It’s been a good week here at Snagstaville. The sun may have not shined much in Southwest London but we’re smiling again. The guys in Bangkok and Hong Kong are putting the final touches to Snagsta and we fully expect to roll out a private alpha version of the site next week.

Although we still can’t hear the fat lady sing she just might have finished nibbling on her last cake before she takes the stage.

We’ve also been playing with our Facebook app and had a lot of fun reading the lists we’ve received. They are as eclectic and as colourful as all the wonderful people who wrote them – thanks again to all of you who have made the time to help us out.

A great list landed on our digital doorstep on Wednesday courtesy of Loic Le Meur – the founder of a very interesting site named Seesmic.

I wanted to share this list on our blog because we found it particularly inspiring. Although setting up Snagsta has been great fun it’s had it moments of extreme stress. That said, taking a dream and turning it into reality is an incredibly uplifting experience. If you’re thinking about setting up your own company then this list is definitely worth snagging!

10 rules to launch a startup today

1. Do not wait for a revolutionary idea, the idea of your life will never happen, just focus on a simple exciting empty space you see and execute as fast as possible

2. Share your idea as much as possible, the more you share, the more you get advice and the more you learn. Meet and talk to your competitors.

3. Build a community around you through blogging and social software.

4. Listen to your community, answer questions and build your product with their feedback, involve bloggers as early as possible and get their feedback, if negative, adapt your product permanently.

5. Gather a great team with a very different skill set than yours, look for people who are better than you without being afraid of it.

6. Be the first to recognize a problem or a mistake you have made. Never hide it under the carpet. Address the issue in public, learn and correct it.

7. Do not spend time on market research, but launch as early as possible in alpha or beta versions. Keep improving the product in the open.

8. Do not focus on a large spreadsheet business plan, you are so sure it is not going to happen anyway.

9. Do not plan huge marketing, growing with your community loving the product is much more powerful.

10. Do not focus on getting rich or selling your company, focus on your users, money is a consequence of success, can’t be a goal.