Failure First Step Towards Success
What I learned from My failed StartUp
You’re only a millimeter away from success
Where It Starts
At the starting of my career, I was one of the best developers in our company, yes I know it's a feeling every junior to the midlevel developer has to had it :)
I was always curious about new technologies and their performance. And after some years. while taking the shower for long a thought pooped up in my brain and said let's become an entrepreneur. I was full of positive energy and really charged up yes I want to be an entrepreneur. so at that time, my thinking was to become an entrepreneur is a Three-step process
- Build The product
- 2. Do social Media Marketing (paid if required)
- 3. You are an entrepreneur
And I followed the same I started to create an e-commerce store (of course inspired by amazon). I really worked hard from some restless days and sleepless nights and after few weeks I was having something in my hand a platform where users can register login see products order make payment and see order history so technically it was working. but then the problem started
Mistakes I realized (Form Business Side)
No Products and suppliers I was good in development but bad in the market I was not knowing whom to contact for products who will be my suppliers after few weeks of research and some traveling I got few suppliers and now my platform was having some products
Failed in building trust after I got some products I started marketing it I made few posts daily with very fewer prices but no sales at all for almost a month. so I was thinking if people purchase from amazon they will surely purchase from me also but I was highly mistaken People are not investing their time and money on all websites they invest their time in those whom they trust.
again after some research and learning, I understood one thing that Digital marketing works in phases
- Brand Awareness in this phase people will actually become aware that something new has come into the market don't try to make a sell at that time just let people see it again and again
- The second phase is when you tell people what problem you solve
- Make a sell
Unaware of my Audience so at this point I had started spending money (almost half of my salary ) on ads and other marketing strategies but still it was no sales and at this point, I started to become demoralized also but I did not stop. the problem was I was selling authentic wear clothes on my platform but the demand for them was low at that time and I was not known about it the missing part was no proper audience research
Mistakes I realized (Form Technology Side)
Not Scalable System . is a general problem with most of us Every company wants a working product fast so that they can go to market the developers just try to add feature test them QA checks it that’s it the product is live. and once it is in the market we start adding new features to it.
We actually realize the issue when the performance problems or other issues arrises in many cases at that point the system is 70% developed and we can not go back and redesign it or rearchitect it as our customers are using it live
No Proper Logs Logs which are not monitored are waste. I had actually written a whole article on it how to make sense out of your logs
Things To remember and do in the initial stage
Start with why
Never Start with what like what should I make always think as to why should I what problem will my product solve. do people really need it if yes what percentage of people what impact it's going to make trust me with this question you yourself will get a better idea on why you are making this product?
Don’t follow others
Inspiration is totally different from copying If you start with a fresh idea and you solve a burning problem you will take less time in trust-building. but if you copy someone you have to first reach at their trust level in your audience
Know your audience
Do your market research, and make sure the demographics you’ve selected are the right ones for your brand and product. look at your competitors (at least the ones who share the same target audience as you). Conduct Surveys
Analyze Your Progress This is also a very important point always analyze your action (for example Facebook ads google ads, some changes in the software, some changes in the team all actions) and note what change or impact it had on your progress as this can help you make a decision next time as if I know my Instagram ads are performing well then Facebook ads ill invest only in Instagram ads
Solid System
Make a solid system involve some experts in the industry. Validate and test your products before selling. Set up an online store with out-of-stock items and an A/B testing ad campaign.
Focus
At one time focus, all your energy on one idea don't include anything unless one task is 100% complete
Of course, these is small things but believe me they have the power to make a significant change
I hope this was joyful it's not 100% correct I know there are many things which I still need to learn would really appreciate it if you share them in the comments Thanks
