I lost two years on my first failed SaaS.
Years later I crossed $61k MRR, solo.
In between those periods I worked within a start-up incubator.
Here's what I learned:
- There are plenty of really smart people who never make it as an entrepreneur.
- Mindset is more often valuable here than brains.
- There are plenty of less-than-bright people that crush it as entrepreneurs.
- I promise you have what it takes, no matter how average you think you are.
- We all start out as impostors, and we remain impostors as long as we push ourselves out of our comfort zone.
- This should be viewed as a positive, as it is a huge motivator and growth driver.
- We are all just figuring it out as we go.
- Don't let others fool you into thinking they have all the answers. There's no right or wrong way to run a startup; there's just what works and what doesn't.
- What works to get traction in one startup is not necessarily going to work for another.
- Take tactical advice only as inspiration, not as gospel. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is invaluable. Learn them and pay attention to them.
- Just because someone else enjoys building in public or waking at 4 am doesn't mean you need to force yourself to do the same if it doesn't suit you.
- In many cases, raising money doesn't make things any easier. Often it complicates things.
- Make sure you're very clear on why you need to raise money, if you're considering it.
- Within a startup, team dynamics are critical.
- Likability and determination matter more to individual success more than skillset.
- The more people involved in a startup, the less productive they each are.
- On a team of 3, you can't slack off without it being noticed.
- One person says, "I don't know how to do that," while another says, "I'll figure it out." Who would you rather work with? Who would you rather be?
- Often the "best" engineers are the least effective in an early-stage start-up.
- You want scrappy and good enough - not polished and ready for scale.
- You don't have to work 20 hour days, 7 days a week to be successful.
- Making smarter, faster decisions is better than working more hours.
- People perform better when they're given ownership, especially in the early stages of a startup where they can have the biggest impact.
- Simple ideas are often better than big ideas.
- They're easier to execute, easier to explain, and take less time to take to market.
- People spend a lot of time on things that don't matter.
- Don't fall into the busywork trap. Focus on what will move the needle. Eliminate the rest.
- If you know the right people, they can help you leap-frog years ahead of where you'd otherwise be.
- Be helpful, be kind, and make friends.
- Most startups fail, so chances are you'll have some failures too. Now let's stop calling them failures, because they aren't. They're typically a prerequisite to success.