Blunt Feedback, Payback

I received a lot of feedback on my 5-page plan for the First Look Forum yesterday and more has come in today. There's some irony -- a lot of the feedback says things that I've said to other people, reflected right back at me. It's so much easier to see flaws when you're reviewing someone else's work, rather than your own, and that's especially true when working under a deadline.

There were also plenty of comments that were completely new, reflecting greater knowledge on the part of my advisers about certain things, mainly business and marketing. The best part about the feedback was how blunt it was. I asked them to be direct and they were, and that lets me know the feedback is honest and useful.

Not all the feedback was negative. Even though I made it clear that I was looking for things that I needed to fix, there were still lots of kudos and positive comments mixed in. That was nice to see.

Overall, I feel pretty fortunate to have people who are willing to help me like this. I know that when I do things like the Startup Brainstorming Session today (which I scheduled before I knew about this deadline), I'm helping others with no direct benefit to myself. It's paying it forward, and I get paid back by other people at times like this. Thanks!