Calling all entrepreneurs! Reflect and share :)
I wish I had known that startup is not a 1 size fit all game. If you build the right product for the right people, you can afford to play the game your way. Charging money, making money, lets you hold the cards in your hand. Rather than wasting time trying to network, meet investors, go to conferences, cofounder search, focus on building something really useful for 1 user. And charge that user. And then more users like that user.
Not just 1 thing, there are way too many things I wish I'd known :). One of the top things that came to my mind when I read this post was, do not make your product a fat one even before you have found your first 10-20 customers, then there will be immense difficulty moving ahead. Do not think about technically scaling at that stage. Another fundamental point I've realized is, build a solution for a pressing problem, a problem that's a real pain. Else making a Customer buy something that is more good to have types is not at all easy. You may have an initial spark, based on that, then spend time to understand how Customers solve that problem today, what workaround they have, why is it that they have not invested in something better, is it not being aware, temporary workarounds are sufficient or what exactly is it. That may even pivot your initial spark but end up in something more salable and useful.
One thing I didn't know but my husband thankfully did was the value of optionality!When you take on traditional VC investment, you are often selling away that optionality. This means that if it turns out that your startup is not meant to be a billion-dollar business ("merely" a tens or hundred-million dollar business), then it is dead in the water. The idea that a startup needs to be worth a billion dollars someday to be considered a success is just silly. You can be successful founding a company which never gets that big, and you can earn life-changing money and freedom in that process. Freedom that may allow you to pursue even bigger opportunities down the road. Or freedom just to stay home with your family and watch your kids grow up. That, to me, is success.If you have even an inkling that you don't want to blitzscale your startup, then check out some of the amazing financing options available to slow-growth and bootstrapped startups these days that fall outside of traditional VC (e.g. Tinyseed, Founderpath, or Earnest.)
The Wealth Ladder. I don't need to jump from the "time for money" ladder straight to the "selling products" ladder. I can use the middle two ladders to validate my idea and fund my final product.https://nathanbarry.com/wealth-creation/
This is great. Thanks for sharing!
That everything can be figured out. To. just have fun with it and not take it so. seriously!
I think you'll find us answering this question in this conversation/Webinar on November 18th. Join us/share the link? https://shecancode.io/attend-events/how-did-she-make-it-happen-three-tech-entrepreneurs-tell-us-how
To talk to as many customers as possible! When I first started my company, I just launched into an idea and was afraid to talk to people about it. Now as I am reframing my business, I have focused more time on actually talking with the potential customer I want to serve. It's been incredibly valuable in shattering some of my own assumptions, highlighting new paths and pain points and most importantly gaining confidence. I wish I had done more of this in the beginning, but I am grateful to be doing this now!
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Office Hours: I'm the founder of Saga, an app for families to save memories in their voices (just featured in NYT!). I previously worked in product at Udacity and Goodreads and in marketing at Optimizely.