Are you starting your first startup? Here’s some advice.
First of all, congratulations for making the bold move and deciding to start your own company. It’s people like you, that change how the world works. I’m trying to do my bit here to pass what I learned over to you guys. I hope you’ll find this interesting and useful. :)
Know your Why. Do you know why you do what you do? Are you solving a problem that you deeply care about? Or are you in it just for the money? If you are in it just for the money there is a high chance that you’ll crash and burn at some point because entrepreneur’s journey is never an easy one. You are not going to make money from day one, so you’ll have to live off of Ramen for weeks at a time (unless you have considerable amount of savings or family inheritance behind you) If you don’t deeply care about what you are doing you’ll get tired of it when life gets hard. So make sure that you are solving a problem that you care about.
Find Right Partners and Mentors. Again your journey is not easy, find people who have the same life goals as you and make them partners/co-founders. You can’t be all things at once, you need people that are invested in your idea as much as you are, (if not more) to handle things that you are not very skilled at. If you are a business major planning to work on a Mobile app you definitely need a co-founder who’s tech savvy. Find some mentors who can advice you when you need them. Someone who has walked the path you are about to walk would be able to give you advice that’ll save you tons of time and money.
Know Your Numbers. If you don’t know your numbers it’s a hobby for you, not a business. Numbers tell you what’s happening in business, what’s going to happen, which areas you should improve etc. Numbers help you make strategic business decisions that could potentially make or break a business. So be smart! Know your numbers.
Prioritize. In your day to day life you’ll be presented with lots of opportunities, problems, decisions and a bit of everything else. You’ll wish that you had 48 hour to a day instead of 24. However you gotta make do with what you have so PRIORITIZE! Spend more time on important issues and spend less time on less important issues (No shit right?). Ignore the clutter.
Decide Quickly. You’ll have a lot of decisions to make every single day. Understand what decisions are most important and allocate time accordingly. You might not always have all the information you need to make a decision, but you gotta decide with what you have. With time you’ll learn to see patterns and be better at decision making.
Don’t Be Afraid of Failure. We are human beings, we all make mistakes. Especially in business! You’ll not build a great business making 100% correct decisions every single time. Treat failure as a good thing, own up to it, learn from it, correct yourself and go back at it again. Never give up! If you don’t try new things you’ll never learn and you’ll never go anywhere. That’s not what you want as an entrepreneur.
Don’t Give Away Equity Too Easily. Equity is your future. Don’t give away too much equity too fast, trying to raise funding rounds when it’s not necessary. You’ll regret it later when you get thrown out of your own company after raising your Series B (You never know!).
Be Picky About the People You Hire. Make sure that the people you hire are culturally fit for the organization. I’m sure you have an idea as to what you want your company culture to be. I’m sure you have a set of values that you hold true to and uphold. Make sure that the employees that you hire have the values that resonates with yours. If you hire wrong people and screw up your company culture in the beginning your chances of resurrecting it is going to be next to nothing.
Invest in What You Must. At the beginning of a new venture you have to be very careful about how you spend your money. You don’t want to spend too much money on things that does not matter much. You’ll crash and burn if you do so. However you gotta spend on what you have to spend. Be strategic in your decisions, and invest to get the maximum ROI. I’ve lived this. Me and my team burned through a considerable amount of money when we just started, trying to stay safe. We had a considerable amount of money in the bank but we were scared to make a decision to invest in some key areas which was essential for growth. We were being conservative, but 6 months later we almost went bankrupt because of that decision. Lucky for us at the last moment we decided to invest what we had left and it paid off really well. Don’t be like us. Invest in what you must when you must. Be very strategic in your decisions.
Focus! Don’t try to do too many things at the same time, don’t try to be all things to all people at once. I know it’s exciting to try out tons of different things, but MARK MY WORDS, that’ll be the worst decision you make in your life. Trust me you’ll regret it. Know where you want to be when you want to be, set goals and execute. Don’t you dare take your eyes off that! FOCUS!
Good luck!
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