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> There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines, but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup. What are the b

> There isn't a guide that is definitive on the outcome. There are guidelines, but even if you follow them it doesn't make success of a startup. What are the best ones, in your opinion? Could you link a good one? > If you want the short story on startup success it can be summed up in one word overall, Execution. I don't know. Execution is something you cannot "learn". Either you're good, or not. However, if your idea sucks and you fail to build a MVP, and you fail to ask for feedback, you risk wasting months of your life that you could have avoided. Or, your idea might be awesomely executed, but if you fail to market it properly, no one will know about it and you will fail. If I followed even the steps I mentioned, I would be able to catch bad ideas before I spent months of my time and potentially hundred of thousands of dollars. Just thinking outloud here.

davismwfl 8y ago
Overall I agree but you also kinda proved my point. In the example you laid out, they didn't execute well enough on the business to make it a success. Execution isn't in the absence of marketing, product or idea, it is the key reason why startups fail though. A weakly put together but strongly executed marketing plan beats a superb plan that is executed poorly. Execution is what matters here, the plan can be revised over and over, but if you fail to execute it doesn't matter if the most brilliant person in that field put together the plan, you will fail. Definitely plenty of room for varied opinions here, just my 2 cents as well.
- altern8 8y ago
  Ah, I thought execution of the product itself. However, you have to know you should do certain things to be able to execute them well. A lot of projects I've seen fail were well-made, but had crappy or no marketing. The reason is that founders were tech guys, and you know how tech guys like to program and not email people :-)
  - davismwfl 8y ago
    Gotcha, yea, that is a communication failure on my point, my bad. And I agree, most tech people are to focused on what they are building and fail to do all the other steps, which is the failure to execute in my view.
davismwfl 8y ago
Sorry, I didn't answer the first question you asked. I don't have a guide to link to, but my general guidelines for myself: Curiosity always, Validation, Market, Team, Mockup, Validation, Market, Sales Commitments, Build Team, MVP, Actual Sales, Iteration. In the early stage this is what a fledgling startup looks like to me. Curiosity around ideas, always asking questions and this should never stop ever. Validation of ideas once you feel you have found one or more. Validation is done by talking to real human beings who would be the potential target clients, Market is the market opportunity research and the targeting. Team may come right after market or may wait, but either way who are the people you will need to make it happen. Mockup is a simple PDF or wireframe mockup, not even code likely at this point. Validation again on the Mockup and market. Redefine the market and or product. Start getting sales commitments at this point, build out the team and the MVP and move into sales. Then you start iterating on Product and sales. Of course, this is a gross overview, a ton of little steps go into all this, but for me this is how you start any basic business, regardless if you want to raise money or just be successful. It starts with Idea/Clients, then you start figuring out product. When I used to help startups a lot as my consulting clients this was almost always universally failed. They'd come with a product idea but almost 0 market validation or testing, so who knows what would work. Now, there are some greenfield projects where there just isn't a market because you are defining it, but that is the rarity and generally is started and funded differently IME.

davismwfl 8y ago

Overall I agree but you also kinda proved my point. In the example you laid out, they didn't execute well enough on the business to make it a success. Execution isn't in the absence of marketing, product or idea, it is the key reason why startups fail though. A weakly put together but strongly executed marketing plan beats a superb plan that is executed poorly. Execution is what matters here, the plan can be revised over and over, but if you fail to execute it doesn't matter if the most brilliant person in that field put together the plan, you will fail. Definitely plenty of room for varied opinions here, just my 2 cents as well.

altern8 8y ago
Ah, I thought execution of the product itself. However, you have to know you should do certain things to be able to execute them well. A lot of projects I've seen fail were well-made, but had crappy or no marketing. The reason is that founders were tech guys, and you know how tech guys like to program and not email people :-)
- davismwfl 8y ago
  Gotcha, yea, that is a communication failure on my point, my bad. And I agree, most tech people are to focused on what they are building and fail to do all the other steps, which is the failure to execute in my view.

davismwfl 8y ago

Sorry, I didn't answer the first question you asked. I don't have a guide to link to, but my general guidelines for myself: Curiosity always, Validation, Market, Team, Mockup, Validation, Market, Sales Commitments, Build Team, MVP, Actual Sales, Iteration. In the early stage this is what a fledgling startup looks like to me. Curiosity around ideas, always asking questions and this should never stop ever. Validation of ideas once you feel you have found one or more. Validation is done by talking to real human beings who would be the potential target clients, Market is the market opportunity research and the targeting. Team may come right after market or may wait, but either way who are the people you will need to make it happen. Mockup is a simple PDF or wireframe mockup, not even code likely at this point. Validation again on the Mockup and market. Redefine the market and or product. Start getting sales commitments at this point, build out the team and the MVP and move into sales. Then you start iterating on Product and sales. Of course, this is a gross overview, a ton of little steps go into all this, but for me this is how you start any basic business, regardless if you want to raise money or just be successful. It starts with Idea/Clients, then you start figuring out product. When I used to help startups a lot as my consulting clients this was almost always universally failed. They'd come with a product idea but almost 0 market validation or testing, so who knows what would work. Now, there are some greenfield projects where there just isn't a market because you are defining it, but that is the rarity and generally is started and funded differently IME.