Build what you know

I wrote a piece for 24 Ways To Start, the entrepreneur’s advent calendar:

The web isn’t just a platform; nor is it a market. It’s a movement. Think of the success stories of the past five years: Twitter, Facebook, Google, GroupOn. Twitter and Facebook changed the way people communicate and made social networking mainstream (Mark Zuckerberg was even just named Time’s Person of the Year for 2010). Google makes it its mission to make the world’s information accessible to all. GroupOn, meanwhile, gives the power of mass brand advertising, hitherto available only to larger chains, to independent shops and services. Each of these businesses is run by a passionate team who care deeply about not just their product, but the effect of their product on society.

You can read the whole post here.

I’m very pleased to be a part of 24 Ways To Start; I’ve really enjoyed their series so far. There’s some very solid advice here, including simple ways to start thinking about your financial model, thinking of apps in terms of product development, and common tech entrepreneur pitfalls. The whole blog is very much worth your time.