I wrote a list of all the things I learnt by becoming a first-time founder and leaving a role in big tech. It s more than I had when I started, so I hope it finds you at the right time:
Here we go:
Getting going: Make sure you have a clear reason and those in your life are on same page. It is consuming!
Unfair advantage: Founders aren t special, they just optimize to what makes them different (becomes important when raising too). It can be as simple as "worked in big company, saw firsthand the XXX problem"
Getting started isn t easy: Make sure you consider the financial impact if leaving a job to get going Consider 12-18 months of no revenue or funding and if you can manage that
Full-time or nothing: You can t do both a job and a startup. Investors won t back part-time conviction
The pitch doc: Forces clarity, the problem, the customer, the market, and why you should solve it
Raising money: Start with belief and momentum. An idea, a plan, and an MVP are enough to find your first backers
Accelerators: Early programs like YC or Techstars can help refine your product and give you fuel to move faster. I have a longer list of Accelerators in case anyone needs it...?
Foundations: Lock down your domain, name, trademarks, and structure early - future you will thank you
Advisors: Find people who open doors and offer perspective, not control, ideally top % in their domain
SaaS reality: You ll spend more on tools than you expect, it s part of building
Building: Nothing s real until users touch it. Ship early, get feedback, iterate. It was extremely painful to hear users complain about our early bugs, but without that, we wouldn't be more reliable now...
Co-founder: Pick someone with complementary skills and shared energy. You ll need each other
Runway: Track every cost. I have a spreadsheet with every single one, also helps with tax reporting. Burn awareness is survival
Energy: In a startup, you are the momentum. Working Saturday isn t working Saturday , it s pushing your dream forward
Loved ones: Communicate early. The work will consume you; don t let it quietly consume them too
Attention: Building is one thing. Getting noticed is harder. You ll code-switch between product, marketing, finance, and sanity
What if you fail: Most startups do. But you ll come out sharper, braver, and more ready than ever
Love the intention behind @Windsurf Codemaps, which are "AI-annotated structured maps of your code, powered by SWE-1.5 and Claude Sonnet 4.5." to enable "hyper-contextualized codebase understanding, grounded in precise code navigation".
Or put another way: a map to help find your way in a thicket of vibed spaghetti code.
My journey in startups began 10 years ago, and I've launched 18 startups, most of which failed. Briefly on why they failed: 1. Contract Online my first startup in 2015, which was supposed to be an online service for remote signing of contracts for any transactions between individuals. A kind of analogue of a secure transaction. For this startup, I even managed to attract a business angel who invested $16,500.
Reason for failure: I had two lawyers on my team who discovered in the process that the legal framework at the time could not provide reliable grounds for protecting our users in remote transactions. The contracts would not have been considered legally signed. 2. Natural Products In 2015-2018, I became very passionate about healthy eating, but in the process, I discovered that products in all chain stores are full of chemicals, and stores with truly natural products are inaccessible to the majority. Hence, the idea emerged to create my own online platform where you could order natural products directly from farmers at affordable prices.
Reason for failure: For several years, I tried to launch this project, even trained as a baker of natural bread and tried to create my own farm, but in the process, I found that few people are willing to pay for truly natural products, even if these products were only 20-30% more expensive than market prices, and not 2-3 times more, as in premium stores. Hence, the market was so small that all my attempts were doomed.
We launched Meet-Ting on Gmail to move fast. It got us out there, but we quickly built up technical debt and a heavy reliance on Google's APIs.
This was a problem. Our most valuable potential users (the "meeting-heavy" pros) all use Outlook.
After months of focused work to improve core reliability, it was time to expand our ecosystem. We call it our "Ting everywhere" strategy. Our native Outlook integration is live.
Launching Tight Studio Starter plan, a much more powerful Screen Studio alternative at only $5 per month (and $3.75 per month if you subscribe yearly).
If you missed it: we recently won Product of the Day on Product Hunt - people love it as the modern, AI-native alternative to Screen Studio.
I ve spent the last few years working closely with sales teams, and one thing never changes, we often start talking too soon.
A potential customer shares one small detail, and we immediately jump into explaining, pitching, or convincing. But the truth is: most people don t need more information, they just need to feel understood. When we slow down and listen really listen the conversation changes completely. They open up. They tell you what s actually holding them back. And suddenly, closing the deal isn t about persuasion anymore, it s about alignment.
Recent events made me think about how technology is shaping our relationships.
We re online more, we even use AI as a relationship advisor, and at the same time, it feels like it s harder for younger people to approach someone in real life.
I have been using Duolingo for almost 3 years to learn a language, but I don't know anything at all.
Of course, I have some basic vocabulary from the vocabulary words, but it's not conversational level. I'm currently considering buying textbooks and workbooks.
