What does a startup need to be successful? Let discuss it!
Luis Gustavo
10 replies
Hey friends ππΌ.
In the next days I have a podcast interview about this topic. I launched a couple of business before, some of them were successful and another were a disaster..
I have clear what does need a startup to be successful, but also I would like to discuss with you to make an opinion exchange :)
For me, there are a lot of things to do in a startup to achieve success, but a good summary will be (in the exact order):
1. Provide a valuable solution: Basically, help the people to solve a specific problem. For me, this is the first step before all
2. Make money with your solution: If the people are available to pay you for the solution that you made in the first step, my friend, your business have started. At the beginning is super easy forget this and try to get a complex product, but it is:
Provide value, and get money for this value
3. Make your solution scalable: In this step is relevant the code and the product stuff, but after you check your solution, and after you're aware that the people want to pay money for it.
I would like to open a friendly opinion exchange on this! What other steps you will add to answer this question? π
Replies
Bastian Ernst (wildmetrics.io)@deleted-3997530
What I have learned about launching & growing different projects (Relationship Funnel, Accelerator, Wild Mail and now Wildmetrics):
1. Your positioning and how you message it, is everything. Getting your startup tag line right is so important.
2. Study other projects, startups, teams that are 1 year ahead of you. Follow every step they do. Visit their websites, Twitter, changelog all the time and see what changed. You learn a ton this way and it saves you from doing mistakes because you can learn from their mistakes.
3. Experiencing the pain/problem your product is solving is key. All my projects started from having the pain myself.
4. For building software startups: Your solution approach for the problem you try solving (the way you choose to solve the problem) is my biggest lesson so far. For Wildmetrics we tried solving a problem one particular way and that costed us almost 2 years because the approach was wrong. After we changed the approach and pivoted Wildmetrics, our roadmap, positioning became crystal clear. So if you lack clarity about your own project, maybe try changing your approach solving the problem.
That is all I got for now π
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hey @bastian_ernst, thanks for sharing this with us! I think you have really good points based on your experience. I really like the second point, study others projects is not a hard task, but sometimes we are so focussed on build, that we forget to study others similar project to get insight from them. Nice one!
TransferChain
I would say create a good team. I think the team is more important than the idea
TransferChain
@luisgustavo You're most welcome ^^ When you are recruiting It might help to try to understand people's culture and ethical values besides their technical capabilities. So many companies forget to check this or they are doing very superficial
@ozan_yalcin1 100% true! At the beginning, it is difficult to find a good team, and this could be a key factor to get success with your idea. Do you have any recommendation about create a good team? Also thanks for share this with us!
Good one @luisgustavo. In my opinion, there are several factors that can determine the success of a startup.
1. Team: For me, the team is the most precious asset of any company. In a startup, where the risk is even greater, it is vital to have a motivated, multidisciplinary core team, committed to the mission and vision of the company and who share a common work culture. Agree with @ozan_yalcin1
2. Product: As you said @luisgustavo, creating a great product, which provides a valuable solution to a real market problem and allows customers to fall in love with it, is also a key point in determining the success of a startup and reducing the risk of failure.
3. Timing: I think the timing is also key when it comes to launching the product or startup. Not too soon and not too late, just at the exact moment when the market is ripe enough for it. Even if there is a problem and a good solution is given, if the market is not ready, the idea will fail.
4. Execution: You can have a great team, a brilliant product, and a market ready to buy, but if the execution isn't effective, the idea won't succeed either. In my opinion, making mistakes quickly and cheaply is key in this process. Focus on 20/80, be very agile, and know when to be patient and when to pivot and focus marketing and product strategies around the customer.
By the way, such a great pleasure to share this journey with you :-)
@ozan_yalcin1 @benjimartinz great my friend! Timing is also a super important and difficult to understand. How a team can know if they have the right timing? Maybe the only way is trying it.. Thanks for sharing this with us π