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Paul Buchheit at Startup School 08

startupschool · 15.1K views · 2009-01-30 · 28:13

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Overview

Paul Buchheit, creator of Gmail and founder of FriendFeed, speaks at Startup School 08 about listening to users. He covers feedback, features, aiming for 100 happy users, and treating "that's impossible" as a statement of limited experience.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it for its memorable lines on advice, limited experience and early user focus, and rewatch it as a reminder not to be prescriptive.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2010–2015

Topics

Startups & entrepreneurshipProduct, marketing & sales
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paul buchheituser feedbackstartup schoolgmailfriendfeed

What people said

alabut · 2014-02 · Strong recommendation

Paul Buchheit said something similar at startup school years ago and I watch the video every once in a while to remind myself not to be similarly prescriptive when I meet new people. His key takeaway slide was a simple equation: Limited Life Experience + Overgeneralization = Advice The full video has more info on how to get past the advice you hear and actually process feedback: [VIDEO]

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revorad · 2011-01 · Recommendation

If someone says "that's impossible", you can interpret it as: "According to my limited experience and very narrow understanding of reality, it's very unlikely." An oldie but goodie - [VIDEO]

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grinich · 2010-04 · Recommendation

Paul Buchheit had a good quote at the 08 startup school. If someone says: "That's impossible." You should understand it as: "According to my very limited experience and narrow understanding of reality, that's very unlikely." Video: [VIDEO] Slides: [LINK]

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Sources

Video by startupschool, played through YouTube.

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