Embarking on the Startup Journey: Part I — Breaking Through Barriers and Taking the Leap
Hello, I’m Apolon, co-founder and CEO at rocketdesert.com and this is my first post here on Medium, and I’d like to share my experience of creating my very first startup. When I say “first,” I mean a real startup, not one that started and then stopped.
- Am I ready to start a startup?
The short answer is yes, you are. Starting a company is always challenging and requires several skills. Even if you’ve read dozens of startup and tech books, articles, and spent countless hours listening to tech startup podcasts, you won’t be fully prepared. The more you delay, the more new barriers will arise. The mental barrier of “I am not well-prepared” can waste your productive years, and later, you’ll realize that you pursued unrealistic ideas about creating a tech startup. So, what should you do? Just start, find your way, and follow the process. The deeper you dive, the more chances you have for a successful startup.
When do we fail? Almost 90% of the time, we fail before starting a startup. Procrastination wins over us, and we argue that we should prepare, learn new skills, and more before starting. But you should realize that learning is an ongoing process; there is no finish line. To be a good startup founder, you must be a good learner, but always prioritize the power of starting.
So, rule number one: Just start.
2. Should I have a fully formulated idea?
In short, absolutely not! It’s impossible, or if you try, it’s not well enough to create a product. Of course, you should have a basic idea, but ideas come from the process. When you start working on a product, you’ll see that dozens and more ideas will arise, ideas that wouldn’t have come to you if you hadn’t started working on the initial idea. So, the process is the main generator and crafter of your startup product. Any other plans written beforehand are just words on paper. Have a big picture and milestones in mind, but follow a daily routine to achieve those milestones. Before choosing an idea, ask yourself and/or discuss with a co-founder: Is the idea you’re trying to solve a real problem? Are you facing this problem personally?
So, rule number two: Execution.
3. Who should found a startup?
Personally, I strongly believe that startup founders should be at least two people. One of them must have a tech background, and the other can also be tech-savvy but should also understand the domain of the specific problem you’re trying to solve. Today, it’s prestigious to be a tech founder or tech executive, so ambitious individuals often want those titles without the necessary tech experience or the willingness to understand tech. This can be a significant problem, and I’ve seen many startups fail because of it — companies with ambitious but tech-inexperienced founders. They can potentially harm the company.
So, rule number three: Be a tech founder + domain expert.
4. What makes a startup successful?
In short — daily routines and discipline. You’ll have high motivation at the beginning, but it will wane over time. To succeed, you should have very strong daily routines and discipline to overcome daily challenges. You will face numerous problems every single day, from devOps configuration and UX challenges to legal or financial documentation and communication with your co-founders. Your job is to complete your daily tasks and stay super focused. It’s exciting to launch a product and see new customers registering on your platform, but behind this, there is daily, sometimes very tedious work. Success comes after this. Imagine Alexander the Great, who won the great battle of Gaugamela. We read about how he won, but we don’t know and can’t imagine what he did on a daily basis to achieve such a great victory. How he solved logistics problems, managed people, and many other challenges.
So, rule number four: Discipline.
5. Should I consider sales, revenue, and other factors during the MVP development process?
The short answer is yes. For every startup, it’s crucial to launch a product that will be used by customers. However, having well-defined sales pipelines and a deep understanding of pricing and revenue are keys to achieving success. I believe that one of a startup’s top priorities should be not only focusing on funding but also finding product-market fit and generating revenue as quickly as possible. We should pay attention to metrics such as DAU (daily active users), MAU (monthly active users), MRR (monthly recurring revenue), ARR (annual recurring revenue), K-factor, CRR (customer retention rate), Burn Rate, Runway, CAC (customer acquisition cost), ROI, and more. It’s a bad idea to think, “Let’s finish the product MVP first, and then figure out how to acquire new customers.”
So, rule number five: A startup is a business.
