What's the biggest mistake you've made as a startup founder, and what did you learn from it?

Vlad Golub
26 replies

Replies

Ah, the joys of startup life! My biggest blunder was launching a 'self-cleaning whiteboard' for messy brainstormers. Turns out, people prefer the good ol' erase and forget method. Lesson learned: clean mistakes happen!
Share
Talking about Klu and what I'm doing, I often limit the conversation to people within the ecosystem. This is mainly because those outside the ecosystem tend to view the world more realistically. In the early stages of a startup, this realistic perspective can be soul-crushing. :D
Nick Anisimov
Invite a person who thinks a startup is like a corporation to become a co-founder. Now working as a solo founder 😅
Alec Nguyen
@nickanisimov yup corporate thinks very differently from startup ppl also, would you consider following our launch of Afforai? We made a new AI framework to improve output on these AI chatbots train on your documents, websites, etc.
Julia Jenkins
Hiring fast and firing slow - classic mistake. Hired a few folks based on gut feel rather than proper vetting. Letting them go when things weren't working out was even harder. Lesson learned? Always validate skills, cultural fit, and overall alignment before making that offer.
Murat Hacıoğlu
As a CEO of B2Metric, I can say 3 main things: - Hire the right team members who can easily adapt themselves to startup culture. - Raise money before you need it. - Focus your nish market and industry.
Gaurav Prasad
the only mistake of a founder is to try and avoid mistakes by not experimenting. Mistakes are the key to learning in any startup
Cyril Gupta
Early in my business I made a lot of social tools that worked with Facebook etc. They made me money but the platforms kept changing policies, expanding or restricting APIs at will. It was development hell and disaster to serve my customers. Ultimately I decided I am done. Not going to make anything for these platforms nad since then I've been better.
Guillaume C
Taking too much time to launch while building in public. As people get bored and forget your product! And it creates to much expectation
Dennis Ashford
We focused on the end user more than the actual business model at the beginning. The end result so far has been users love our platform, but brining along the business side has been a bit more challenging. We have learned a ton from this experience though!
Alec Nguyen
wasting too much time going to meetings that aren't important. would you consider following our launch of Afforai? We finally made a new AI framework to improve output on these AI chatbots train on your documents, websites, etc.
Ellis Pinsky
My biggest mistake was creating a solution in search of a problem and then trying to find a market , users, niche... spent 2 years doing it for https://rentr.me/
Parker Klein
We ran a marketing campaign with a pretty big influencer. We didn't give him any requirements, hadn't run any influencer campaigns prior to him, and it completely flopped. I learned to start small with your tests so you can learn on a small scale for cheap before ramping up.
Mei
Focus and consistency are everything. Your intuition is always right. Prioritise your health and work-life balance.
Christian Misael Prado Ciokler
When reflecting on my experience as a solo maker and software developer, I have come to realize and acknowledge some of the mistakes I made, both personally and those I observed in some of my previous clients. 1. Waiting for everything to be perfect: Instead of endlessly striving for perfection, I need to remember that progress is more important than perfection. Launching with a good enough product or idea allows for feedback and learning in the real world. 2. Thinking I know what users want: Instead of assuming I have all the answers, I should embrace curiosity and empathy. By actively seeking out user research, feedback, and testing, I can gain a deeper understanding of their needs and preferences. 3. Fear of failure: Rather than letting fear hold me back, I need to embrace failure as a natural part of the growth process. Taking risks and learning from mistakes can lead to personal and professional growth. It's time to stop fearing failure and start seeing it as a valuable opportunity for improvement.
Trying to figure out everything at the start. Entrepreneurship is a journey which teaches a lot of things, and one of the main things is that not having everything figured out is okay. Build, Learn, Repeat.
Austin Nguyen | Afforai
taking too much time building mvp
Alec Nguyen
worrying too much about legal.
Shajedul Karim
ah, the beauty of retrospect! early on, i placed too much emphasis on perfection. i wanted every feature flawless, every pitch perfect, every step orchestrated. this obsession delayed launches, stalled progress, and stressed the team. but here's what i learned: perfection doesn't exist, progress does. perfection stalls, progress moves. perfection intimidates, progress encourages. it's okay to launch with flaws, iterate, learn, and grow. i now view mistakes not as setbacks, but stepping stones. they are invaluable lessons in this grand adventure we call entrepreneurship. hope this helps, and remember, fall seven times, stand up eight. 🚀
Not a founder. But as a core team member, I'd say not being fast enough to take clear decisions with both top-down and bottom-up thinking and act on them wrt all things in a startup.
Ethan Ross
I once underestimated the importance of user feedback. Launched a feature we thought was great, but users didn't find it useful.