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At some point, every startup will have at least one employee who threatens the success of the company. What do you do with this person?
Since the beginning of 2019, I've written several posts about the concept of Minimum Viable Product, everything from what an MVP is for and how to do it to what you can expect to learn from it.
If you're going to ditch your day job and step out on your own, you're going to want you to make sure that what you're stepping into evolves into a sustainable, profitable, and growing company.
Let's talk about why you haven't launched your product yet, and how you can get it to market today.
I've founded, worked at, and advised a ton of startups, and each one tends to make the same mistakes where revenue is concerned. Whether a founder is launching their first company or their fifth, there's one universal fact they can't ignore: The path to success starts with survival.
* Featured in Business Insider *
Let's talk about the damage being done to your company by customers who aren't actually paying customers.
There are tons of lessons to take away from Wag's story, most of them about how not to build a service marketplace. Here are the major lessons I found and what you can learn from them.
Every innovator has an idea of what the successful version of their product will look like. But one of the failings of a typical MVP is that it usually results in more questions than answers.
Some entrepreneurs spend way too much time worried about the endgame. Others get an acquisition offer dumped into their laps and have no idea what to do next.
It's no secret that a product company is much more valuable than a service company. It's why every service provider has that dream about transforming their service into a product. The problem is that there are a lot of wrong ways to put that evolution into motion, and doing it wrong can kill the business pretty quickly.
Let's talk about crafting the perfect investor update. And more importantly, how to get them to respond. Every startup is different, and there is no single template for an investor update email. But I've learned that there are a few rules that you have to follow to get them to read it.
Your business can grow or it can remain profitable. Doing both at the same time is a circus-level juggling act. But it can be done.
* A Medium Editorial Feature *
The early stages of startup are full of challenges for both new and repeat entrepreneurs alike. Minimum Viable is 25 of my best startup advice posts from behind Medium's paywall, covering the period from the very beginning of the idea stage through to the growth stage. This isn't business plans and pitch decks. It's proven strategies and new ideas for making, leading, and growing a startup.
Startup is for everyone. If buying the book doesn't fit your current budget, contact me. Let me know your story and I'll hook you up with a copy.
Do you feel like an outsider when it comes to startup, entrepreneurship, or starting or running a business? Are there rules and processes and terms you don't fully understand? Does it feel like a closed club sometimes?
Everything You Should Know About Startup is all the stuff I wish I knew when I was first starting out, run through the lens of having done it for so long and still doing it. It's not Silicon Valley buzzwords and mantras. It's nuts and bolts and logic that applies in the real world.