Ten years ago, startups wanted to seem as corporate and established as possible. But now people want the personal connection and the story and are excited about the do-it-yourself ethic and maker movement. At the end of the day, the money is the least important part, it’s about building community.

Alon Goren, as told to Rebecca Grant.

i suffered a version of this affliction when building my business. i wanted to be established; i thought it would make customers (and the world at large) take me seriously. i'm not sure that the ultimate goal was every money per se - i always saw that as a bit of a longshot - but that was certainly part of the puzzle as well.

in the end, i left framebuilding not because it wouldn't pay the bills, but because my business wasn't set up in such a way as to provide me with any community. this had a number of implications (for one, not having a built-in community makes customer development a continuous, and inorganic, struggle), but the most significant of them was that i wasn't happy.

i now know that for my own career, at least, being good at what i do - and being around people that are better at what they do - is far more important than seeming as if what we're doing is big.