How to launch your startup. Starting a Startup: What you need to know Analyze current markets and trends

Many entrepreneurs give up on their dreams too soon, mainly for two reasons: lack of knowledge or lack of resources. There is no exact answer to the question: “How to launch a startup?”. However, we can give you tips to help you launch your startup and make your dreams come true.

There is no single, best approach to launching a startup. This is done by trial and error, which varies from industry to industry. A lot also changes over time.

The biggest mistake most entrepreneurs make is to look at the future through rose-colored glasses. They think that their idea can change the world and forget that the startup idea is only the first step.

Another fact is that the market is saturated today. Customer expectations have risen to the point where serving them is a very difficult task.

Answering the question “How to launch a startup” is difficult, but realistic. Let's take a look at the best approaches to launch a startup in 2019.

Come up with a brilliant idea

To begin with, you should have a clear idea about your startup.

What is a brilliant idea?

You don't always need something unique. It may be an improved version of what already exists and works well in the market.

Your startup should be best in class, not first in the market.

Google was not the first search engine, and Facebook was not the first. social network. They are simply better than their peers.

A startup idea should guarantee you success. The only way Ensuring success is knowing that your startup delivers what your potential clients need.

You don't have to dance to the tune of investors. You must have your own opinion as well equity. If the idea is good, then obviously other people will chase after it. It won't be easy to compete.

If you find something that others don't, it will give you competitive advantage. You can take the first position. You can start developing your solution. You can acquire a customer base. All this before your competitors realize that such an opportunity exists. By the time they realize it, you will already have gained momentum and it will be harder for others to force you out.

Always remember, your idea is the first step to success. So take your time. Think, dream, and you will come up with something brilliant.

Analyze current markets and trends

If you have a startup idea, it's time to ask yourself: "Who is this idea for?".

You must take into account the characteristics of your potential clients such as age, gender, relationship status, income, hobbies, etc.

You need to dig deeper to determine your buyer persona, customer requirements, aspirations, and the problems you can solve with your product or service. Talk to your audience about your idea and get feedback. A good practice is to define your target audience and communicate only with them.

Even if the chosen niche is large enough, there is money here and it is easy to enter here - you need to meet several criteria.

• The idea behind your product or service needs to work in a market where customers are already buying similar products or services, but they can't solve some of their problems.
• Your target audience should show demand for your product by actively looking for a solution that solves their problem.
• Customers must show a strong interest in your product or service.

Determine product market fit

Achieving product-to-market fit requires careful understanding target audience. You can only win the trust of your customers if you solve their real problems.

Make sure you decide enough big problem. If your solution is not 10 times better than a traditional product or service, it will be difficult to find your place in the market. Talk to strangers, family members, friends and colleagues and see if they will pay for your product or service.

Beta launch

Now is the time to see how viable your product is.

The minimum viable product is the version of the new product that allows the team to capture the maximum amount of proven customer knowledge with the least amount of effort.

You are selling a concept and providing a minimal set of features to a focus group, not to everyone.

Every company starts with a basic limited product model (beta). Even Google launched their search engine with a basic HTML page to see how their users would react to it. Betas also allow startups to understand which direction to take. This allows you to recognize problems and then find effective solutions.

Build a powerful team

To launch a startup, recruit a skilled and qualified team to either help or guide your execution plan throughout the process.

Even the most best business ideas can fail if you don't have the right people to implement them. In fact, not having the right team is one of the biggest reasons most startups fail.

Three key elements of a powerful team:

• All team members work towards a common goal.
• Each of them is interested in this idea.
• They all strive for growth, because this is the only success factor

Therefore, hire a close-knit team of people who are ready to move mountains.

Many entrepreneurs place too much value on their idea or brand and neglect the value of their employees.

Recognize the fact that you cannot do everything alone. Hire the right people, make them grow up and be happy to work with you. Also, don't be afraid to fire people who aren't right for you.

Networking is the key to success

No matter what your business model is and who you sell to, connections will be profitable for you.

When starting a startup, you should talk to potential buyers to determine their needs and desires. Likewise, connect with influencers to get feedback on your product. If you need some kind of investment to launch your startup, talk to investors and find out what type of startups they are investing in and what they see in those startups.

When you connect to the entrepreneurial community, you never know where life will take you. You may be able to build a relationship with a mentor, or simply meet interesting people from whom you can learn about life, entrepreneurship or get valuable ideas.

Immersing yourself in a network of like-minded business owners gives you an insider's view of the industry and allows you to develop relationships with experienced people who have already launched a startup and can offer advice.

Also, if you are looking for a co-founder for your startup, your network is the first place to look because your connections include like-minded and experienced people.

Study your competitors

To compete in a market that is already crowded, it is important to know who your product's direct and indirect competitors are.

At the initial stage, you cannot compete with more large enterprises because they don't have the same problems that small startups have. And in most cases, their budget is hundreds of times larger than startups.

You can analyze your competitors by identifying:

• Who are their clients?
• What technologies do they use?
• How much can they spend on marketing?

Before launching your startup, make sure you have a good understanding of the industry: trends, current market conditions, and last news and also that you know potential competitors.

Knowing your competitors is invaluable when starting a startup. You will understand how to position your brand so that you can stand out and succeed.

When launching a new product, it's tempting to look at other products or competitors to see what works. Startup founders tend to have their own preconceived notions about which channels are effective and which are not. You may end up missing out on great opportunities.

Communication with customers is one of the best (and cheapest) ways to gather real information about competitors.

Choose between fundraising and initial launch

People who start a startup follow two financial models: fundraising or initial launch. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The initial launch is suitable when you have enough funds to launch your startup on your own. However, in this case, you will be the only one stakeholder, and success or failure will depend solely on you.

Fundraising is a possible option if you are starting a startup but have limited funds and need the help of venture capitalists. Investors will help you grow your business by sharing capital. But chances are they will take your business in a direction you don't agree with.

When making a decision, you must be wise and understand the differences in both approaches, as your decision will have a big impact on the growth of your business.

Conclusion

As an entrepreneur, don't be afraid of failure. Feel free to explore new markets. Better to try and fail than not to try at all. Many successful entrepreneurs have failed, and that is how they found the recipe for success.

Don't say, "My startup failed." Say, "I failed my startup." Take control of your life to get the best results.

Just remember that your determination and the right approach are the keys to successfully launching a startup.

Many novice startups try to create their startup according to some general scheme, general rule. There is no single rule, as well as a single way to create a startup, and cannot be. Each successful and unsuccessful startup had and will have its own nuances of creation and development, its own mistakes. Everyone should create their own startup in their own way. But there are some general steps and rules in creating startups.

Introduction.

Currently, the interest of businessmen and investors in startups continues to grow. Everyone counts on success, despite the fact that, as statistics show, only no more than 10% of all start-up startups get decent development.

Today, a huge number of people are worn with new technologies. At least they consider them new, highly demanded and promising. Some are trying to create their own startup to implement their idea, but do not know how to approach it.

How to self-assess the prospects. In this article I will try to give some advice on how to start building your startup, how to start implementing your idea.

Create your own startup - where to start.

Many people think that starting a startup starts with a new product idea. new technology, new service. It seems to me that the creation of a startup begins much earlier. Only a person who is prepared, competent, educated can create his own startup. This is how the entire world experience of creating startups shows.

And thus, a startup is significantly different from Opening your own small shop or a bike rental shop (examples are completely arbitrary) almost anyone can. This does not require special literacy. An illiterate person will not be able to create his own startup.

Therefore, my first and perhaps the most important advice:

Become an expert in your chosen field.

Just a competent specialist. Most modern startups are built in the field of high technologies, in special areas - electronics, medicine, programming, biology. They just don't come there with their ideas from the street. In order to become a specialist, it is necessary, first of all, to get an education.

And then work in specialized companies and learn from leading experts, building up the knowledge base necessary in the future. And do not forget to generate new ideas in the chosen direction.

This is how you can become a specialist, enter the market with your ideas, attract investors, build your own startup. Investing in yourself, in your education is the most profitable type of investment.

Gather a team of like-minded people around you.

A lot of startups were started by young people from their student years. Today it is very difficult to create your own startup alone. Most of today's successful startups are created by groups of like-minded people. Therefore, when thinking about a startup, you should focus primarily on people, and not on a product, technology or money.

Gathering a team of like-minded people is not easy. And it is best to do this as a student or at the enterprise where you work. Well, with a team, you can generate ideas and implement them much more successfully.

Communicate and discuss ideas with professionals of different specialties.

It’s great if the future startupper is a specialist in various fields, for example, in electronics, programming, medicine, biology, economics, etc. But this, of course, is a utopia. Such ingenious diverse specialists simply do not exist. But it is precisely at the junction of various areas of science and technology that a lot of prospects for new ideas open up.

Therefore, the communication of specialists from different areas is very useful, promising and more than once gave birth to a lot of new products.

Create your startup to solve personal problems.

This refers to problems that prevent people from living comfortably. Look closely at what prevents you from living, working or relaxing, and fix what you lack for this. It often happens that many people face certain problems and difficulties. Pay attention to problems that you can't find solutions for. Perhaps there are ideas for startups there.

I'll give you an example. A real misfortune forced a professor from Tel Aviv University to create his own startup, and then the ReWalk company. He had an accident and was unable to walk after it. The man rode in a wheelchair for two years, after which he invented the exoskeleton. Today, ReWalk products are sold in the US, Europe and Israel, helping injured people walk again.

Learn to take responsibility.

Thinking about a startup, you need to understand that at the first stages, almost everything connected with it will have to be done by yourself. As they say, you have to work with both your head and hands. To promote ideas, look for an investor, create samples and even clean the premises. No kind uncle will come and do the work for you.

You may have to work for days with short breaks. No wonder many startups say that the slogan "Die but do" was the most important thing in their lives.

Stages of creation and development of a startup.

As I wrote above, there is no single way to create and develop a startup. But there are certain stages that, as a rule, most successful startups go through. There are usually five or six such stages (depending on the details) and they cover the entire period of the startup's existence - from finding and testing an idea to turning a startup into a large company. Let's dwell on them briefly.

First stage -"sowing" (Seed).

In my opinion, the main stage at which most of the unsuccessful and improperly organized and unclaimed startups are eliminated. At this stage, almost the formation of a startup takes place.

Stage "sowing" can be divided into several sub-stages. Some authors distinguish them into separate stages, which is not entirely true, because. but they are executed in parallel at the same time.

1) Presowing ( Pre — seed ). Search and formation of a clear idea among the founders of a startup, study of the market need for the product of this idea, study technical ways implementation of the idea. The result of this sub-stage should be a market research, a business plan and a formed technical task on the product.

2) Create a mockup or sample product . A mockup or prototype of the product is being created. It is tested and refined, the price of the product is adjusted. The market is being checked, demand is being studied. The search for investors begins.

3) Refinement of the layout or sample of the product. The layout is being finalized. Or created new pattern, which fully corresponds to the proposed idea. The sample has a fully functional status and can be presented to both investors and consumers.

4) Search for an investor. The search for an investor or sources of further financing ends. The main indicator of the success of a new idea is the willingness of investors to invest in its development. Contracts are signed with investors.

At this stage, the "sowing" ends. And for many (most) startups that have not found an investor, their activities cease and the project fades. Well, the startups that successfully passed this stage and found an investor go further.

The second stage is the launchstartup stage).

After the product is tested and an investor is found, you can start producing it and enter the market. The competition begins. It is at this stage that both the startup and the product are most at risk. The product must show its advantage over existing ones and be liked by the consumer. If the consumer remains indifferent to the product, the startup story may end there.

The third stage is "growth" (Growth stage).

After the idea and its product have survived in competition, the product has found its consumer and is in demand, it is necessary to increase its production. You should pass the break-even point as soon as possible, start making a profit, start paying back the funds invested in the project.

The fourth stage - "Expansion" (Expansion stage).

The goals set by the startup developers have been achieved. The product is in demand and successfully sold, the brand becomes recognizable. A stable high income allows you to conquer new markets and develop the company.

Fifth stage - "exit" (exit stage).

At this stage, developers and investors decide what to do next. There are many further paths. For example, continue to develop your company, capturing new markets. Or sell it completely to larger companies.

Often, investors who have financed a project sell their shares to other companies, while making a good profit.

I gave all the stages of startup development. But it is not necessary for a successful startup to go through all the stages of its development. Very often, a good startup is bought by large market players at an early stage, and then they themselves promote the product.

Conclusion.

New markets and new products are constantly emerging. It is even difficult for the average consumer to keep track of them. For example, mobile connection or computer technology. A person fails to acquire new model, and after a year it is already obsolete.

Bulk products from large companies today create many opportunities to prove themselves in various directions.

And for observant, competent, enterprising people, they allow you to create your own startup.

From beautiful idea and a blueprint before selling a startup, Zuckerberg needs to go through several important steps and not stumble. So what are you waiting for? Forward!

Ignat Sakharov

Location selection

The world is one, the Internet erases borders - and that's great. But only for those who have already received investments. And if you have just drawn the first prototype of your drone-vacuum cleaner for catching flies, a long road awaits you. Because talking with a business angel over a freezing Skype from Kostomuksha is to wake up the business devil in him. For presentations and negotiations, you need a personal presence, which means you need to go where there are accelerators, business incubators, technology parks and other nests of investors.

In America - Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and, of course, Silicon Valley, where any beggar has a startup presentation with him.

In Canada, there is the small town of Waterloo, where Blackberry is fighting for life and a young growth of startups is growing, many of which are associated with a half-dead giant.

In Germany, Berlin.

In India - Bangalore, a local analogue of Silicon Valley, where investors from all over the world come to get hold of shares of very high-quality Indian startups.

In Russia - Moscow, where there is Skolkovo, and besides it - well-known accelerators and venture funds: IIDF, GenerationS, Farminers. Also Kazan, where the Pulsar Venture accelerator works, and St. Petersburg with iDealMachine.

Choice of helpers

It just seems that there are a lot of ideas around, but little money. There really isn't much to invest in. In reliable banks, rates are zero. In stocks, the risk is high, but the return is not very. But a successful startup gives up to 1000 percent per annum - there will definitely be those who want to help.

FFF - from family, friends, fools (family, friends, fools). They will finance you a little at the start, because they managed to have common genes, study together or be optimists.

Business incubator. If the project is impressive, the incubator will provide space, office equipment, and a coffee maker for a small fee or share in the project. Unfortunately, they don't give a secretary.

Accelerator is a business incubator with training and supervision options. The purpose of the accelerator is to polish the project so that when reading the presentation, investors do not have suicidal thoughts. And then sell. Business angel - will buy out a share from the accelerator if he believes in the growth of the project. There is no clear boundary between an accelerator and a business angel, they can replace each other. But business angels are usually pickier.

Venture fund - from here you will receive the first big money. Or you won't. The Foundation can spend hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars on your project, but only if everything is already working and growing at the pace of a broiler chicken.

Answers on questions

This step will be repeated every time, from investor to investor. And it's the easiest thing to stumble on. So first, answer the questions for yourself.

Does anyone need your product? Most startups close because the product is not needed. Yes, the public simply has not yet grown up to an application that identifies a German philosopher by the first volume of the text. But it's better to understand it right away.

Is it a venture business? If we are talking about 25 percent per annum, it is easier for an investor to buy a pub in Munich. A startup can only attract it with a tenfold profit in a short time. This is the essence of venture business: big reward for big risk.

Do you have something to show? Investors want to see an MVP (minimum viable product) - a product that can be sold immediately, even if it is raw. That is, the drone prototype should at least bounce. Can you scale quickly? To grow 10x quickly, a business must scale quickly. To make 100 more pubs is a year and a billion. Enabling new distribution channels for an app is a week and a million. And which is more attractive?

Is there a competitive advantage? Riveting the same Facebook but with purple buttons is a feat that will not be appreciated. Investors are advised to "seek pain" - to find out from buyers what they are missing in the existing solution to a certain problem.

Is it a seasonal business? The application for an urgent call to Santa Claus will set a record for downloads on New Year's Eve, but the rest of the year will only be of interest to bored penguins. And it's a pretty narrow market.

Decor

Startup co-founders who discuss pre-seed in a coworking space over a glass of smoothie often forget that the output will still be a banal LLC or CJSC with tax reporting and staffing. Or GmbH, Ltd, LLC, SRL - depending on the country. Therefore, any investor will want to see at least basic documents.

Confirmation of the existence of a legal entity. charter, memorandum of association, extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, certificate of registration. The whole procedure of pumping money into a startup is accompanied by transfers of shares from one hand to another. The investor must be sure that not a single detail in the design of the legal entity will interfere with this.

Registration of intellectual property. If you came up with a rubber suitcase that can hold everything, and immediately shared the idea with the whole world, as we are now, the investor, at best, will pour you strong sweet tea to relieve stress. Because someone else has already patented the product and is preparing it for sale. All your ideas must be formalized, there must be contracts for others.

Receiving the money

Pre-seed stage. There is a team, there is a working prototype, there are first buyers, there is no money for a full-fledged launch. At this stage, it is better to go to three Fs, or engage in bootstrapping - this is how they delicately call shaking out a piggy bank, laying an apartment in a bank, selling your favorite collection of Bryansk porcelain. Accelerators at this stage give money only to very tasty projects. The amount of investment is usually 1–1.5 million rubles.

seed stage. The rights are issued, the market is studied, growth graphs are drawn in Excel, the economy is calculated. Here you can connect an accelerator or a business angel. Main mistake startups at this stage - generosity out of desperation. If you give the first investor a third in the enterprise, then in the course of the next financial injections, other people's shares will exceed 50 percent. And venture funds believe that a startup with a small share of its own is losing motivation, - big money they don't give it like that.

Round A. The project worked for a year or two, the unit-economy (income-income per client) is positive, the growth is continuous and there is still room for growth. This is the stage at which an accelerator or business angel is ready to sell his stake to a venture capital fund. This means that you are waiting for communication with a large investor who will pour 50-100 million rubles into your business.

Round B. Everything is going well, and the investor proposes to start scaling in a serious way, at the international level. Here, up to a billion rubles can be poured into the promotion.

IPO. The secret dream of any start-up and investor, for the sake of which everything is started, is the launch of the company's shares into free circulation. The procedure is not fast, it requires transparency and good accountability. But it is on the stock exchange that your share will be valued in money and can immediately turn into money, you just have to give an order to the broker.

Round BBB (beach, boat, blond). Yes, we read in your business plan about the mission and benefit to society. But after all, everything was started for the sake of this round, right?

Growth Technologies

A startup can be launched with only an old laptop and a mobile phone. But there must be something new in them so that the chance of success is higher. For example, new Information Technology specially designed for startups. If you don’t know about these, then your competitors probably already know.

VTsOD. A virtual data processing and storage center is when you are rented out the power of a cloud service and you create a virtual machine there with up to sixteen cores. Rostelecom has such a service: it rents out the capacity of the National Cloud Platform. Scaling - for example, with an increase in site traffic - can be done quickly and without contacting technical support.

Virtual PBX. If your startup is tied to a lot of incoming calls, you need several lines. And to buy them separately - the entire tranche of round B will just go away. But a virtual PBX gives a bunch of lines and numbers of internal subscribers on one city number. Again, scalable.

VPN network with protection against DDoS attacks. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network - virtual private network. That is, you do not pull cables around the office, but rent a virtual server and work through it. Rostelecom also protects tenants from DDoS attacks - this is when villains overload the server with requests so that no one can enter.

Virtual contact center . Instead of renting a semi-basement at the price of a suite at the Ritz and settling operators there, you can order a service that comes with Rostelecom's virtual PBX. In a couple of days, a contact center of any scale will be set up for you - it can be controlled remotely without buying new equipment.

Web video conference. If any meeting with partners and investors ends with beer and dancing until the morning, you should not risk your business. By connecting the Internet in Rostelecom, all participants in the negotiations can be united in one video conference without downloading new software and regardless of what browsers they have.

Usually, to create a startup, you need to have a team with cumulative competencies. Frontend, backend, production, marketing - there are so many terms and if you delve into each area, it seems impossible to raise a project with the help of one specialist. Let's check.

Who is needed for your project

Delving into the details of project development, we highlight main steps:

• Design. The main part of the project. It is implemented, as a rule, by the initiator of a startup. He also thinks out the functionality and sets tasks for the rest of the project participants.

• Development. Technical part. Usually requires the involvement of one or more specialists (depending on complexity).

• Marketing. The shell of the project and the final stage of its implementation. It is believed that it can "wrap" a startup with a minimal budget. His qualifications are important, because the success of the project largely depends on him.

in web startups social sphere and e-commerce, the presence of specialists with the above competencies is mandatory. Such a team can solve the issue of implementation. If we consider the attitude of each to the project in more detail, we note that:

1. Ambitious design details may not be within the competence of the developer (either the customer wants too much, and this will entail the addition of third-party specialists to the team, or implementation taking into account the selected technologies is in principle impossible, which will lead to a conflict of interest).
2. The marketing approach is often reckless. If you neglect analytics at the start of the project, there will be a risk of premature “draining” of the budget or inability to work with the target audience of the project due to a lack of understanding of the market.
3. "Family" design. The initiator of a startup builds a project based on his own interests, relying on the judgments of others, which, as a rule, are not related to the very specifics of the project. The lack of a concept of the target audience can lead to the inability of the project to be published at the design stage.
4. Wrong selection of performers. Team structure is a key factor in a web project. As a rule, there are 2 types of those at the initial stage: “me, my girlfriend and a neighbor” or “me and freelancers”.

In most cases, both types are doomed, because in the first case there is “personal” in the project, which is unacceptable for a startup, and the second case, in general, is from a series of fiction and requires serious managerial skills from the organizer. Working with freelancers deserves a separate topic, but we will briefly highlight the following limitations:

• The search for a competent developer is difficult due to the specifics of the industry (a vicious circle: in order to set a task and check it, you need to understand it yourself).
• Manipulating deadlines is the main problem of a startup.
• Ordinary cases: “I can’t”, “the subscriber is unavailable” lead to large financial costs (you have to look for new performers, and the latter need time to understand the process).

Do it yourself

At first glance, this seems impossible, but let's try to figure it out.

1. Design

Everything starts with clean slate. You need to take a notepad and draw your project. Detailed, down to every button, trying to understand your client.

There are several practices for this:

• Audience segmentation
• Competitor analysis (web analysis required)
• List of errors (what we want to avoid when implementing)

A detailed layout (on paper) gives us a clear idea of ​​the project, the portrait of the client and the structure of the niche as a whole.

2. Development

There are many methods for implementing web projects. For a beginner, they are all equally difficult, and some simply cannot be mastered without preparation. The terms of training in development skills are often huge and require a large amount of effort and resources. For effective development, it is recommended to use a framework that allows you to implement any full-fledged complex project in a short time. The ideal framework should have functionality that allows you to create:

• Aggregators of goods and services
• Booking systems
• Real Estate Websites
• Job exchanges
• Notice boards
• Auctions
• Social networks

A universal solution for the implementation of such initiatives will be a database designer with convenient management and documentation that allows you to develop a project within 1-2 months. Loads and prompt delivery of content must be implemented by a powerful search engine that can handle any amount of data.

We emphasize additional criteria for a quality framework:

• The system has been tested and used for more than two years to create custom
• Formed staff and technical support team
• The portfolio contains projects of similar subjects

3. Marketing

Based on the success of similar companies, by the time the product is released to the masses, we already have an idea of ​​​​the market. It is easy to imagine that for some niches, the classic promotion methods do not work at all. It is necessary to design effective exits to target audience.

Outcome

Summarize. To have three competencies (design, development, marketing), a few months of intensive work are enough. First, so short term will allow you to “not burn out”, and secondly, by defining clear instructions for yourself within the framework of the entire process, in 2 months you can cope with almost any task. The skills acquired in the process will allow you to effectively manage the current project alone, as well as launch new ones in the shortest possible time.

Starting a startup is a great way to start your career from scratch and is perhaps even better than a diploma. Starting your own business gives you the knowledge and problem-solving skills that are highly valued in successful companies. In such companies, accelerated learning and personal freedom are encouraged, and they also make sure that all the efforts invested are well compensated.

My startups failed to live up to my expectations, at least in financial plan- I was able to make only one small one (which was enough to pay for academic leave). I spent four years on my projects. I left them two years ago - now I help other startups as a programmer, mentor and / or project manager.

I sincerely believe that if I had the following knowledge from the very beginning, then I would not have let three of my projects fail and would now be the founder of several successful companies.

If I could go back in time, I would give myself the following advice:

Look for negative reviews

Collect the maximum number of reviews and do not miss the toughest critics. If you convince them, you can convince anyone.

Evaluate your ideas against the harsh reality. Positive reviews nice and fluffy, but they don't reflect the challenges your product might face.

Results are more important than hard work

Many startups mistakenly think that success comes only through hard work. Some even prove it to others by talking about how they sleep less in order to work more.

But if you spend long hours of monotonous work thinking through strategies, you will achieve more results with less effort. Your productivity will increase and you will achieve your goals faster.

Don't rush into development right away / don't come up with an idea while coding

You should not go headlong into development, which will drag on first for weeks, and then for months. Prototype first, without code, and refine it based on feedback.

Business and design issues should be handled separately from development. Development can take ten times as much effort, and the pace of work is set by the slowest process.

Before moving on to writing code, collect feedback and refine the product based on it at the stage of editing and evaluation.

It doesn't matter what you can do. Much more important is what you can't do

Your brain has a limited supply of productive time. The less you work, the more opportunities you have in terms of thinking outside of work tasks.

So you have to share the responsibilities. Knowing how to do this is perhaps the most important skill of any leader or team member. The distribution of responsibilities will allow you to scale your performance and improve results with the help of others.

Yes, it's not easy. Sharing responsibilities effectively will require social skills, humility, and confidence. But I truly believe it's worth it.

The next time you find yourself overwhelmed at work, don't increase your hours or push your deadline. Think of those who can help you.

Learn from others' mistakes

You can learn from your own, but if you pay attention to someone else's experience, then your mistakes will become more original, and therefore more valuable for the community and yourself.

There are many ways to learn from others. Most of all I like to go to meetups and make acquaintances with experienced people who understand something better than me. In addition, there are TED talks, blogs, vlogs, books, online communities, and more.

The community will tell you more than friends and colleagues

Friends always leave nice reviews because they sincerely believe in your cause. Or they like you and don't want to express their disagreement. It is not easy to find out the true reason for their words.

Thus, all these people are an unreliable source of constructive feedback. Don't just rely on your inner circle of acquaintances - better reach out to your community of potential clients and investors, as well as other startups and experts in your industry. They can make natural open-minded supporters of your cause. Get out of your comfort zone and go meet these people!

Make a contingency plan in case your startup fails

If you put everything on one card, you will experience a huge amount of stress, and because of it, your IQ level will decrease.

So do yourself a favor and prepare all the acquired skills, contacts and other pluses in case the project fails. Don't be afraid to periodically update your LinkedIn or Angel.co page and check out new offers: you will grow in confidence in your abilities if you understand what you are worth in the market.