What's the Most Valuable Lesson You've Learned from a Mistake While Building Your Startup?
Luc Detiger
16 replies
Hey everyone! I'm a big believer in the idea that making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn. Over the past year, I've had my fair share of slip-ups and I'm thankful for each one. They've been invaluable lessons for me. I'm interested to hear about the mistakes you've made and the lessons you've learned from them. What are some errors you've encountered on your journey that have turned into important takeaways?
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Slim Geransar@slimmy82
REI Litics
Not validating an idea before building. I had the problem personally but didn’t really take the time to validate it. I just built it. Now I’m doing what I can make it successful! Almost there! I agree with you…. each slip up is a learning opportunity
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One critical lesson I learned was the importance of validating the market before fully committing to a product; we pivoted twice, which cost us time and resources, but ultimately led us to a product-market fit. This mistake taught me that thorough research and customer feedback are invaluable and can save a lot of pain down the road.
@jamin_nanthan what were your methods of doing research and getting customer feedback?
One of my most valuable lessons was learning the importance of customer feedback loops early on; ignoring them initially led to a misaligned product roadmap. This mistake taught me to prioritize customer needs, which has been instrumental in shaping a more market-responsive and successful product.
@lucdetiger Not taking decisions because it would hurt other people has been one of the major mistakes I've made in the past.
Btw, we launched our social networking platform, Tigbar today. Mind supporting us.
Creep, almost scope creep.
Don't forget its a project like any other. We didn't fully scope our MVP, left a bit to the wind, and feedback so ended up developing a bit more than what we needed to. It took longer than it should have.
Investing too much time on building
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One critical lesson I've learned is the importance of validating the market before fully committing resources; an oversight in customer discovery led to a pivot that cost us time but ultimately refined our value proposition. This misstep underscored that listening to your prospective users is not just a single step, but an ongoing, integral process for product development.
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Totally giving up on the product instead of simply changing direction. Sometimes we get so discouraged that what we want to work out isn't working - for example, not getting new users for our app or even just people using it.
At those times we simply need to step back and reflect on what we've done so far, and then decide if this is a time to give up or persevere.