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What are your biggest challenges as an early stage founder?

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Difficult question Druv - As always it is very difficult to answer because it depends from what you are building, the sector and the stage. First of all I think that comunication is a big barrier even if sometimes we don't recognize it - Both with with users and investors, having a clear valeu proposition is crucial, sometimes it's even more effective than the quality of the product itself in converting users. So I would say finding the value porposition to attract the ideal customer, the ideal VCs, and the ideal people you want onboard with you!
Interesting answer, makes sense. Agreed that communication and clarity about personas are big barriers
Oh yes, I support this one! It is very hard to find a compelling value proposition, that "one phrase that encapsulate your whole business idea". Especially in early stage, being unable to find that can be a showstopper to move to the next stage.
I gave a quick look at Comobi website, that's cool! Are you planning on launching an app as well?
Yes!! We are developping an app on Flutter, and will launch on PH in beg. of june! Stay tuned!
It takes a ton of searching and testing to find great distribution channels, work them, and respond to what they need. When they come and stay though, it's the most motivating thing :)
haha totally :) Which distribution channels have worked well for you so far?
My biggest challenge as an early-stage founder is to find good product ideas. I know I have to validate any product ideas/hypotheses/assumptions to find the most important thing for potential customers/users. But how can I find those product ideas to validate? That's my biggest obstacle now. =)
Not easy, I think its a mix between a natural gift and the ability the observate, listen and get exposure to a lot of different experiences, something will come!
Totally agreed, Ludovico!
agree with , I'd also add that the best ideas come from experience. If you hang in there long enough to observe and iterate, you'll land on something
Users ... definitely. Spent a lot of time strategizing, designing and building the product. Somehow neglected the "build the community of early adopters" part and now struggling to reach them to move to next step of iteration/improvement.
Ah, building a community is quite important from the get go. I'd say from day -1
yeah, learning the hard way... where is the rewind button??
Haha, start today...it's never too late :)
There's a nexus where these all meet but I would word it slightly differently. We tend to keep users but seek to drive engagement deeper & broader - more frequent visits and more intense usage as a measure of delivered value. Early it was hardest to get users through the onboard funnel as there's a trust issue and those that did come through were often 'tire-kickers' - presented with less enthusiasm (click around but don't do much). Luckily for us, they keep their accounts though and swung back by periodically (often after a nudge or two) and as we've rolled out more features we've been able to increase engagement for many of them.
very interesting. I'd love to learn more about how you re-activated users with a nudge? Was it because the value proposition suddenly made sense to them?
Yes exactly. As we've rolled out improvements, each has been an opportunity to re-engage the community.
a mix of the first two options I guess
makes sense :) Any strategies / channels that you recommend?
linkedin outreach is the easiest to start with.
Awesome, agreed!
yeah that's where we started as well. Low barrier to entry, and easy to see relevant potential users
Personally, I find that finding early adopters is the biggest struggle. Hopefully, our product hunt launch on May 11th helps move this along 😉
all the best!
Managing my time between everything that I need to do, trying to be a jack of all trades with a million balls in the air.
agreed Bertha, I struggle with the same :(
I would even add something different: finding the right people for your team or co-founders. Especially when you have a deeply technical product. But if you have a good team, validating your idea + finding early adopters is the hardest.
I think distribution and generating leads are the hardest at this stage. It's a vicious cycle where prospects want to see testimonials so it's hard to convince them before you actually have a client base. Once you get the first few clients, you can get their feedback and use it to convert future prospects. Also, considering how organic distribution is very much dying (social media reaches have been steadily lower and there's a pressing need to invest in ads), building a community without investing in paid promotion is a challenge.
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