of designing by committee, using Metallica’s 'St. Anger' to illustrate how too many voices can dilute vision. Ultimately, he encourages striving for excellence in entrepreneurship, urging listeners to push beyond mediocrity and foster a vibrant startup culture.

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INSIGHT

Startup World's Struggle with Prior Art

The startup world often struggles to learn from and credit prior art, leading to repeated mistakes.
This behavior is prevalent in the creator-maker influencer space, where ideas are often plagiarized without acknowledgment.

ADVICE

Learn and Credit Prior Art

Learn from prior art in the startup world, including books and articles by experienced entrepreneurs.
Credit the original sources when sharing ideas or frameworks to avoid plagiarism and build upon existing knowledge.

ANECDOTE

Bolt's Failure

Ryan Breslow's Bolt, which offered loans to employees for stock options, lost 97% of its value.
This idea had failed in the 90s, highlighting the importance of learning from past failures.

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In episode 706, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he discusses a variety of topics. He starts with why it’s important to both consider and credit “prior art” in business. Rob outlines his 2/20/200 idea validation framework used to repeatedly evaluate ideas. He also covers why, though there are some advantages, designing by committee has some significant downsides.

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Topics we cover:

2:37 – Learning from, and crediting, prior art
10:27 – The 2/20/200 Idea Validation Framework
16:03 – Be wary when designing by committee
21:09 – When to crowdsource feedback

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google