---
title: "Guide to Startups – and a note about Feedster"
date: 2006-02-08
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2006"
    url: "/tag/2006.md"
---

# Guide to Startups – and a note about Feedster

Ex-Feedster Scott Johnson has an interesting podcast entitled [ The Young Engineer’s Guide to Startups](https://web.archive.org/web/20091228160853/http://fuzzyblog.com/archives/2006/02/07/fuzzyblog-40-the-young-engineers-guide-to-startups/). It gives a nice overview of the startup life, especially things like equity and the ‘risk to reward ratio’. The latter can be summarized as: the earlier you join a startup, the higher the risk… but also potential reward. Other tips: the less cash you take when you join a startup, the more reward you potentially get; startups are “problem-solving paradises”; delay the valuation if possible. All of which are handy tips if you’re thinking about starting a company, or joining a startup.

I learned some new terms too – like “vomiting in the data center” 🙂

Interesting to note that Scott has a new startup called [Ookles](https://web.archive.org/web/20091228160853/http://groups.google.com/group/Ookles), while his old company Feedster is busy doing [damage control](https://web.archive.org/web/20091228160853/http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/02/07/feedster-the-friendster-of-blog-search/) over at TechCrunch. Incidentally, Feedster does have a point when they say their business is RSS-based and so it’s not quite the same as Technorati – something we went over back in July 2005 when I did my own [Alexa charts damnation post](https://web.archive.org/web/20091228160853/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/technorati_the.php). All the same, I think [Feedster](https://web.archive.org/web/20091228160853/http://www.feedster.com/) would help their cause if they promoted some of the business arrangements they have – e.g. didn’t they do [a deal with AOL](https://web.archive.org/web/20091228160853/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/aol_the_sleepin.php) in June last year? What’s the latest on that and other RSS-based business that Feedster does?

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/guide_to_startu.php))*