The Early Stage Spaceship

In our pre-release startup, it feels like we’re on a spaceship sometimes, trying to reach a distant planet.

Picking a Planet

With that little ship, and planets that are far away and far apart, you want to make darn sure you're flying to a nice one:

• You don’t want to find yourself on a planet that doesn't seem to support life, like the Facebook app planet.
• Or one that is as unwelcoming like the music planet, where you will find a great beast called the RIAA.
• You'd also want to steer clear of wanting to fly to the operating systems planet: It takes too long to get there and is inhabited by John Hodgman and that annoying Justin Long kid you kind of want to smack in the face.

Oh, you also don't want to pick a planet to which another, bigger spaceship, is already on its way. For example, when Microsoft flies to a planet (for example, video game consoles), their spaceship looks like this:


We looked at various planets through a telescope, and found one that seems pretty appealing and is not too far away. So how do we get there?

Thrust vs. Stabilizers

We're pretty fast already, but are thinking about adding more thrust and stabilizers.



Thrust, in this metaphor, are more engineers/coders/designers who accelerate development and help us get there faster. Adding too much uncontrolled thrust, can lead to veering off course. We could add stabilizers, product and project managers who can keep us on track, but also don't directly add to getting there. We're still debating the right balance.

We’re on Our Way

Please remain seated with your seatbelts buckled. The captain will have some weather updates for you when we’re closer to our destination.