The Startup Weekly : #32
The Startup Weekly- actionable, insightful no bull shit stuff you learn and grow with.
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A Guide to the 7 Stages of Entrepreneurship
A lighthearted look at the mental stages you pass through, as you become an entrepreneur. I’m somewhere between believing I’m superhuman and realizing that success is not inevitable. Where are you?
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Don’t Learn to Code, Learn to Talk Code
A lot of tech industry veterans tell you that as the founder of a software company, you MUST code. This put me in a sort of quandary — both my co-founder and I are not coders. This article explains what’s more important — learning to talk code. For the average person, learning to talk code far exceeds the benefits of learning to code. As the article says, let the programmers be programmers, and focus on the areas that you truly excel in. That’s a recipe for success.
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The 10 Essential Roles of a Startup CEO
Most CEOs of startups try to become one-man armies in the image of Richard Branson. That almost never works, and if it does, it soon results in burnout. As the writer says, in any organization (but especially in a startup), every member of the team should make the highest value use of their time, always. And this is most critical for the CEO. So what are the most essential responsibilities of a startup CEO — what is the best use of her time?
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No, you don’t need a business model.
Amid a spate of investments in companies without water-tight business models and everyone shouting bubble, this article looks at whether a business model is necessary at all, when an entrepreneur is just starting out. The business model is not the main bottleneck for a startup at all. It’s the audience. Put another way, the biggest risk isn’t your business model — it’s whether you can get millions of users or not. Build a product that enough users want, and there are any number of off-the-shelf business models you can tag on to it. This article lists 25 of them. [Disclaimer: This article was written by Jithamithra, one of the curators of this newsletter.]
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The Tyranny of ‘Good Enough’
Most of us, when we consider a startup idea in an existing space, think of 2–3 useful features that are better than incumbent products. But as this article says, such incremental innovation is unlikely to work. As appealing as a new solution may be, if the user’s current solution is ‘good enough’, they won’t switch. Whether due to inertia, lack of immediate advantages to switching, or simply lack of awareness, in the battle between ‘good enough’ and ‘great’, the former will always win. So what’s the solution?The writer presents a few ways in which you can ensure smooth adoption. Or, just build a product that’s 10X better than the incumbent.
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Take Your Startup to the Limit
An interesting automobile analogy for startups. Very often, your startup is not geared for high speed — you may have not found product-market fit, your operations may not be ready for scale, or you may not have enough capital runway. It’s important to know your limits, and know how to sustain your business should you need to decelerate.
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Growth vs Retention
Fred Wilson reminds us once again about the importance of true, sustainable retention.It’s easy to spend on growth, especially when you’re flush after a round of funding. But make sure you’re not pouring water into a leaky bucket.
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Are We Seeing a Return of the Milkman?
An interesting metaphor for the huge upsurge in the on-demand economy. Everything is now available when you want it — groceries, food takeaway from almost every restaurant, branded meals from specialty kitchens, and even pre-packed ingredients for you to cook! This article is US-centric, but we’re seeing big-bang launches in this space in India as well. As the writer says, a new milkman has appeared. But this time he might be wearing a startup t-shirt.
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