What is one piece of advice you would give to a new entrepreneur?
Qudsia Ali
64 replies
Young generations are taking a lot of interest in startups and entrepreneurship. What would you advise them as a new entrepreneur?
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Bertha Kgokong@berthakgokong
Never ever give up.
I was actually chatting to a young lady this week and she was telling me that she is ready to go back to employment. I told her, that is the normal journey for most entrepreneurs. Even I have been there many times, there was a time I would have taken any job that came my way. But I was lucky, no one was willing to employ me -- and here I am.
So don't give up, keep looking for more ways to keep hustling.
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@berthakgokong Wow, powerful story.
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@berthakgokong, Thank you for sharing.
Don't fear failure... it's part of success... but also do not keep taking that path...
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@vincent_meco Indeed they are.
Just start.
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@nicomuoio So Important yet simple. The point is to start acting rather than just making plans.
Consistency in underrated, and often times beats intensity.
Results won't show right away. It's easy to stop doing something if you don't see it working, but things take time. Don't stop something that's not working unless you have a better way to solve it.
@ebbacronqvist What is your story? How much you had to wait? Looking for inspiration :)
Hey @zoon_s , sure "consistency over intensity" is kind of mantra these days as my startyu is pre PMF. While I do have to test a lot of things to see what sticks (everything from new feature iterations to cold outreaches etc) I have learnt lately that I sometimes stop before I can determine wether something was/is successful or not. Many times when your early-stage things tend to take some more time to see direct results on. Therefor I've decided to try do the things I'm trying out a little everyday/week and keep doing it until I either see result or have come up with a better solution to solve it. The worst thing you can do, I believe, is stop something completely because there're no ways you can learn something you're not doing. Of course, you have to take into account how much time certain things require and be a bit smart about it.
Don't know if this helped, could be more specific but don't know where in the process you are :)
@ebbacronqvist Thanks for your detailed reply Ebba! I have just launched my first product (doing full time job). I have started to realize getting real customers and monetizing my small product might be a long haul. Your advice will definitely help, knowing consistency is more important rather than burst of intense activity.
Keep everything as simple as possible. i.e.
> Make your customer's life simpler.
> Have a simple biz model.
> Execute simple marketing tactics.
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@tim_nicholas I agree with all of your points, Thank you for sharing.
Go all in or don't do it all
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I have experienced the taste of entrepreneurship twice now and if one advice I am supposed to give or apply to myself would be not to get overwhelmed by the ideas popping up in mind every time you see the similar products in the market. Sticking to your own idea and approach towards the product development is the key in my personal opinion. @qudsia_ali what are your thoughts on this?
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@bhav_singh I completely agree with you, bhavna. It is easier to get distracted by others at the start of your career or business.
Start with really getting to understand your target market
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@alexandracote I agree that understanding the target market is the first step of starting any business venture.
Act fast on your idea! Sometimes you have a great idea but overthinking kills it.
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@sushil_sharma2 I completely agree. Because of overthinking, people usually don't have the confidence to initiate anything.
Don't overthink how to start, just start and everything will be clear after.
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@sarita_rita Overthinking causes confusion and delay in execution.
Everything is 3x harder and takes 3x longer than you’ve projected. Budget your time, mental health, and finances accordingly.
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@rehan_choudhry1 That's a great advice, thank you for sharing it.
trust the grind...it only makes you better as a person and future CEO!
learn to trust your instincts and trust the people you have decided to keep near you.
"Doubt will harm your route"
your route to success.
i just came up with that line BTW
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@andrewcanday Thank you for sharing.
@qudsia_ali your most welcome
Above everything else, learn sales
@katyaveremeichik How? Do you think founders should also learn sales?
@mrmuke Yeah, absolutely! Nobody in the world will ever be able to sell the product as well as founders. Because they know the most about the product and they care the most about success. Besides, most teams can not effort hiring a good sales manager at the beginning.
In regards to how - that's a matter of personal choice. Some prefer books, some prefer online courses and some on-site programs. The main thing is that the person you learn from has to be an expert
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@katyaveremeichik Yes, sales is the most important step.
@katyaveremeichik Oh, that totally makes sense. We'll do our best to learn!
There are talkers and doers. Be a doer!
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@fraudblocker So, accurate. 👍
Do not take mentorship lightly.
your 'big picture' might not be big enough. There's no alternative to experience. Learn from everyone, implement and experiment fast.
@g_m_mehdi How do you think we could find a mentor?
@mrmuke Look for people who have already accomplished what you want to. Make a list of them and shortlist the ones that truly inspire you. Then reach out to them. Spend time working with them, learning from them, watching and observing their moves and decisions.
You don't have to copy & paste, but having someone who has done what you are going to do, definitely helps your journey exponentially.
@g_m_mehdi Can I ask where to look for these people if you have any advice? What do you mean by who have already accomplished what you want to? Thanks for the response.
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@g_m_mehdi I agree. Thank you for sharing.
Always remember your WHY. It will keep you going through your best and worst.
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@zuhura_miriam, I completely agree with your statement. Remembering your why helps in going through difficult times.
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Develop a community first.
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@qudsia_ali Yes, that would be best thing on the spectrum of things you could do. But I think if you have a ready community in your niche even before you start to build, the whole lifecycle of getting idea on what to build, building, getting feedback, going to market- all becomes relatively easy.
@mrmuke As developers (or with a mindset of one), I understand it is so difficult to focus building on community when what you want to be doing is adding features. I think, from the time you hit on an idea that catches your fantasy,100% of your time should go towards building a community. This will help validate your thought process and also probably have few users you know are looking for something like you would eventually build. After 2 weeks to a month, probably one can try to dip in community building activity for an hour a day (undistracted).
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Although I am on the receiving end on most of these pieces of advice, hopefully I can chip in something useful. If it ain't broke, break it again till you make it.
@qudsia_ali What I mean by that, is that when you have a product, and demand perfection, you can't just make it work a few times. You have to constantly try and break it so that you can achieve the best results.
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