> A buddy of mine from college whose startup recently got 200k in seed money told me to look at free videos/materials from incubators/accelerators. Since this

> A buddy of mine from college whose startup recently got 200k in seed money told me to look at free videos/materials from incubators/accelerators. Since this is your friend, I have a suggestion: Ask him how you can help with his startup for free. Obviously not huge tasks like building their entire backend or website, but any startup is bound to have loose ends that need more eyes. Maybe you can help test things or review copy or even work on bits of code here and there. Getting exposure and proximity to a startup is the best way to learn how it works. The books and theory and videos are helpful, but nothing compares to actually seeing how messy and difficult these things are first hand. If your friend is going through the steps right now, having a front-row seat to see and help is perhaps the most valuable education you get possibly get. Doing little bits of free work for your friend is a small price to pay. The steps you outlined sound great in theory, but in practice few successful startups come from people looking for random ideas, building a product, securing paying customers on day 1, and then collecting piles of investor money. It happens, but more commonly people gain industry experience first and then use that first-hand experience to solve problems they had in their own industry first and foremost. These startups aren't the Instagrams or Clubhouses of the world, but there are many startups solving real industry problems that you never see or hear about. Having that first-hand experience, or at least someone on your team with that first-hand industry experience, is crucially important.