What advice would you give someone who is starting their own company?
Ayush Jangra ✦
161 replies
I wish someone had told me how much time it would take. I was so naive when I started my company, thinking that it would be easy to get off the ground and make a name for myself.
What I didn't realize until later is that there's so much work involved in building a business and so many things that can go wrong.
I'm grateful for my experience now, but if I could go back and tell myself something about starting a company, it would be:
"Don't expect things to go smoothly. And if you had to pivot... PIVOT!"
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Tomas Laurinavicius@tomaslau
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You can never know for sure what will work. To increase your odds of success, try to acquire as many skills as possible to be able to run many experiments without relying on others. Keep things simple and lean. Place small bets. There are only 3 modes: Build, Sell and Admin. Distribution is underrated. Don’t quit until you try at least 100 distribution experiments while talking to your customers or potential ones if no one is paying. Learn about network effects, NfX has a fantastic masterclass available for free.
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EnVsion AI
1. Learn to love what you do, even the not so easy or glamorous parts.
2. Be open-minded and resilient at the same time.
3. This last one earn me some raised eyebrows in this community, but I believe that especially in the early stages:
distribution > product
Hope this helps :).
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Make sure you understand your users and what they are trying to accomplish. And if you don't have any yet, then write down your hypothesis on who they are and track them down to ask what they are trying to accomplish.
@aamir Get to know your users and their needs, and then build your product around those needs.
I've seen a lot of companies fail because they didn't do this, they created something cool and then just thought about how much money they could make off it. That's not enough.
People don't buy products; they buy solutions that solve their problems. If your product doesn't solve someone's problem, it won't last long enough for you to make any money off it.
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Build community first
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Don't be put down by failures; it happens to everyone; keep getting back up.
Don't be stubborn to change, the market doesn't care about your emotions.
@aaronoleary I agree with this completely. 💯 You have to be resilient and keep going, even when it seems like your business is doomed.
I think that's why there are so many successful entrepreneurs out there they've learned how to pick themselves up after a failure and start over again. It's so easy to get down on yourself when things aren't going your way, but I also think that being able to admit your mistakes and keep getting back up is the key to success in business.
And I think it's important not to be too stubborn about changing your approach you have to listen to what the market is telling you!
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Hey!
Launch value MVPs, get feedback and pivot. Take your first draft persona and create an MVP and ask (and measure with analytics tools) what else they need to get the job done. And repeat. Add value, add value, add value.
How do you add value?
@rubenlozanome It's so important to focus on the customer and their needs, rather than just your own idea of what they might need. I'm glad you brought up the concept of MVPs. I think it's important for new companies to start small and grow from there.
Thanks for sharing this!
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@ayushjangra yes, I agree with you. Imagine you develop the whole product with a bunch of features that a few see some value. I totally agree, MVP and test it, get feedback qualitative and quantitative and pivot.
Thanks for asking. This question makes me organise the ideas. :)
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The most important thing I would say is building momentum through all forms - product, content, community, building in public or whatever fits you.
If you don't build momentum, assume your startup is dead by default.
@5harath I agree with you Sharath - momentum is everything. I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube about startups, and the common theme seems to be: if you don't have momentum, you're dead.
The thing is, though, I think that's only partially true. It's not enough just to have momentum - you have to be building it in the right way! That means focusing on the right things at the right time, and making sure that what you're doing is helping your startup grow in a sustainable way.
Be kind to yourself. And always try harder.
@orikmoitaz This is great advice. Be kind to yourself, and always try harder! There's no need to feel like you have to be perfect - just do the best you can, and give it your all.
The advice I'd give is "if you dont care about people, you wont care about their challenges, and if you don't care about their challenges, you will not be successful at effectively solving them. Your startup is about people, not your product."
@reginaldandreas I think this is an excellent point. I would add to it that the most important thing you can do is to listen to your customers and act on what they tell you. This is true even if they don't know what they want yet, because they probably have ideas about how to solve their challenges that you would never think of!
Listening also means understanding that people are not all the same your customers are diverse, and it's important to understand their differences and needs so that you can serve them better.
Spectate
Learn from failures, nothing will be perfect from the start and most of al: focus! Don't try to do too many things at once: focus on your company and not other side hustles.
@bjarnbronsveld 💯 I think it's important to know that failure is going to happen. It's just part of the process. You're going to learn so much from it and be able to use those lessons in your future endeavors.
When you're starting out, focus on really honing in on what makes your company unique. Then, as you grow, keep that core value at the center of everything you do.
The journey of an entrepreneur will be challenging, but if you don't enjoy the process, the end goals will ultimately leave you feeling unsatisfied.
@aju_g_nair I love this! I think it's so important to enjoy the journey, and to focus on the process.
Too often people get caught up in the end goal and forget that there are a lot of amazing things along the way.
Only build for a problem that you truly believe in. Coz when the going gets tough (which surely does), it's only your passion to solve the problem that takes you one step further! :)
Vadoo AI
Whatever you did to get to from A to B won't get you from B to C.
Unlearn and relearn.
SaaS for Greater Good
Be prepared for the long-haul: Starting a company is a marathon, not a sprint, and requires a lot of hard work and perseverance.
Focus on your customers: Understand their needs and pain points, and build your product or service to address them.
@saasfellow I agree with you 💯 Joseph. It's not going to happen overnight. You need to be prepared for a long slog and be willing to put in the work.
It can be tempting to try to force your product or service on people, especially in the early days of your business when you're just trying to get things off the ground. But if you want to be successful and keep your customers happy, you have to keep yourself open to what they're telling you.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts 😊
The founding team has been the most important piece to me, being surrounded by people who understand how much it will take, who are in it as much as you are, and who can pick each other up when they're down. The lows can be very low, but a good team helps each other get through it.
No one can tell how long will it take or how much effort it needs. Some get it done a bit easier compared to most of them.
If you're expecting an easy ride it's not the path to choose. An idea is just a starting point you and your team only know how long it will take if stood by it.
Nothing matters idea, experience, or network just keep going, keep going, keep going. Good luck.
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use stork and delegate everything non-core
Focus on sales. There is no growth without money.
Mine would be - keep your day job. If you are not happy, change the company and the boss. Same as what Jack Ma said.