{"id":38026,"date":"2023-10-20T14:53:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/five-things-this-aussie-founder-wish-she-had-known-before-launching-her-startup-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:53:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:53:44","slug":"five-things-this-aussie-founder-wish-she-had-known-before-launching-her-startup-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/five-things-this-aussie-founder-wish-she-had-known-before-launching-her-startup-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Five things this Aussie founder wish she had known before launching her startup – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Launching a startup is like jumping out of the plane and hoping you\u2019ll build the parachute before hitting the ground.<\/p>\n

We thought we\u2019d build this website app and then set it free. Three years later we\u2019re still huffing and puffing every day to push it closer to the vision we originally had.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve learned a lot along the way but still have so far to go.<\/p>\n

1. It takes much\u00a0longer than you think<\/h3>\n

We were originally quoted three months to build our baby. Eighteen months later and more money, still no baby.<\/p>\n

We originally scoped a product which had 10 times the functionality. There was lots of \u201cbut what if someone wants two birthday cards because they\u2019re having a party for twins\u201d or \u201cmight as well offer the option to sell stuff like T-shirts once we\u2019re collecting money from a group\u201d.<\/p>\n

We spent weeks crawling on my dining room floor with pieces of paper getting the user experience, interface and flow right.<\/p>\n

2. Pare it back \u2013 creating a minimum viable product<\/h3>\n

In the end, we pared it right back to the basics.<\/p>\n

We used the concept of the MVP – creating the barest bones of your product that will still offer the nugget of what excites your prospective customer. In essence, it\u2019s about getting something out there so you can gauge how people react. Create a \u201cwire frame\u201d, the logic of how the site flows and cut off anything that\u2019s not essential.<\/p>\n

If you need to create a slick front end but have to have some bits running manually behind the scenes, so be it. This allowed us to launch. Now we\u2019re adding in the fancy bits one by one.<\/p>\n

3. Talk to people<\/h3>\n

Talk to your customers, talk to other startup founders and get advisors.<\/p>\n

We wanted to keep it secret and reveal the perfect performance on opening night – it failed.<\/p>\n

Nothing is as useful as important as knowing why people want your product and how they want to use it.<\/p>\n

For example, our designer recommended building a dashboard from which users could build and choose a suite of features they wanted when collecting money from their group. We knew our customers would find that terrifying.<\/p>\n

A dashboard implies expert tech knowledge. We wanted a process that I described as a tunnel. You know you just keep going forward and clicking \u201cnext\u201d till finally you hit \u201csend\u201d.<\/p>\n

There are big advantages in asking for help and advice. One of the big things investors look for is your team. Ideally, we\u2019d have created an advisory board for support, advice and network.<\/p>\n

Talk to other start up-ers. When they use language you don\u2019t understand like \u201cvirality coefficient\u201d. Write it down and either ask them straight away or nod intelligently and run to google it later.<\/p>\n

4. Always ask for introductions<\/h3>\n

Most people will agree to a first meeting, even big shot investor firms. They usually give great and quite candid feedback. We always take notes and always learned things. It helped us prioritize. But remember, the only thing that means they\u2019re interested is a signed contract. Everything else is politeness.<\/p>\n

Some tips here. Always ask for an intro to another person at the end of your meeting. Don\u2019t know how to find the right people? Even the shyest woman can put a post on \u201cLike Minded Bitches Drinking Wine\u201d (a closed Facebook Group for women in business) and ask the group a question. It\u2019s a savior. Ask for feedback, advice, promote your business or commiserations.<\/p>\n

5. Be persistent and determined<\/h3>\n

I suppose I\u2019m a tenacious optimist but still, there are times.<\/p>\n

Two things really helped. First, having a co-founder. When one was ready to jump, the other held onto her feet (sometimes it was still sore).<\/p>\n

The other was to lower the bar for a minute and just try to keep going, if not perfectly. My son sings the song from Nemo\u2019s friend \u201cJust keep swimmin\u2019. Just keep swimmin\u2019. Just keep swimmin\u2019\u201d. I play that in my head often.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n