Designer Founders’ Problems
I am NOT one yet, trying to be, and here’s so far
There’s a lot of stories on successful startup founders but nothing in great detail. While I am not successful at all (barely even started), thought I’d still share all my experiences thus far — maybe others who’v had more experience can shed some light too in the comments.
Having finished my last gig where the startup was acquired by Mr. Googley, I’m left on my own with 2 options:
A) Get another job at some company, do the same things, get better, yada yada
B) Finally conceptualize the ideas I’ve had for years and head on the Startup route myself — at least the experience will be worth it(?)
Option A…
…really isn’t that interesting to me, but I am forced to apply now just because reality has its tolls to be paid — so let’s talk about B (or if you have leads, then we can talk about A).
Option B
Being a designer, I too, am some what ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), and the problem starts but don’t stop there.
We love all things and want to do everything. Put aside finding a job, I try to focus on researching for existing players for my startup first and it went like this for a month:
- Oooo found all these apps that’s similar! (download, download, download…)
- I should probably take screenshots of all these for reference…but that’s A LOT of them…and some look like crap should I bother? but they will make my concepts look even better in comparison!
- Oooo there’s a lot of websites that are similar but don’t have apps yet…should I screenshot these too?
- Screw it let me research on Accelerators and Angels first like AngelList, YCombinator, Area Startups, LaunchAcademy…etc
- How about possible government grants?? Like this, this, this
- Ok…seems to be A LOT of options…I have an app to design, people to meet, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on reading and applying for all these possibilities yet I should just pick one…but which one is the easiest/best option for me?!?!
- Ok the DesignerFund seems awesome and obvious choice…but what?? you can apply during application periods? when is that? Or get referred….OK I wish too.
Then it’s pretty much back to step 1 again the next day as my mind keeps going all over the place. ADD indeed.
The Problems / Uncertainties
I can design, I have a vision (I think), but I don’t have the right connections, just a bunch of designers like myself — I can fake the concepts myself but I don’t have developer friends who can commit enough to help me build a working demo without taking 3 years.
Being a designer, having bought too much toys and beautifully-packaged-things, not sure I can survive without a job until after I finish my design / then somehow prototype it / and eventually get funding.
I also heard (and I agree) that if you’re not committed to full-time on this yourself, why would anyone believe and invest in you? I guess starving it is….if I can convince my parents that I’m not crazy.
I can’t really build anything, there’s no “unique tech” here, so I guess my story’s gotta be extra extra sweet and tasty?
Everyone tells me solo-founders don’t fly…but no one’s willing to take a dive with me. Sure I have met new people, but no matter how smart they seem, how can I trust someone I’ve only met 3x — let alone not even knowing if we’d work well together or not.
What I Should Do Now
Instead of letting my mind go all over the place I’ve decided to get more organized and set a goal each day, just do 1 thing at a time.
Come to think about it, it’s probably just like writing a MRD (marketing requirement document) — narrowing down to main features — and prioritizing resources. All those things we used to hate PMs for.
Aside from working on the product I should also get out there even more and meet more people. Yes going out requires spending, feels worst when you have no income but it’s a type of “investment” on myself I guess.
Either way thought I’d share some thoughts on my progress so far and the typical difficulties a designer-found may face — when I’ve gone on to the next step I’ll do another post I guess.
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