My Startupland

What I learnt while building (and failing) my business.

I thought about writing a story about my startup experience for a while. Have a diary of my journey; stories about product, customers, investors, competitions and the startupland in general.

However, I never found the time, and perhaps the power, to stop and write down what happened; why it failed and what I learned.

To make a long story very short, beginning of last year I have launched a company with a friend, raised some money, and failed. I have simply done all the mistakes that I have read about in books and websites.

Why did I do those mistakes despite knowing about them? It’s hard to say. I believe I knew that I was going down the wrong path, but it was difficult, too complicated, to change.

“Follow your dreams” they said…

I have always had the dream to be “free”. I didn’t start my company with the idea of becoming billionaire. I started my company with the idea to do something that mattered to me and those I wanted to help.

My story is a special one. I wasn’t really satisfied about the “employee” life. I was not ready to work for someone else until 70 and hope that I won’t get frustrated by the moment I die.

After 3 years, I decided it was about time to try. Get out, find a partner and an idea, and dive fully into it.

Finding the partner

I was extremely lucky in finding a business partner. He was, and still is, a friend, who happened to be in the same situation as mine, in need to try something that mattered to him.

It was kind of a perfect match. The tech guy (him) and the business guy (me). After all what I read, I thought I was at least 50% down the right road. Have a business idea and be able to build a product!

We sat together few times, before deciding on an idea that suited both of us.

Validating the idea

Now that we had an idea to work on, we decided that we needed to move fast and talk with potential users.

First of all, find out if the people who are your target users are interested in the idea.

Were they? Yes. We had a quite good positive response. All the “users” of the product were ready to jump on it. We were excited.

Second step was to talk with people around us and understand what they thought. Talk with “influential” people in the scene and get advices.

A thing I didn’t realise before entering “startupland” was that once you have or are working on a startup, pretty much everyone you know or meet elevates at “a great mind” and is ready to give either advices or simply destroy any hope you have.

We had the pleasure to meet both types.

Finding the money

Regardless of what we heard from some of the experts around us, we had to move even faster and look for money (or simply support). We had been employed for a while, so it was not really about the money itself. As first-timers, however, it was more about having a “confirmation” that someone out there cared enough about our product and was ready to support us.

We looked around and the best options for two newbies in the startupland was to get into an accelerator/incubator and have someone to “guide” us through the first few months.

Accelerate your business

After few not so successful applications to local accelerators, we decided to broaden our mind and approach those outside our city. We both live in a “startup city” and competition is very high. Startup accelerators here obviously look at defined products and traction before getting you in.

We needed something less competitive, after all we just had a powerpoint presentation and a great idea.

After another couple of weeks, we got the great news. We were up for selection days for a lesser known accelerator.

We got selected and our journey began. We got the money, we now were a “real” company in the “real” world.

The 3 months journey that followed were the beginning of the end. Once started, I slowly realised that everything I thought I had done correctly, in reality it was not. I had done a series of mistakes that led to what happened a year afterwards: closing my dream down.

Could I have changed the path? Of course. However, it is easier saying it than actually doing it. It takes an enormous amount of energy and guts to change things, especially if it’s not about the usual “pivoting”.

Each of these mistakes need a separate blog post; however I will try to summarise them here.

• Finding the partner is not only about finding what is missing in terms of skills. It’s about finding the right person, with the right mindset and attitude, ready to commit in the same way as you are to achieve your dream.

My business partner was a friend (and still is). However, we both realised, in the end, that we were in it for different reasons. We had different aims; and most importantly we had different ideas of what, and how, life could be as a startup entrepreneur.

When you look for a partner, look at what she/he can bring to the table. However, don’t forget to fully understand motivation, commitment and ambitions. How long is she/he ready to hustle?!

• Validating the idea is not about telling your future customers how awesome your product is and how much you will make them save or make with it. It’s about understanding their commitment to use it and become brand advocates. Remember you are a startup, you won’t have much money to spend on marketing.

There were two mistakes in our approach. Our startup was a two-sided marketplace. Those users who were approached were not the one that were supposed to pay. We looked for their approval, while we should have checked on the other side.

Secondly, we were to excited to look at the reality and understand how long were these non-paying users ready to “commit” and help us building a great product. Our users were musicians. Artists are not ready to commit…

• Finding money must not be the focus of your startup at the beginning. If you are not ready to bootstrap for months before looking for investors, rethink the what and why of your purpouse. Investors (as well as incubators/accelerators) will be a distraction.

For 3 months we were dragged into countless and useless mentor sessions with people who had no clue about what we were doing, our industry, and honestly had no relevant knowledge or connection to help us.

Out of perhaps 90 mentors, only one took real interest in us and helped us with actionable activities. The rest was just smoke that no one needs in a startupland full of experts.

Accelerators must be scrutinised very carefully. Try to understand what is their focus; why are they in the game; ask them directly what they will do to help you achieve success.

Accelerators are going to be your business partners. You wouldn’t allow anyone to jump on without being 100% sure, right?

Our accelerator didn’t help us in any way. During our 3 months, they acted as they were our boss and didn’t give us any useful information. After the 3 months, they simply disappeared. No connections to investors. No useful introductions.

Despite this, we still managed to win a very good competition and get free PR and office space for 3 months. Get to the final of another competition, that gave us credit valued at $5.000 to build some product features. Lastly chase and get meeting with investors.

We worked hard to achieve something. They had 8% of our company and didn’t feel the need to take interest in us and our future.

This is your business, be careful whom you give it to.

Want to share your experience while building your ? Tweet me at @lucamastrorocco or check out @mystartupland (My Startup Land) an anonymous review website about startup accelerators, competitions and events.