Cool Blogs: Few blogs I love to read

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Over the last 4 months, I have visited many selected blogs ( I didn't keep a count, but based on my notes,  around 150) particularly looking for information and discussion at length on various topics about Startups. I have been looking more precisely for software or technology startups. Not many are there dedicated to Software Startups, but very much wandering about all kinds of businesses; someone said it best "wandering generality than a meaningful specific".


I found a few startling things to my surprise. Most of the blogs almost always are following a pattern, in little realistic words, they are called stereotypes. Here are the top observations: (Note: Read they/them as Blogs or blog owners.)



  1. Most of them never have or had any kind of startup experience. Some of them are though, self employed or independent consultants; other than that they never started or operated any kind of business that is bigger than a 1 man operation.

  2. Most of them link their posts to each other and edify each other every other day. And many times, a greater percentage of comments left on these blogs are left by these owners themselves. Kinda of network marketing, each other's blogs.  I am afraid they all must have read the same book on 'how to market your blog'. 

  3. Most of the discussions are on 'good to have' or 'good to do things'. And interestingly larger portion of posts are, 'hey this is the way  I think one should start up a business or market or do some thing about a startup. What do you think?'.

  4. They almost all participate in affiliate marketing, means they promote  books and products on thier posts at every opportunity they get, without ever offering any justification or their own experience of benefits about the product. Some times, the posts are so obviously written just to promote a book or a product.

  5. Not many blogs discuss any issue in depth. The content and discussion is always just scratching the surface. May be they do not have real world experience of a startup company, so I can not expect any deeper understanding than just nice to have 'common' stuff.

  6. I can not say, I haven't learnt anything from them, but I bet there is nothing new or indigenous on many posts. Very few have real world experience. And very few talked about, hey this is what we did, this is how we faced the problems and this is how we achieved the success.  I wish to spend some time sharing about these few gems, along with stereotypes. I wish to share the reasons why I think some may be just a waste of time going through.


I can not resist quoting from Tom Peters blog about why some times common sense and general principles are dangerous and need specific information and advice:



Tom Peters Blog : "TRAPPED. It's not because you are making the wrong decisions. It's because you are making the right ones. We try to make sensible decisions based on the facts in front of us. The problem with making sensible decisions is that so is everybody else." - Paul Arden, former Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi



My first posting on the Cool Blogs section will be about the blog that promises to offer Practical advice to Software Startups. It has kept its promise beyond my expectations and worth every second I spent at this blog. http://www.OnStartups.com.


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Comments

Intrepid said…
Good post. I do agree that there is sometimes the appearance of a cartel among bloggers. During my searches for good blogs on entrepreneurship, I have found only a handful which present really good material, one of which is Pam's Escape from Cubicle Nation.
June 17, 2006 at 7:07 AM
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