A Smart Bear · Jason Cohen
articleprincipleThe Code is your Enemy
22 September 2024Profit
Source excerpt
About A Smart BearA short pep talk I delivered to kick off a Three-Day Startup challenge event. And overwhelming confirmation that the lesson is correct.
This is a limited feed-provided excerpt, not the full original work.
Apollo layer
What a founder can learn
Founder takeaway
Treat code as a cost, not progress by default. Before building, identify the riskiest assumption and test it with the lightest possible experiment.
Why it matters
Early-stage teams can mistake shipping software for proving value. Reducing unnecessary development preserves time and keeps learning focused on whether customers actually want the product.
Relevant guides
Put it to work
Ask: “What could we learn about customer demand this week without writing production code?”
Private notes