Crude Technologies

“One of the most controversial choices at the time was whether the Xbox should have a modem in it or not. It sounds bizarre now but most people at the time were connecting to the internet via a dial-up modem.

“So the decision to add a modem in there was fought and fought and actually went all the way up to Robbie Bach. There was a big difference of opinion because at the time there were a lot of dial-up multiplayer services, and we knew if we supported that we could get a lot of people playing.

“The idea of having an Ethernet connection in your home was pretty new at that time, and not many people had it.

“And I remember that this was one of the clear demands that Robbie made, he said we were building the machine for the future, that we were going to bet on people signing up to broadband.

“Once he made that decision. No-one went back.”

An in-depth look at how Microsoft got into the console race, tracing the two years from product conception to launch.

OnStartups.com offers a short explanation of the importance of usability to a startup's prospects, framed as an argument that founders should be developers first, and usability experts second.

#1. Developer.  If a web startup has only one founder, it should be a brilliant developer.  And by a developer, I mean a developer — someone who can produce, release and maintain working code.  Not a CTO or “architect”.  Not someone who thinks they can recruit developers or someone who knows someone who runs a development shop in Croatia.  An actual developer. 

#2. Designer / UI / UX person.  If the startup has two founders, the other founder should be a brilliant designer-type.  By this, I mean someone that can take a problem that humans have and come up with a software solution that humans want to use — repeatedly and delightedly.  I think great design talent has always been useful in a software company — now, it’s become crucial. 

#3. Inbound Marketer.  If the startup has three founders, the third one should be an inbound marketer.  An inbound marketer is someone who is good at pulling people in (vs. pushing a message out).  I decidedly don’t mean someone that’s good at spending a marketing budget on advertising to try and find people that are interested.  I mean someone that will create remarkable content that will attract traffic, users and customers. 

#4. Sales Person.  If there’s a fourth founder on the team (which I’m not a big fan of by the way), it might be useful to have a sales person.  And, remember, startups don’t need a VP of Sales — they need actual sales.

Curiously, other than mentioning its effect on sales, the article overlooks the benefits of usability to cash flow. Viral word-of-mouth, increased sign-up rate, reduced churn, and lower support costs, all stretch your startup dollar farther. This is why startup needs a business co-founder. Your usability won't get used if you don't have the cash flow to let users keep using...