Success 2.0: Build Great Teams. Build Small Teams. Be Agile.
Success in the web 2.0 sphere makes for an easy sales pitch. You need to spend less money. You need to get a product out faster. And the catch is…? None, but spending less is not as easy as it seems. You need the right framework, the right partners, the right methodology. Here are some principles Betterdot Systems abides by in everything we do…
1) Build great teams. As Marcus Daniels once told me, “You are better off starting a business with an A team and a B plan than a B team with an A plan”. Why? Because the A team will eventually gravitate to the A plan anyways. The A team will innovate, will find the way, the shortest path. Hire great people. Work with great partners. Build your A team.
2) Build small teams. Small teams do great things. The mighty Google is said to have no team larger than seven. Meanwhile Microsoft used armies of developers to produce the much vilified Vista operating system. Build small teams. Assign them a clear mandate. Give them responsibilities. Let them shine.
3) Be agile. Don’t fight change, embrace it. Focus on the user experience. Try rapid prototyping and commit to frequent releases. Be nimble, be agile.
The principles above allow us to do more, do it faster and do it for less. Sales pitches are so web 1.0… 
On being agile… Just now reading Jeff Jarvis’s WWGD (What Would Google Do?). He talks about Googles modus operandi of always releasing in Beta. Even Gmail is still in Beta. His point is that this is a nod to the idea that nothing is finished and perfect. Better to get it out there and get it critiqued and improved – than to keep it in lab and try to get it perfect.
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[...] But when working with software, get to know who you are working with. And keep in mind that small teams do great thing. [...]
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[...] other clients which is further driving its adoption. And there lies a valuable take-away on success 2.0: play nice with the community and the community will adopt you and make you successful. [...]
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