Here are the 30 thoughts about building startups:
1. Building Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) is easy. Knowing which assumptions to validate is not.
2. Rejection, not failure, is the default state of startups (from market, family and investors).
3. Learning to code is not essential, but it’s important and helpful when you can’t hire/find technical talent.
4. Entrepreneurship is learning to live in a constant state of uncertainty. Yes, endless doubts every single day.
5. Nailing an MVP fast involves a certain degree of luck. It takes time to find the right distribution channels.
6. The success of a product can be highly dependent on its design at the first stages of a startup.
7. Great design comes with great understanding of a problem. “How it works not how it looks” Jobs’s motto, is what matters.
8. Arrogance kills you and your relationships. Then your startup dies.
9. Learning curves are underestimated. A lot of time in startups goes into learning how to do new things you ignored and can’t hire people to do.
10. Motivation is hard. Keeping your team motivated comes from you being motivated. Startups don’t run on cash only but on morale too.
11. Startups are creative organizations that might turn into businesses one day. Many startup investors think they invest in the latter.
12. Build something for yourself is dangerous advice, you risk building something only you want. It is fun though.
13. Finding liquidity in startups is hard. It’s almost unethical to take money from friends, fools and family without product market fit.
14. San Francisco can be the cheapest city on earth for a startup founder. The benefit-cost ratio when meeting the right people is extremely high.
15. The very first MVP is finding people with similar interest. Then building/ joining a community around that interest.
16. Building a company is not the same as managing a company. In the beginning, the most important thing is managing yourself.
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