Book Summary: Blitzscaling, by Reid Hoffman

allencheng.com

23 points·allencheng··6 comments

Except for Google, Apple, and Microsoft (all of which give me good value for my money for GSuite, books, movies, gear, compute services) I am kind down on mega corporations right now.

As a result I am more inspired right now by books like A Company of One than by books like Blitzscaling. As consumers and business people I think it is in our interests to favor small local businesses. We do vote with our wallets and can have some affect on the future of business.

You don't need to buy the book. It's very simple: create a product that people really LOVE. Word of mouth will boost and sustain your growth >10% week-over-week. It's really that simple of a logic. The hard part is just moving up your ass and talking to users :).

Wouldn't the hard part definitely be creating a product that people love? I do understand that asking users what they want is generally underrated as advice, but that's nothing compared to creating a product that really catches people's eyes.

How can you create a product that really catches people’s eyes without speaking to them first ;-) each step in getting there from designing product, coding to speaking to users is a variable challenge that cannot be generalized. For example; introvert coders might find it hard to speak to strangers while an extrovert will flourish but find coding challenging etc. finding the right cofounder that complements you goes a long way to launching a product that really catches people’s eyes.

That's not how LinkedIn grew. It grew via user-hostile patterns like emailing everyone's contact lists on their behalf to sign up.

I was about to say the same and add: is there anyone who actually loves LinkedIn?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com