Already few years since my last article (Here)! I hope my last story inspired you to get into the startup world or to invest time in what you are passionate about.
So … if you ask me my friend why I woke up and wrote a new article after four years without writing anything? It took a certain time for me to observe, to experiment, to cultivate some knowledge in order to share meaningful articles. I write when I feel I have something to say.
What are we going to talk about today? Unfortunately for you guys, it’s not an article on how to build a product and scale it. I won’t be your savior and tell you how you can be next the tech billionaire unicorn. Today the topic will be:
🦁How to survive in the startup jungle?🦁
Yes, you’ve heard, a startup is a jungle in the sense that it is a dynamic, tough, exciting, and challenging environment. You must learn fast and assimilate a massive number of information every single day. Like an animal in the jungle, you have to be sharp, nimble, flexible and always listen to your environment. Things change fast in a startup; I often compare a startup to an animal lifetime. One year in a startup = seven year in a more traditional company. Therefore, I would like to share a few advice which can makes a difference in the long run.
1 — Keep in mind you play a long-term game🚀
To be part of product roles within tech companies contributed a lot to my personal and professional development. Working in a startup does impact your way of life — It is an environment which requires a lot of energy. Being good one day is not hard but every day on the long run is a real challenge. You have to control and optimize your energy, otherwise you could burn out pretty fast. One of the benefits of evolving in a startup is that you get great responsibilities. We value and trust people. However, having great responsibilities means a lot of personal involvement. People are emotionally invested in a startup because they are proud of what they do. Emotions can bring a lot of excitement but also disappointment or irritation when things won’t go as well as planned. It becomes harder after a certain time to reflect on your own product as you are truly invested in what you do.
My learning in the product world is still ongoing but I would advise a young startupper to assess the effort you put in each action for the project. Some days you have to run, be fast and efficient, and some other day you have to slow down and take time to think.
2 — No stress! ⛱
Let’s be clear on that: you cannot control everything. It is impossible. You cannot have an eye on everything of every single project. You could be the best entrepreneur of the world, you are not an omnipotent god, you can’t do and control everything on your own. Happily, that’s not what is required from you, and you are not alone. So focus your attention on controlling the concepts you don’t understand. If you understand something, then teach to other people how to do it and make sure they can control it for you.
From my point of view the great product people I’ve known are not the ones who have the best control process in place, but they have great abilities to leverage unexpected events and suggest creative solutions. Not controlling something is also an opportunity to challenge things as they are. Ultimately, you’ll get a stronger product and that’s the only things that really matter.
Don’t stress if things are not going as planned. Doing mistakes is fine from the moment you learn from them. I wish I knew this when I started: stress is an inhibitor to creativity. You cannot provide amazing solutions when you are under stress. To nourish creativity, you have to take time to cultivate your imagination. To do so, you have to take time for you to discover, be curious, listen to your environment, and leave space for happy coincidences also called serendipity.
3 — Say No!❌
This is not an easy one. When you are young you want to prove your skills at any cost (trust me I know what I’m talking about). Traditional companies for the past decade have implemented the “Yes” in our brain as the only outcome possible. They even succeed to make us feel guilty when we say “No”. Actually saying “No” is a good sign for Product Owners. It means you understand your work and prioritize accordingly. At the end of the day, we are humans and not superheroes nor machines. You have to maximize your resource/allocation strategy so it starts by saying “Yes” to the right projects and “No” when it’s needed.
4 — Take time for you🏃♂️
Honestly, I am not good at this right now. It wouldn’t be fair from me to tell you how important it is to take care of yourself, but I can tell you what can happen if you don’t. If you do work 7/7 (as I do), there is great chance that someday you find yourself in one of those negative situations:
a) Your judgment will be more and more skewed. If you don’t switch off your brain, it will be harder for you take a step back on what you do. Entrepreneurs should always cultivate their retrospection skills and to do so you need some rest.
b) My theory is the product you build as an entrepreneur reflects your current state of mind. Emotions are the foundation of any solution we want to build. It starts with anxiety because you have experienced some problems and you don’t find solution. Then it evolves to excitement because you’re building your dreamed solution for it. Sometimes you’ll be proud or disappointed based on the circumstance but ultimately those emotions will make you move forward. However, there is one state of mind which will never help you to be a great entrepreneur: to be tired and exhausted. You don’t get anything from it. Taking time for you is one of the best way to learn from yourself and to get better in what you do.
Voila my friends! This is end. When I started in the tech industry I did not know how much I would learn from myself. It’s been such a great experience so far! The advice I share are based on my personal experience. Each entrepreneur is different, this article is not an exhaustive list on things to do. So, don’t be afraid to learn, fail, progress, meet, discover and also TO REST.
If you want to learn more about product and entrepreneurship, don’t hesitate to subscribe to our email list with ‘Lisen’, our new training platform to learn product from product people (it’s coming soon…) Here. Be part of our early users and get early access to our training material at a special price. You will learn about how to build a product from scratch and scale it!
See you soon for new adventures!
Sina.
