What do you wish someone had told you about starting a company?
Ajeya
6 replies
Replies
Alina Ihnatiuk@antonovna
1. Don’t wait for the right time to start. There is no such thing as perfect moment for setting up a company. You will always have to deal with similar problems and waiting won’t help you avoid them.
2. Being a master of your own time can be a blessing and a curse. Good thing is, you can plan your day as you wish, dividing your attention between supervising projects, meetings and running a business. But if you haven’t developed the habit of well-organizing your schedule, your day can turn into total chaos.
3. You’re gonna learn something new every day. While running a business I had to do many things for the first time myself (dealing with taxes or hiring new employees). Failing and improving is bread and butter for an entrepreneur.
4. You have to come to terms with the fact that you can never know everything or do everything by yourself. I used to be a one-man hero, but I’ve learned over time how to make the right decision when it comes to hiring peoplea and appreciating their work. If you want to know more about my approach take a look at the article I wrote on that topic - Hire employees better than you, that’s the only thing that makes sense.
6. Remember that you are always responsible for the project as a whole. Even though you distribute the tasks among your employees and let them make their own decision, as a head of the company, you should watch over final results. That’s why your experience and mentorship is necessary for the team in every stage of development.
7. First - you will be spending a lot of money. Starting a company requires a lot of investments, especially at the beginning (equipment, software, market surveys etc.). Put the emphasis on developing your business rather than anticipating instant income.
8. Prioritize. Having a cool logo is nice, but it’s still just a logo.
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1. Save more, if you think you will need a certain amount of money to start a company - save double or triple that amount.
2. Starting a business is not a straight road - you will come up against bumps on the road, you will fall and you will fail. However the sooner you start, the sooner you can fall and get up.
3. Focus on getting revenue - this is so important, I wasted so much time on other things like - trying to get funding, when I should have been focused on revenue. The funding will find you, if you are bring the money in.
4. Don't pick a niche too early. Start with a broad offering and let the users drive you towards a niche, based on what they purchase. We had an online store where we sold everything, over time we started to focus on the products that people bought the most. We would not have started a shop in this field, If we had picked a niche too early, we probably would not have picked this product. Only the users could have guided us to it.
1. Set goals for yourself, every week
2. Be prepared to listen to 100 nos
3. Don't die
That design does not really matter. Move fast and fix details later.
