4 ms·
Oh boy! Which one? Startup #1: we did not recognize the need to bring in the talent we lacked (graphic design). We had an interesting but ugly product in a sp
by alex_c 7y ago
Oh boy! Which one?
Startup #1: we did not recognize the need to bring in the talent we lacked (graphic design). We had an interesting but ugly product in a space where looks were important - had some traction but not nearly enough.
Startup #2: we did some market research, got some interest from prospective clients, got excited and started building our MVP before fully validating the requirements. Spent a lot of effort on a feature that ended up much more complicated than we expected, that in retrospect did not belong in the MVP. Ran out of money / energy and we gave up (too early, I still think).
...around this point I switched to freelancing and let others take the risks.
Client startup project #1: did not do much/any market validation before starting, and had no clear marketing plan. Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded.
Client startup project #2: did not do much/any market validation before starting, and had no clear marketing plan. Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded.
Client startup project #3: did not do much/any market validation before starting, and had no clear marketing plan. Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded.
I can keep going but it's getting a bit repetitive :)
- Pandabob 7y agoCan you expand on the lack of market validation? What else would validating include, apart from interviewing users (qualitative research)? What kind of useful quantitative research could one do? The obvious answer I can come up with is building a landing page with a sign-up field to gauge interest, but what other useful quantitative research can one do to validate the market?
- Liron 7y agoHere's an easy low bar that most startups can't clear in my experience: https://medium.com/@lironshapira/how-to-sanity-check-your-startup-idea-dbb3ad4c9888 https://medium.com/@lironshapira/how-to-sanity-check-your-st...
- alex_c 7y ago"What else would validating include, apart from interviewing users" Interviewing (prospective) users would actually be a good start. Some of the B2C projects I worked on did not do this until after launch. B2B - I've worked on projects that did not have a single prospective client lined up before development started (let alone before MVP launch). I think there is a certain optimism entrepreneurs have in the face of rejection - sometimes it takes the form of "no one is interested right now, but we just need to have an MVP to show them and then they will become interested!"
- siscia 7y ago> Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded. What should be the next step after failing to get traction?
- alex_c 7y agoIdeally pivot, if you have the runway. If the initial idea was way off it might be hard to pivot within reasonably short time/cost. If the plan is self fund - launch - show traction - get funding, then the "get funding" step probably won't happen so the next step is folding.
- Liron 7y agoThis is consistent with my observation that 80% of startups fail due to a bloated MVP [1] [1] https://bloatedmvp.com https://bloatedmvp.com
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]