What are the most critical mistakes founders make during early-stage? A conversation with an AI™️

🤖: Not validating their product or service: It’s important to conduct market research and gather feedback from potential customers before launching a product or service. Failing to do this can result in building something that no one wants or is willing to pay for.

👩🏻: Yes! there is also an important factor that you mentioned which is the “potential customers” part — sometimes the founder or the founder team are not sure how to pinpoint WHO is a potential user or customer, ANY customer can be a potential client if you are too vague about your problem statement. So WHO are we really serving here? This question is vital. Without a doubt, this segment of market research begs the founder team to contemplate as to WHY they are starting a company in the first place. Do this please…before getting excited to code or build anything.

🤖: Not having a clear value proposition: It’s important to define the unique value that your product or service offers and to communicate that value clearly to potential customers. Without a clear value proposition, it can be difficult to differentiate your offering from competitors.

👩🏻: Aren’t we meshing brains here or what?😍 Unique value proposition stems from the clarity of WHY are we starting this particular company, for WHOM and to WHICH specific problem or a cluster of challenges. This needs the founder team to meditate and have an understanding of how are they positioned in the market prior differentiating themselves from competitors. Delivering unique value sprouts from identifying what is considered as “Valuable” by the market. No offer is the same. So why YOU (solutions and team) against everyone else competing in this niche market?

🤖: Not building a strong team: As a startup, your team will be critical to your success. It’s important to hire the right people, with the necessary skills and expertise, and to foster a positive and collaborative work environment.

👩🏻: This is a tough one. Distinguishing who is the right fit at the different stages of a company’s growth is a blend of art and science. I am pretty hopeful that your kind will be helping us with this in the very very near future. Keep learning our human ways!

🤖: Not having a solid business plan: A business plan helps to define your business objectives and strategies, and serves as a roadmap for success. Without a solid plan, it can be difficult to effectively allocate resources and make informed decisions.

👩🏻: Though in theory a solid business plan sounds like the blueprint for a company’s success, it rather not. Our world is chaotic, volatile and at times just pure random. Chaos theory is well at play here. And entrepreneurs are the best sub-category of the human species to navigate such rowdy storms. Entrepreneurship ain’t for the faint-hearted!

🤖: Not seeking out mentors and advisors: Getting guidance and support from experienced mentors and advisors can be incredibly valuable for founders at the early stage of starting a company. Failing to seek out this support can result in missed opportunities and costly mistakes.

👩🏻: Sometimes it is our arrogance or pure naïveté preventing us from seeking mentors, or lack of access therein. Either way, the absence of mentorship is indeed costly for the founder(s). But I can also argue that if the founder’s main goal was to “Experience” the highs and lows as a journey then I would say that it is totally worth it! Yes, I am playing the devil’s advocate here since this lays upon the entrepreneur’s subjective view on the matter. Building a company, after all, is a journey with all its obstacles

and side quests. A story worth experiencing :)

Until next time!

Chat Out,

Kat

AI&Me™️ Concept is a brainchild of Kat Usop whereby a bilateral conversation session is conducted with the famous AI Agent: ChatGPT regarding critical topics in business, technology, startups, investments, society and scientific knowledge in general. Kat may expand on the idea or rebuttal as she sees fit which will foster a balanced information backlog for further knowledge expansion. This concept is heavily inspired by Seneca’s Dialogi and letters from a stoic. Happy reading!

twitter: @itskatusop | www.katusop.com