How hard is it to start a tech startup?

Clipchamp’s CEO and co-founder Alexander Dreiling knows what it takes to start a successful tech startup. Here he shares his advice for all future entrepreneurs about taking that first leap of faith and getting started.

It’s one thing to talk the talk, or have an interest in creating a startup, but another thing altogether to actually take action on your ideas. I believe anyone who is struggling to make their startup dreams come true merely fails to take the first step.

A lack of ideas is no excuse.

One common excuse I often hear is “I just need to have a good / new / innovative idea”. Yes, you need some idea, but usually it’s more important to get started with any idea that you have (no matter how dumb you think it is).

“It’s more important to get started with any idea that you have.”

Even if the idea is old, you might discover something new in the process (#serendipity), and that might form a startup in itself. Video recording and transcoding was not new when we took it on here at Clipchamp, but we discovered a new way of doing it for certain devices and industries.

What prevents people from taking the first step?

Taking that first step is the most important bit in starting a startup. A lot of people fail to do it because they believe their idea is not worth it.

Sometimes people keep their idea to themselves and never share it for fear that their idea will be taken by someone else (Newsflash: no one want’s to steal your idea).

In entrepreneurship the idea is merely 1%. Then a proof of concept or developing the idea further into something that makes sense is another 9%. Then there’s a whole lot of execution which is the other 90%. Most people won’t have the time, money, energy, resources, skill or passion to execute your idea, so don’t hold back. The more you talk about it, the easier it will be for you to gauge whether your idea is a good one, whether people will be willing to pay for it, or even want / need your idea in the first place.

What is the first step anyway?

It’s really not hard at all to get the first step done. If it’s a hobby, just write the first line of code, do the first bit of inquiry, etc. Administratively it’s also not challenging to start a business. It’s just setting up a company, registering a business, trademarking a name etc.

Once you’ve taken that first step then there are a couple of harder decisions along the way you need to make. When do you want to quit your day job and go full time in? What’s the financial position going to look like? How will you raise capital if you need it? What is your exit strategy?

Collaboration is key

One person alone almost never builds a successful startup. A business-minded founder needs a tech collaborator and vice versa. Similarly, a younger founder will benefit from an experienced partner and vice versa. Find a partner with a complimentary skill set to yours and you have a winning team.

Even if you have a broad skill set, you should focus on a few areas and let others take care of the things you find to be too time consuming, boring or mundane. Delegating or outsourcing work can free up your valuable time and allow you to focus on the most important aspects of your business.

#justdoit

The brilliant thing about tech startups is that it often doesn’t involve a lot of initial capital to get started if you yourself have the skills needed to create your vision. It can be also super beneficial to join an existing early-stage startup as a staff member to get exposed to the startup world, build up some experience, form networks and then take the plunge a bit later.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether your startup idea is a success or failure, the important part is that you tried it out in the first place. Each failed attempt provides a valuable experience or lesson learnt for the next time. Perseverance and persistence in the face of adversity is what makes an entrepreneur different from the rest.

Clipchamp is the world’s first browser-based video tool suite. We are changing the way people share video by making video compression, conversion, editing and recording fast and easy. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.