What’s one mistake you made early in your startup journey that others can learn from?
AnnaHo
18 replies
Let’s help each other avoid common pitfalls!
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AnnaHo@annaho2000
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One early mistake we made was trying to build too many features at once instead of focusing on the core problem we aimed to solve. It spread our resources thin and delayed our launch. Focusing on a minimum viable product (MVP) early on would have been much more efficient.
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Start by simplicity, don't go into complex things
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@tara_fitzgerald Your experience highlights the importance of thorough market research. Understanding market size and demand is crucial before investing resources. This lesson can help others avoid similar pitfalls by encouraging them to validate their ideas and assess market potential early in their startup journey.
I thought my ideas was good but I did not realise how nich the market actually was. It led to waste of money and time
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@peterhenry Underestimating market niche size is a common pitfall. Thorough market research is crucial to avoid wasting resources and time on ideas that may have limited appeal.
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Build your community as soon as you can. It can be surprising how a strong community can help you in so many ways.
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@bilalasif Absolutely agree! Building a community early creates a loyal base that can provide valuable feedback, spread the word, and even become your first customers. It also gives you insights into your product’s fit with the market.
I though there were no compitition but I was wrong. We should always ready for the compititions
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@paul_mccoy That's a valuable lesson. Assuming no competition can lead to complacency. It's crucial to stay vigilant and prepared for potential rivals in any market.
URLtoText
The biggest two mistakes I've encountered in my journey that have really held things back are not talking to customers enough and building too much in general.
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@timothybramlett Engaging customers early and often is crucial. Focus on building only what's necessary, avoiding over-engineering. These lessons can significantly streamline your startup's progress and resource allocation.
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I help business with their people strategy and a mistake I see so often is around hiring!
- Hire someone they love/trust, with no clear understanding of the role they will play in the business long term.
- Hire an expert and an expert's salary, without ensuring that 1. there's a long term need, 2. the business can sustain that positions monetary inflation throughout the years
OR
- Hire for an immediate need without ensuring there is a long term need for that role. What will it look like in 1 year? 3 years time?
Of course, all things that can be overcome with the right strategy in place, but costly mistakes that end up affecting humans around you.
What other people related challenges have you seen?
Depends on what kind of product you are making and how fast you can make it go live/build an MVP, you have to create a simple landing page design where people can sign-up when you launch. If that page has a video demo even better.
Buffup.AI
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One mistake I made early on was not validating my product idea with potential customers before fully developing it. This led to wasted time and resources on features that weren't actually needed. Others should prioritize customer feedback and validation to ensure they're building something that truly meets market demands.