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What has most surprised you about founding a startup?
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Nothing these days! Been at this since 2004. Latest https://skilledup.life - free talent for tech startups.
My 14 attempts https://manojranaweera.me/who-is...
Oh, we've learned so many lessons so far.
In a way, it was surprising, hah. Like:
📌 It is important to choose the right tech stack in advance, you'll grow, so it should be scalable.
📌 Keep technical documentation right from the beginning. This makes it more convenient to track down controversial issues. For example, some decisions may seem irrational, but they can be explained by business logic.
📌 From the start, make "open" features so they can be easily expanded. And estimate the cost of the features from the very start too.
📌 When developing functionality, you need to look at everything through the eyes of an ordinary user. You know the subject and you think it's quite obvious. But that may not be so at all. You need to keep this in mind and think about how to make people's lives easier.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course.
When I started, like years ago with my first startup, I strongly believed having a good product is the most important thing to be successful but I realized while it is still important, not really the deciding factor.
What matters is relationship building, community-building, and being smart with GTM.
The amazing communities offering help for active-seekers is completely not what I expected.
Building is the product is actually the easy part. It's building a community around your product with people who care for it is challenging.
The never ending dilemma between building what people want vs. Building what people need.
A hard lesson we had to learn was letting go of the "build it and they will come" mentality. Good products are most often made by rapid user feedback.
How hard it would be to find constant motivation to keep moving, it is a marathon and a long play --- you have to dig deep to keep consistent in what you do. You can sell anything, if you work at it hard and long enough.
Really interesting to read so may people's takes.
For me, I'd say how founding something can come out of nowhere, especially in regard to a side project!
@elena_cirera Totally agreed, but would add the very important motivation dimension. Finding an idea that excites founders in the long-term is not as easy as people think!
Emerging Sales Leaders - SaaS