Startup Anti-Patterns

I have done the startup thing as a failed founder and I myself call these startup patterns or antipatten mostly useless. One who enjoyed them (myself included) are destined to fail and then would concluded the same.

The so-called pattern and antipatten are useless for startup, is just like parenting guides are useless for new parents. The complexity and novel problems are so large in volume that only basic instinct function. And if you are the successful one, you would guide by whatever success brings you, if you are the failed one, well, you can fail and learned that these patterns are useless and rant here like myself.

In the end, don't destroy your health.

Some seem to treat microservices as a sign of good engineering when it's often just premature complexity. You can always split a monolith later, but you're stuck maintaining that complexity from day one

Such anti patterns are like Nostradamus’s prophecies - you see a company flopping then curve fit a narrative to justify the antipatterns.

How do I, as a founder, know that I am falling into an anti pattern? I don’t believe it is possible to know. You can only “know” in hindsight and that makes these anti patterns useless.

The issue with many critiques like this is that “it depends” and that many of these strategies actually work while often they do not - but given that most startups fail even generally successful strategies will have a high rate of failure.

And the people that study these types of lists to apply it to their own case are then engaging in “analysis paralysis” because the list is so long you are bound to be caught up by it.

So while I think it is useful to critique your idea and business the best thing to do is to try and sell it and make money and keep adjusting and trying new things to maximize your income. There is no magic bullet.

Seems like a useful list of things to avoid when running a startup, plus situations where it may not always be a bad thing.

Still, got a few thoughts here:

> if you build it, they will come

This feels like the cause for so many news/media bundling services, akin to Blendle. Loads of people seem to have the thought process "no-one pays for journalism, that's because it's too inconvenient to subscribe seperately, let's bundle it all", but far fewer people actually seem to want such a service.

> Chasing Blue Oceans

This feels like the explanation for the Wii U, despite Nintendo obviously not being a startup of any kind. The Wii was a blue ocean product, and the company clearly thought the same logic could apply to its successor too. Find an idea that didn't have much competition (using a portable screen to control what's going on elsewhere), and use that to attract a new market.

Unfortunately, while the concept worked on a handheld device, it didn't really feel good to use on a larger scale, and the ideas designed for it (usually some sort of asymmetric gameplay experience) just didn't have the appeal that more traditional ones did.

> Boiling the Ocean

This seems really common with crowdfunded products, since if their scope isn't unrealistic as hell beforehand (and if it wants the public's attention and money, it usually is), it certainly is once the stretch goals start being added and the creators start promising everything and the kitchen sink.

Also with video games, as shown by Duke Nukem Forever, Beyond Good & Evil 2, etc.

Yep, seen too many startups jump straight to Kubernetes and microservices before they even have a validated product. Ouch.

Is there an N=1 anti-pattern on the list? I built an enterprise platform on a low 6 figure annual contract for my first customer. It’s looking like there are no other customers who desire the same type of platform.

"Pretending you are Google" Needs to be on there.

Scalability is not a problem: you have, you will have, you should plan for, you should build for, nor allow anyone to utter the S word. Simplicity is the correct word to use.

Wow, this is a very good site. I hope the see the other articles filled in at some point.

Python is an anti pattern.

Nodejs + typescript is superior across almost every dimension other than data science and familiarity.

People think it’s apples and oranges but it’s not. Also don’t forget golang too.

If your app is Python in the beginning then you’re pretty much locked in. It’s doable, but you’re going to be dealing with a lot of Python specific warts.

Obsessing over microservices before product market fit is a common, expensive trap. Just use a monolith, please.

Validation is shorthand for saying "I don't have deterministic skills or knowledge hence I will rely on user behaviour to drive the product".

Works out for many people and usually ideal for beginners. But post a couple of years, if validation is still your primary model, your model tells you how clueless you are in your domain.

Make logical derivations. Build. Determinism is a luxury only affordable for the ones who put in the effort. Others are doomed to chase validation for eternity.

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