3 Things I Learnt as a Startup Founder

It feels just like yesterday, that my co-founders and I were sitting out of our 2-BHK home cum office smoking our last cigarettes together. That was the day we decided to not work together.

Let me be clear, it all ended pretty well, as we eventually got acquired and are still very much a part of its future.

Having run a company for 3 years and 6 years of working in the startup ecosystem, I learned a thing or two.

I find the following three-pointers the most important.

Drawing a line

As co-founders, passionate about the product, we often forget to stop thinking about it.

We spent endless nights brainstorming and iterating our idea and features. All seemed like legit ideas. But we didn’t know where to stop and say that, ‘Ok, let’s focus on these 3 and take up rest of them later’… What this resulted in was an 8-month delay in launch of MVP. As entrepreneurs, we need to know where to draw the line.

Revenue, Revenue, Revenue!

If you have been in the startup ecosystem for even a couple of months, you must have heard the phrase, “… Increase user base, business model will follow …”, which is really just a fairy tale. If your business is not focused on generating revenues, there is really no point in doing a business then. There is no denying that there is a need to be out there and getting more people to use your services to increase your revenues.

People Matter

The biggest mistake that we made was- not to invest in people. We were always sort of low on cash every month and hiring used to be the last thing on our agenda. That was one of our biggest mistakes. It is important to invest in a team. Your team will, in turn, help you make more money. It also gives co-founders more time to strategize and make future plans rather than being involved in the day-to-day operations.