7 Unpleasant Lessons for Startup Tech Companies from a Seasoned Entrepreneur
Not all lessons about startup tech companies are easy to hear, and these seven dirty ones are very dirty—but very important.
It can be tough to hear some of the realities of owning a business. It isn’t all about finding fame and getting rich—even if you’re successful, you’re going to have to work very hard for a long time to get there.
Most seasoned entrepreneurs will tell you some of the harsher realities of owning and running a business. Pablo Fuentes, a CEO and business writer, recently published a feature explaining some of the nastier details of his experiences as an entrepreneur, ultimately compiling seven lessons all new entrepreneurs should learn.
I’ve taken it upon myself to adapt these lessons to better fit tech entrepreneurs specifically:
- Test in a real environment before you start coding. Don’t assume your idea is going to work. Talk to people and find the faults in your idea before you start developing blindly under a false or neglectful presumption.
- Having a few passionate fans is better than having a ton of lukewarm ones. The quality of your audience is staggeringly important. Make sure your initial fans really love and support you, regardless of actual numbers.
- Don’t be afraid of an ugly first product. Design and quality are important for startup tech companies, but don’t delay a launch because of it. Focus on a minimum viable product first.
- Your opinion matters less than your audience’s opinion. Sometimes you will have to abandon an idea you love because your target audience will not like it.
- Promise the world and pay the consequences. Promising your users something prematurely is always a bad idea. It might get them in the door, but if they see you can’t deliver, they’ll never trust you again.
- You can’t have everything. Don’t try and stuff your app full of features. You don’t need many to become successful. Quality over quantity.
- Minimize your model. If you can’t explain your business in one sentence, odds are it’s too complicated to last.
These lessons are hard to hear and even harder to implement, but you’ll need to face them if you want your tech company to eventually succeed.
The original painful story can be found here
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