Starting

In the last few weeks I’ve met with a number of first time entrepreneurs and have been given the same advice on how to get started over and over, so I figure I may as well post it here:

#1 Read. There are lots of good choices: The Lean Startup is one I like despite the fact that the MVP concept is often badly misunderstood. Zero to One is another good choice.

#2 Do some research. Start with http://angel.co and http://www.producthunt.com/ Search for your idea and see if anyone has done it before. Search for competition using all major search engines, as they index things differently. Finding and knowing your competition is key. You can learn from their mistakes. What did they do well? What did they mess up?

#3 Tell everyone you meet your idea. Seriously. Again. My experience, reinforced time and time again by others, is that keeping your idea to yourself hinders progress to success significantly. So again: Tell everyone you meet your idea. Get really good at explaining your idea (or showing it to them) in a minute or less. The feedback and ideas you get in return will be invaluable in shaping the future of your business.

#4 Read Paul Graham’s essay on startup mistakes here. Try to avoid making any of those mistakes. Aim for 0 out of 18. Be happy if you score 5 or less.

#5 All startup idea start off shitty. Every single one. Work at it to make it not shitty. Fall in love with your problem not your solution. In almost every single case, startups come up with a couple of crappy solutions before they solve the problem. As you develop your idea, modify it, tweak it and change it: for heaven’s sake on a regular basis make sure it’s still solves the problem.

#6 If your searching for a co-founder before you start your business. Stop searching. Just start building and following tip #3 and your co-founder will find you.

Bonus Tip:

#7 Remember failure is the most likely outcome. Success the exception. Be extremely proud of yourself for even trying.