By: Senior staff writer – Easton Ellsworth

Loy Okezie at StartupsNigeria.com liked our Barack Obama Guide to Launching a Tech Startup, so here’s a quick guide for you baseball fans out there.

Tim Lincecum is the 2008 National League Cy Young Award winner. So?

So Tim’s just a little guy.

Not only is Tim just 24 years old, but he’s just 5 feet 11 inches tall and 160 pounds.

Okay, so that’s a titch bigger than this writer, but hey – it’s teeny in major league baseball.

Now what does this have to do with technology startup companies?

1. Have a great product.

It doesn’t matter what people call your company. Tim Lincecum is known in many circles as “The Freak.” What matters is your product or service. Lincecum has three unhittable pitches, one of which is a 97-mph fastball. Youch.

2. Don’t listen to doubters.

Tim Lincecum on doubters: “People have been doubting me my whole life. I don’t let them bring me down.”

Startups face a lot of doubt and uncertainty these days (in case you hadn’t noticed). If you’re part of one, don’t listen to the scowling voices blowing in the wind.

3. Listen to everything else.

The suggestions, the recommendations, the rumors, the complaints – everything that isn’t “you’re going to fail.” Listen hard and never stop paying close attention to what the world – and the Web – are saying to you.

A baseball pitcher like Tim Lincecum can’t run on pure talent forever, and neither can an Internet startup. Lincecum knows that major league hitters learn fast, and you can bet he’ll always be adding to his bag of pitching tricks.

What else would you say a tech startup can learn from major league pitcher Tim Lincecum?

Any Giants fans out there, by the way?