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Effective...are is
Nov 13, 2021 19:50
2 yrs ago
20 viewers *
English term

All startup advice is only useful in context!

English Other Business/Commerce (general) start up
In the paragraph below from a business book:

All startup advice is only useful in context, and I am a firm believer that the only good generic startup advice is that there is no good generic startup advice. So take what is written here with a grain of salt—it is very much one person’s experiences, not a rulebook for what is correct for every company in every context.

What does "All startup advice is only useful in context" mean?
Responses
4 You can't give proper advice to/about a startup if you don't know anything about it/the situation.
Change log

Nov 13, 2021 19:50: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"

Nov 14, 2021 13:55: Andrea Capuselli changed "Vetting" from "Needs Vetting" to "Vet OK"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Yvonne Gallagher

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Discussion

AllegroTrans Nov 14, 2021:
Asker the explanation is all there in your question: it is very much one person’s experiences - i.e. every case is different
Charlotte Fleming Nov 14, 2021:
It means that advice for one new business or business-owner won't necessarily work for another, just as a translation for a word may work in one context and not in another. What would be good advice for a hair-dresser, for example, might not be good for a civil engineering company.

Responses

8 days
Selected

You can't give proper advice to/about a startup if you don't know anything about it/the situation.

I actually don't think the original English sentence is very thoughtfully written or coherent. Without the clarifying sentences, it would be a bit strange. I think the author wanted to convey something like "no advice can be given about a startup without knowledge of the specifics of the situation." The sentence is pithy, but "only useful in context" does not seem to be what is really meant here.

This wording literally means something more like, "if you get advice about startups and have no context in which to apply the advice, the advice is not useful." That may be true, but it's also so self-evident that it's not worth saying. And the context here tells us that this is not really what the author is trying to convey.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, A lot, very helpful and perfect."
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