> I think that the fact that these are post-mortems (e.g., dead startups) skews things a little.
That's a very good! So it's 5% of startups that posted a post mortem (and it didn't disapear into ether), rather than 5% of all startups. These two things are very different things.
> we can use technology to take something that "works" and turn it into something that purrs
Well put. However, nowadays, the tech itself is often not the key bit in making the difference between 'works' and 'purrs'. Of course, there are exceptions, bigger and smaller ones. More often, it's understanding the problem, the users, and finding the fit. You can build a product with tons of technical debt and wtfs that gains some traction and then spend resources on improving it. However, it doesn't work the other way round. It often takes an experienced engineer to say 'right, let's start some cleaning up' at the right time. However, if your product doesn't solve any problems, no one is willing to pay for, etc, brilliant tech solutions are not going to help it.
> start using sane tech practices is, well, as early as possible, preferably once you've validated your other assumptions
Totally! It's just that it's often hard to tell when it's the right time.
That's a very good! So it's 5% of startups that posted a post mortem (and it didn't disapear into ether), rather than 5% of all startups. These two things are very different things.
> we can use technology to take something that "works" and turn it into something that purrs
Well put. However, nowadays, the tech itself is often not the key bit in making the difference between 'works' and 'purrs'. Of course, there are exceptions, bigger and smaller ones. More often, it's understanding the problem, the users, and finding the fit. You can build a product with tons of technical debt and wtfs that gains some traction and then spend resources on improving it. However, it doesn't work the other way round. It often takes an experienced engineer to say 'right, let's start some cleaning up' at the right time. However, if your product doesn't solve any problems, no one is willing to pay for, etc, brilliant tech solutions are not going to help it.
> start using sane tech practices is, well, as early as possible, preferably once you've validated your other assumptions
Totally! It's just that it's often hard to tell when it's the right time.