Udemy and Happify are some of the brands I have worked with. Sidestep, Beyonce’s initial startup investment.
Here are 10 lessons that I have learned from this experience:
1. The most important asset is developing your founder’s passion
One of the most important things to do when you start a business is to learn those skills that will allow you to manage a profitable company. It is important to understand what it takes for passion to grow over time. Study shows that founders who display high passion are more likely to engage with investors and increase their interest in the venture’s success by 39% and 26% respectively, compared to those who show low passion.
My startup clients often have great ideas but not enough dedication to their projects. Don’t give important tasks to inexperienced staff members. Or assume that everything will go according to plan because you have a great idea. You will be driven if you are determined. This means that you will spend more time working on the responsibility until you succeed.
To quickly grasp your passion, you need to create a process. Before I started my entrepreneurial journey, I was involved in over 10 side gigs and gigs. Each of these gigs has given me different values that I applied to my founder’s passion. It’s okay to try other things and discover your strengths and limitations.
People will invest in your products or ideas if you are passionate about them. It’s one thing to have a great idea, but it’s another to show dedication.
2. Always finish what you start
My main lesson learned when I started my own business was that learning from many experiences throughout the process will teach you valuable lessons that you can use for your venture. Our attention spans are very short these days. We tend to get distracted by projects and give up on them. This would cause you to lose motivation to pursue your true passion. It would make you feel numb without you even realizing it.
You need to have the right experience to discover your entrepreneurial spirit. You will learn how to finish what you started. Learning from all failures is a crucial part of building your skills. Entrepreneurs who have never failed are less likely than those who get their hands dirty and learn from every experience. This could be a personal task, a marketing campaign, or a job given to you by a family member. Your future will be harmed if you have too many unfinished projects.
3. It is dangerous to lack empathy
Many startup founders are smart, intelligent, well-rounded, and knowledgeable. They have also traveled all over the globe, visiting every continent. One thing that is missing is their ability to capture certain emotions in managing the people they interact with. They may have convinced investors so far but it is not enough to manage the days after raising funds. In the initial days of a venture, the biggest problem for founders is not the product but the people they hire and manage.
This is a crucial aspect for founders as it allows them to understand their users, their team, investors’ expectations and everything in between. This is an essential trait that must be acquired along the journey.
4. Your Success Depends on the Environment You Live In
I believe that the environment you create will determine your success. My experience has shown me that the right place where you can do your work is crucial to your success. People often underestimate the importance of their physical environment in achieving their goals. Over the years I have seen that the environment you choose to surround yourself with, the places you go to work, and the people you spend your time with, can directly affect your success or failure. It is important to consider your environment. Humans adjust to their environment. If your environment isn’t positive enough, you might struggle to achieve your goals.
You have the power to change your environment. These choices will lead to success for you over the coming days, weeks, and years. It creates a domino effect.
5. “Perfectionism is an Entrepreneur’s Worst Enemy”
It’s not necessary to have an ideal idea to start your startup journey. It’s possible to start with something simple and build it over time. If you have invested too much in your idea, the pressure to create a perfect idea can cause mistakes that are difficult to reverse. There is nothing wrong with learning valuable lessons from that experience. It’s crucial to avoid making major mistakes when trying to find the right idea for your venture.
6. Take control of your energy
I was present at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue when the first iPhone was sold. It is important to be in the right place at the right time. However, you must also pay attention to the timing and whereabouts of the sale. I wouldn’t have thought of a UI/UX agency that would focus on technological advances if I hadn’t witnessed the first iPhone sold in history. It allowed me to start my own business. By following the industry closely and trying to figure out the next big thing, I have seen the potential of a big industry.
Never underestimate the power and importance of staying under the radar when looking for the right moment to launch your business. This approach I call ABC – Always Be Chasing!
7. Keep your enemies close, but your competition even closer
You can learn a lot from companies that have been there before you. It doesn’t mean you have to invent the wheel. You can learn from others’ successes and failures. You should do thorough research about the industry’s competitive landscape. A document should be created listing the founders of your industry, who they are, how many employees they have, which clients they target, and what their marketing strategy is. You can follow them on Google Alerts so you are notified whenever a news article about them is published. You should be aware of every move they make. This will encourage you to get up in the morning and move your startup forward.
8. Be a Full-Time Entrepreneur
One thing is certain: you cannot develop your entrepreneurial passion if you don’t dedicate your entire time to it. There is much you can learn from corporate life and we all need to make a living. You can’t make someone’s dream come true forever. You must quit your job now. Because luck is not a factor in success. Each successful founder has dedicated their full-time time to their dreams.
Awesome was founded a decade ago. We had a counter that displayed clients who were leaving their jobs. “17 clients quit their day jobs” was a statistic we were proud of because it was important for the industry to thrive.
9. It is more difficult than you think to launch your first product.
Working with more than 200 startups has taught me one thing: launching your first product is not as simple as assembling a team of designers and product managers.
There’s a fine line between features that are essential and those that are optional. It is possible to lose your startup if you focus too much on features in the beginning. Understanding that good ideas do not necessarily translate into great products is important.
You should aim to reduce cognitive load and not increase it. Users will get confused if you add too many features. Push for Pizza was my favorite MVP startup idea. Users can simply push an icon to place an order for pizza at the nearest pizzeria. The product had only one feature, but it created quite a buzz. It’s not about the number of features; it’s how you market and execute them.
10. It’s all about the process
A proper process is key to launching products. This is what makes successful entrepreneurs stand out from others. Each founder I have worked with has a way of executing their ideas. You can get rid of bad ideas by organizing your features and ideas into a process. My process involves converting those steps into micro-actions that I can quickly iterate so that everything is simpler than complex.
Instead of jumping straight to research and design when you launch a product, create a document that explains the features and user flows, and then prioritizes their needs. Then, you could share that document with stakeholders for feedback and iterate. The next step would be to convert the documents into wireframes and then branding. Finally, you’d need to create a UI.
