Comment by e10jc

7 hours ago

Is there an N=1 anti-pattern on the list? I built an enterprise platform on a low 6 figure annual contract for my first customer. It’s looking like there are no other customers who desire the same type of platform.

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e10jc

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pdpi  7 hours ago

Seems to be anti-pattern #4: If you build it, they will come. His description matches yours almost word for word.

> The founders automatically assumed that if they had the vision and one customer wanted it, many others would

https://www.itamarnovick.com/startup-anti-pattern-4-if-you-b...

  • enraged_camel  7 hours ago

    FWIW I think it is miscategorized. "Build it and they will come" is a different type of problem: it commonly refers to building something thinking that its value and usefulness are self-evident that it will sell itself, and therefore one needs no sales or marketing.

    • ButlerianJihad  6 hours ago

      Look, this quote originated in a 1989 movie about ghosts and baseball.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_Dreams

      The quote is from a ghostly, disembodied voice which encourages the protagonist to rip out their farm's corn crops and build a useless, pointless baseball field, in the middle of nowhere, so that the ghosts of dead players can come back to entertain people. The farm and the family are in financial trouble, and the bank wants to foreclose on the land, and so what has he got to lose?

      The film has a happy ending, of course: the guy builds the field, and all the ghosts come, and the human fans come as well, and his new baseball field is a rousing financial success. Our protagonist has honored his father, a lifelong baseball fan, and he's provided for his family, in the most unlikely of business ventures, counseled by voices of the undead.

      It seems weirdly missing the point to apply this to any real-world situations. You are essentially invoking a weird ghost story of baseball and utterly implausible fiction. This is not business advice, this is superstition. Field of Dreams protagonist in real life would've been hauled before a psychiatrist and medicated, and promptly served divorce papers along with the foreclosure.

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