Confessions of a Startup Seagull

Inspired by the tech community’s recent usage and dissing of every new product that comes to market- The rapid cycle of tech news and new products from startups has created what can only be described as a Startup Seagull:

First, they hear about a new product
They dive in to try it out
Then, they shit all over the place. “This product is horrible!” Preferably in public, on a blog or Twitter
Finally, they fly away, never to use the product again

I’ll admit, I do this, all the time. By definition, most new products aren’t great and won’t have amazing retention early on. On the other hand, it’ll be a constant that we’ll all try new products whenever we hear about it. So maybe this is an unavoidable fact.

Ultimately though, I ended making a rule for myself when I blog or tweet, when it comes to startups. I only diss products that are already successful ;) For all the up-and-comers, if I don’t have anything good to say, I just avoid saying anything at all. Then at least I’ll be a Startup Seagull, but without leaving a mess for someone else to clean up.

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http://sevenquark.com/ Valentin Dombrovsky

Well, there’s a way to fight seagulls and even bring them back to using the product – it’s to keep updating your product and trying to create buzz around these updates that’s louder than seagulls shouting.

Well, definitely it’s something that every entrepreneur should be able to do in order to survive. Although it’s hard sometimes.
http://twitter.com/Quan Hong

Good rule!
http://andrewchenblog.com Andrew Chen

re: seagulls, fuck ‘em. As they say, race your own race.
http://sevenquark.com/ Valentin Dombrovsky

Well, sometimes you need some diplomatic moves to win the battle…
http://petegrif.tumblr.com/ Pete Griffiths

Minimum Viable Seagull.
http://yakshaving.net/ ash bhoopathy

So true. Most often, the people that troll really just don’t get it. I’m sure that the HN community is technically smart, but often times are so completely clueless as to why something is compelling to real, everyday people: case in point, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5037179
http://patrickfoley.com/about Patrick Foley

Instead of saying nothing, how about leaving constructive feedback on the startup’s own blog? Honest feedback from you might help a shitty product get a lot better.
Too much work? Hopeless?
http://about.me/alonr Alon Rapaport

True, though it’s best to avoid the battle at all.

If a startup publishes a version of a long developed product and it sucks – then agreed, they deserve the critics. But the case is usually an MVP that was draft and coded under pressure in very limited time and is published to start learning it’s potential users and the eco system. In this case, what needed is a constructive feedback and not empty (thought very true at times) critics. No time to waste on that.

So I completely agree with Andrew – fuck ‘em.
KirillBigay

Definition of “StartUp Seagull” by Andrew Chen! :) Hilarious!
http://culttt.com/ Philip Brown

Hi Andrew, I would love to hear how you would go about launching and marketing a new product to try and avoid this cycle? I agree that you see it happen almost every single day!
http://www.facebook.com/vahe1 Vahe Katros

Seagulls love garbage – consider the source.
http://andrewchenblog.com Andrew Chen

The folks on HN are often the worst. Maybe TC is another order of magnitude though.
http://sevenquark.com/ Valentin Dombrovsky

Em. I didn’t mean that you have to fight with startups – I meant that sometimes you can turn “Seagulls” into supporters acting diplomatic and making them feel that there opinion is important.

You shouldn’t forget that there are 2 types of people who care for your product:

1. Those who thank you for it.

2. Those who say it sucks.

And there’s in fact small amount of such people. All other people don’t care. And the worst case is when nobody cares…
http://www.wisestep.com/ WiseStep

I agree that most startups aren’t great but giving a feedback which is useful for them to improve will work most of the times. Encouraging a startup is not a bad idea.
http://startupjon.blogspot.com/ Jon Skulemowski

I know that this sort of feedback can be annoying – but it’s still incredibly useful. The world is my mirror and if a lot of people think my startup idea sucks, I’d rather hear about it now than a few months down the road for sure. I do get your perspective, though. There is something to be said for those people who jump in without having a qualified opinion. Actually, haven’t you just described startup trolling? :)
http://www.tracecohen.me/ Trace Cohen

This is one of the love/hate relationships with the tech industry – we’re very buzz, hype and trend driven. Early adopters are great when you launch to drive interest and users to sign up but it’s all about retention and making sure they come back. In PR, we always advised our client’s that it’s a “launch period” that lasts a month or so and not just a product launch day, a moment in time. Once the seagulls leave, it’s time to build a real business!

@andrewchen