Hi, I'm James Yu

People always quote the platitude "the only thing you have control of is how hard you work." But, ask most people what they thought were the big factors in the success of people they know, and you'll get a combination of timing and hard work.

I argue that along with hard work, you need to know when to double down. You need to be able to recognize that moment in time when something just clicks. The lightbulb goes off. The stars align.

The problem is, many people who get confronted with this moment are at once excited and scared. There is a fear of not being able to accept the upcoming challenge and succeed. The fear of letting yourself down in the face of good opportunity. You then start to make excuses like "oh, I'll just put it off for now, I'm sure I'll get another opportunity like this when I'm more prepared."

News flash: opportunities don't just come knocking. When it appears, you need to seize it. When I feel myself having doubts, I always ask "what is the worse that could happen?" The answer 99% of the time is: not much.

The key to success (both in business and in life) is the ability to know when to double down. People often talk about trusting your gut to make judgements when situations are bad. However, too little is said about trusting your gut to sense when good opportunities arise.

When they do arise, you need to execute, and execute with as much effort as you can.

This is how great things are made.

Every product has a core—a feature that is the heart and soul. Everything else is secondary and is supported by the core. The product would not exist without the core.

Parse => remote object storage
DropBox => files
Facebook => friends
Netflix => movies
YouTube => videos
WordPress => blogs

Successful products and startups hone and keep a tight focus on the core of their product. This may sound obvious, but it's something that a lot of failed startups forget as the product matures and the core gets occluded.

1. Make sure the core is valuable

As a product grows and adds more features, the core is at risk of becoming sidelined. Keep the core the core of your product. This is a fine balancing act, because rich features on top of the core can make the product better.

From a UX perspective, The key is to avoid complicating core user flows. For example, uploading a YouTube video shouldn't require that you understand video annotations.

Most likely, 100% of your users will come to use the core. Don't make them think about any other features until they've mastered the core.

2. Maximize the value that the core provides

Most users will use your product just for the core feature. If it doesn't provide that much value, then it's time to rethink your product. A user shouldn't have to understand every feature of your product for it to be valuable.

A great product is one where users are happy just using the core.

3. Onboard users slowly, especially for complicated products

I do a lot of thinking about this because Parse is a developer platform, which is inherently more complicated than your average consumer product.

The way to onboard users for platforms is to have a quickstart flow that teaches users how to use the core. Nothing else.

For Parse, which provides an SDK to add backend features to your mobile app, the core is saving a single object from a mobile app. The quickstart flow methodically guides the user to the point where they can save an object. If you're a mobile dev, sign up and check it out.

Even though Parse offers much more, it makes no sense to clutter the flow for new users. When you're new, you need to learn the core, then slowly digest the rest of the features.

This is important for consumer products, and crucial for developer products. You can apply this to any kind of product.

Are you building a new document editor? Your onboarding should get users to write a few sentences and save a document. Nothing else. I took this to the extreme with QuietWrite.

Are you building a photo sharing site? Your onboarding should have users upload a single photo, then show it to them with a success message. Nothing else. Instagram did a great job at this.

4. Give users feedback as they complete tasks

A successful product is one that constantly teaches users how to use it. At the end of the Parse quickstart guide, we have a button that lets users test whether they've successfully saved an object. We give direct feedback, and users can immediately course correct if they've made a wrong turn.

This gives users the confidence that they understand the core feature of your product. From there, they'll be able to explore everything else, and hopefully become a power user.

At the end of the day, a product that is trying to be too many things at once is going to just confuse users. People want products that solve specific problems well. And the best way to do this is to focus on core features and teach users how to use them. Everything else is secondary.

It would be an understatement to say that 2011 was a packed year for me. In one year, I

• Left my job
• Started a company (Psst.. we're hiring)
• Made it into Y Combinator
• Raised funding
• Got married to the most beautiful girl
• Turned 30

It was a year of action. I barely had time to think. It was always go-time. And, I feel particularly lucky to be alive. This was probably my best year ever.

Throughout, I tried to write down the things that I've learned. So, here they are, in no particular order.

Everyone is flying by the seat of their pants

No one knows exactly what's going to happen. No plan ever goes perfectly. If people say they do, they're lying. Everyone is winging it to some degree. This is especially true at the very beginning of a company. This is when ideas are raw and untested.

The key is to continually learn from the pant flying, and don't be afraid to course correct. And most of all, you need to be okay with uncertainty.

Pay attention to market signals

The best products are the ones that are literally pulled out of a company. These products solve hair-on-fire problems that affect a big market. Building a startup is finding this type of product: one that will fly off the shelves.

If you're currently building a product, you're looking for feedback from customers like "Oh my god, where were you 2 years ago? This solves a huge problem for me. I want to pay tou now." If instead, you're only getting "That's cool", then it's time to worry. You need to get to "Oh my god" as soon as possible.

Keep talking to customers and iterating.

Product marketing is minimizing the time to WOW

When a potential customer is evaluating your product, you literally have seconds before they bounce. You need to minimize the time from when they first see your product, to when they exclaim in their head: "I understand this, and WOW do I need this."

Also, instead of listing what features your product has, you need to communicate what problems it actually solves for your customers. Rob Fitzpatrick has a great article on how abstractions make us stupid. Remove the abstractions, and your product will communicate more clearly.

Content is king

Rand Fishkin says this much better than I do. A strong marketing strategy is one that is centered around organic and shareable content, rather than interruption style marketing like ads.

People on the web don't like interruptions. But, you'll be praised if you're adding something to the ecosystem of knowledge. Just make that knowledge relevant to your product.

Build custom dashboards

"You make what you measure."

No analytics solution is going to be as fully integrated as a custom solution you roll. If you have the resources, make your own dashboards that show your most important metrics. This is different for all companies. The act of creating these dashboards can itself be an enlightening exercise.

The main dashboard should only the top 3 metrics. Nothing more. Put this dashboard on a big screen and refer to it often. As you go through the day, think constantly about these metrics as you make decisions.

Of course, you can use Google Analytics, MixPanel, and other solutions. But use these in conjunction with your own dashboard.

Do if for passion and fun

This is an oft repeated meme, but it's worth repeating. If you're building a company just because you want to get rich, it will show in your product.

Do it because you believe in what you're building. Do it because you love building things that other people use. Do it because you think the world will be a better place.