Every 2-3 weeks I send out a newsletter with quick updates on what I've written. I'm not gonna bug you. And you can opt-out anytime without hurting my feelings. Deal?
The harsh economics of startup are often easily overlooked. So let’s talk about what it really costs an entrepreneur to get a startup off the ground. It’s about 250 grand.
Last week, I had an email exchange that came through my website from a college student who sort of lucked into a startup founded by one of his friends. He had jumped in at the beginning, and now he's at a crossroads.
I live by the entrepreneur’s motto: “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission. But it actually matters what you’re going to ask permission or beg forgiveness for.”
At some point, every entrepreneur stops innovating. Let’s talk about how to put that off for as long as possible.
Your MVP is your first impression, both for your startup and for you as an entrepreneur. Here's a high-level checklist I use to give my MVP its best chance, with some real-world examples thrown in.
Should you learn to code? I used to always answer with an emphatic yes. Now I’m like 80/20 no. The catch is, and always will be: Time. Here's how to get around that.
Building software under a deadline is a recipe for disaster, right? So why are we still doing it? It’s not gonna be too long before we look back and laugh at when we used to put delivery dates on tech.
There are like a million things you need to do before you start spending money on that freelancer or offshore team. Wait. Five. There are actually five things you need to do before you hire a developer.
Leadership flaws can start tearing at the seams of a startup right at the first signs of success. If we don’t have leadership that works, we can’t make critical decisions, we can’t move forward, chaos ensues, and the whole operation begins to crumble from the top down.
An MVP is indeed meant to be the quickest version of the product you can put out to market. But when I use the word “quickest” here, that reduction in time to market is achieved by a reduction in feature set, not a reduction in quality. Lately, I’m seeing the pendulum swing away from quality too often.
What would you say your company does? It seems like a simple question that should have a simple answer, but that’s rarely the case.
I'm answering all the stupid (and not-so-stupid) questions about startup in no-BS guide aimed at both new and existing entrepreneurs.
Everything You Should Know About Startup covers what kind of business you should start, what roles you'll need, the stages of building your company, how you get funded, and how to stay motivated.