Comments on: MioWorks closes doors but leaves with valuable startup lessons in hand

By: Advice on starting a startup: Seattle StartupDay 2010 helps pre-entrepreneurs step up or step out « Silicon Florist

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:44:52 +0000

[...] 2010. You may remember David from his days in Portland as the CEO of MioWorks. Most likely from his popular post on the reasons he had to shutter the project. For more, follow him on his blog, Inner Lining. Now, let's get to his [...]

By: Top 10 Silicon Florist posts for November 2009 | Oregon Startup Blog

Top 10 Silicon Florist posts for November 2009 | Oregon Startup Blog — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:41:07 +0000

[...] MioWorks closes doors but leaves with valuable startup lessons in hand [...]

By: Wink Junior

Wink Junior — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:10:55 +0000

Am I the only one who read these and said, “Uh, yeah, duh…” Sorry, but I’ve worked at 7+ startups and after the first one I could have told you these three nuggets of wisdom, most likely, and definitely after the second.

No matter how you’re funded, work to sell, sell, sell, and get your startup to the point where you can pay salaries, rent, bonuses, hardware, consulting, etc. Do that before or after VC money. If it’s out-of-pocket like MioWorks was, they shouldn’t have wasted a precious second talking to VC’s – unless it was one who could really hook them into their market. Otherwise, they should have been working to realize what their market really was (lesson 1) and then worked to show they could make it in that market without VC/angel $$$ (lesson 3).

What I wrote above is really pretty much just common sense. I’m not dissing David and I’m so happy to see someone who learned and wants to help, but what I don’t get is how this advice isn’t well known since, say, the late ’90′s? I learned it then, along w/a lot of other people.

My point: the ole cliche’ – “those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it”. Want to create a startup? Spend a month researching the many 100′s of them that have bloomed and died in Portland in the last decade. Anyway, thanks David, maybe people will get Startup 101 out there finally! Cheers!

By: Josh Friedman

Josh Friedman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:31:54 +0000

David, thanks for sharing your insight with the community. Any/all thoughts about lessons learned always benefits entrepreneurs. Good luck in your next endeavor.

By: Scott Tanaka

Scott Tanaka — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:33:17 +0000

Being part of a handful of start-ups, I can recognize great reflective thought in these notes – sorry to hear about a shut down here in Portland – great points to heed for up and coming (and current) entrepreneurs. Best to all that are now looking for their next gig…

By: Hari Rajagopal

Hari Rajagopal — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:41:02 +0000

Thanks for this post.

Good to learn from others’ mistakes.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:00:15 +0000

Rick, this post and the SplashCast post, while sad for the companies, employees and tech involved, are great lessons – tremendously helpful. Keep them coming when you can!