Thank you to all of our dear readers who have taken the time to write their suggestions and thoughts – They have really touched me. As we process this advice, I wanted to take some time and elaborate on some of the larger themes not captured in the rigid form of numbered bullets in the ‘what-we-learned-post’.

When I left my job to start The Issue the only thing I read was The Economist and the NY Times. Yup, that’s right… hence #3 (Don’t be arrogant – do the due diligence on the industry and the space). Through my complete (and often, near drowning) immersion in media I think I’ve found one of the fundamental tenets of the media revolution. Of course, if you disagree with me – let me know – you are talking to the kid who knew next to nothing on media about 8 months ago.

Here’s the conclusion first:
The current and coming transformation of media is the reattachment of people to ideas.

Comrades: As you may know much of the web 2.0 buzz is about the democratization of the media; that the Orwellian control of a few who brainwash the masses, is not the inevitable future but a quickly crumbling past. A lot of this cold war thinking posits that now, everyone will be able to share equally in the creation and exchange of information - a sort of perfect egalitarian democracy of news. But this utopian-techie’s dream is about as viable as Russian Communism. Except this time there’s no Stalin to force everyone into blogging.

With the industrial revolution, came the advent of new tools of production and therefore two ways of viewing the production of goods: egalitarian communists and individualist capitalists. In this web revolution, marked by the rise of new tools (blogs), there are again two ways to view the production of news: the egalitarian and the individualists. And like in Russia, the inevitable future is the individualist. So let’s skip the bread lines and get straight to the point.

Blogs are not about giving everyone an equal voice.
Some blogs are better than others. So people will naturally gravitate to a few, leaving the vast majority in the desktop trash bin. This is not an egalitarian internet and there’s no taxation and redistribution of traffic. Power over information is not democratized - it is simply transferred. The HuffingtonPost replaces the New York Times.

But what does change is a direct connection between the reader and the blogger. And why will the HuffingtonPost overtake the New York Times? Because to win over your customers you need more personable customer service (since the price is already 0) - And so in news – you need personality. Blogging democratizes within the media organization itself not the field of media. Removing the need for layers of editors and revisions, blogging allows the writer’s personality and perspective to shine through. And this will always win. Why?

Because as humans we are primed to seek out and respond to other people. Marketers know this as they pay athletes and movie stars to endorse products, reporters and PR people know this as the stories that sell best are the “human interest” ones. The most widely read articles in any newspaper are always the Op-Eds. Reality television makes a lot of money.

The current news revolution is all about putting people back into the focus of the news in every manner possible. That is the race for the bomb and that’s how you win in media. Let’s just hope it’s not MAD as well.

Close to one year into trying our hand at entrepreneurship, we’ve learned more than we thought there was to learn. Wow. Some of these we gleaned from the people who generously shared their brains with us. Some of them we picked up through our own direct experience. And many of them we learned after getting hit over the head with them. Repeatedly.

Here’s our list, so as to remember these nuggets and avoid subsequent battery.

1) 4 beers and 3 weeks of no sleep was certainly not the way to “go-live.”
2) Always ask: What do customers really want?
3) Don’t be arrogant – do the due diligence on the industry and the space.
4) Viral marketing doesn’t exist. Get your PR and marketing in line 3-5 months prior to launch.
5) Start planning strategy months before, not after launch.
6) Raise seed money immediately.
7) Avoid a slow death. Execute Faster.
8) Don’t straight jacket the company with multiple ‘lofty ideals’ – know what matters and what doesn’t.
9) Make sure you’ve got all sailors on deck before setting sail.
10) Set Priorities. Don’t undervalue your own time.
11) Micro-managing wastes everyone’s time – Whoa boy, that took a while to figure out!
12) There’s a reason why division of labor exists.
13) Be bold! Get out of the office and meet people. They are more than willing to help.
14) Net-weave, don’t network. When you meet someone new, always think: “how can I help this person.”
15) Don’t botch HR. When bringing people on board have a plan in place.
16) Breathe innovation.
17) Brainstorm so often you need a giant red umbrella.
18) Write those brainstorms across the walls– for constant review and later synthesis (chalkboard paint works great for this).
19) Don’t get embroiled in the assembly line. Be the visionary.
20) Eat breakfast as a team: and keep a schedule.
21) A Manhattan apartment is just too small. Space is important. Both literally and figuratively.
22) Take time away. Weekends. Vacation time. Get out of the office.
23) Trust your team to make decisions. Delegate.
24) Set up the legal documents before you start. You’ll never find time to do them later.
25) Talk to a lawyer.
26) Burn Perfectionism at the Stake. Execute Always.
27) Yoga.
28) Have fun. Play Foosball. Build Camaraderie.
29) Focus.
30) More caffeine for the addicts.
31) More exercise, meditation, frisbee and football for the rest.
32) Manage towards goals not tasks.
33) Finish a test project up until you can get customer feedback. No more. No less.
34) Keep the Grand Canyon between personal and work accounting.
35) Set regular meetings for various levels of conversation. Vision, Strategy, Operations, etc.
36) Keep operational meetings short and with a strict agenda. Use a timer.
37) Keep vision meetings relaxed and open ended.
38) Read!
39) Make sure each employee has only one boss.
40) Incorporate new hires like ingredients in a sauce – one at a time.
41) Save the airplane sleeping visor and sleep with it.
42) Don’t have a TV. Ever. It’s junk anyway.
43) Continually identify “The Need” in the market.
44) “Fail Faster and More Often” – Tristan Louis.
45) Sell water in the desert.