The Five-Week Solo Startup
15 comments
·March 16, 2025harlanlewis
> "Look in the mirror. Who are you? What values will you compromise?"
This is probably a typo from "comprise" or similar, but I'm rather tickled by the idea that week 1 includes both a thoughtful assessment of your values and admitting with intention that your principles should be discarded before they can get in the way.
BlackjackCF
I think this is satire and 100% intentional.
harlanlewis
Of course you're right - oh how I wish it wasn't 1:1 with the earnestly-produced content dominating linkedin feeds…
pards
Sounds like the underpants gnomes [0]
* Phase 1: Collect underpants
* Phase 2: ?
* Phase 3: Profits
smallnix
Which companies did the author start/build?
jbs789
Also my question. Understanding the credibility/experience up front would be helpful in the article.
willsmith72
I don't think you need that much credibility if it's just old ideas restated in new structure.
The article is basically just "customer obsession" + "do things that don't scale". I find the 5-week framing interesting, but the concepts aren't new.
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iLoveOncall
It's somewhat scary that so far not a single commenter here realizes that this is satire.
marban
Empathy and humor don't scale on HN.
This seems a bit...naive? Get a haircut and headshot as week 1 goals? therapist? look in the mirror? upgrade audio/video? what...? This is just a bunch of things to spend money on :/
Maybe spend the time finding a market with a problem that is lucrative enough to then spend time solving. And then figure out how to validate the problem...and then find a solution that you can get to market in a week or two (if not sooner).
This stuff isn't rocket science its just fucking hard work.