Essential advice from the startup community

Inspired by YC’s essential startup advice, we asked our global reader-base of Startup Curated for their essential advice. Here’s what we received so far:

1. Don’t be a jack-of-all-trades
   Fred Soriano explains: “DON’T try to be all things to all people regardless if they are a partner, customer, client, etc. You end up being a jack-of-all trades. Be a MASTER of one/two things and that’s it. Outsource or hire other people do these other actions. That was a painful 6 month lesson I learned.”
2. Short-term strategies hurt your company more than you realize
   Shreya Bisht from DesignBids clarifies: “This is especially true when you have a product that has no standard market price. If you decide that you want to sell your product at x INR so your customers would at-least start subscribing- Think again. This price tag is going to stick with your product far longer than you anticipate.” So, Bisht advices, “take your time to figure out an appropriate price, or make sure that people understand its an “Introductory price”. Your company can drown just because you wanted to get a quick fix for your revenue.”
3. Team!
   Peter Moore, founder of Starteer, points out how he missed that in YC’s advice: “I believe it’s critically important to surround yourself with people who challenge you, believe in you and who think differently to you.” Particularly, because this group of people, whether they are you co-founders or mentors, is “vital for keeping your motivation up, challenging your viewpoint to achieve a better outcome and pushing you beyond your comfort zone...”

Designer Christopher Skillicorn handed us a few pieces of advice, which actually fit together:

4.a Ruthless prioritization
Christopher elaborates that this is about “really understanding what is most important to fulfill your promise. Understanding what differentiates you in your market, what matters to your customers and how to communicate it to them.” You can read more about that here too.

4.b. Not killing ideas.
Although this might sound somewhat contradicting, Christopher explains: “I think this works partially as a counterbalance to 1., it’s not meant to make your dismissive. […] There are a lot of rules we make that aren’t necessarily very useful; why shouldn’t you do something just because it’s been done before? It’s often the things we think are solved that are most ripe for innovation.”

We would love to continue this list, and gather your advice. So, feel free to share your essential tips below in the comments, or reach out to us on Startup Chat or send us a message.