What’s the best advice you got that saved or made your startup?
13 answers from the community
Keep expenses super tight and your expectations realistic. Don't expect your business to pay any of your living expenses for at least 3 years. Make sure you can cover all living expenses with just your spouse's income.
Live like a humble university student meaning don't live like a hotshot entrepreneur. Students get through years of schooling on very tight budgets, we can learn alot from them.
I've built 2 successful businesses using only my meager savings. Never accepted outside money or offers of partnerships. The only partnership I'm willing to be in is a marriage and that's hard enough.
It's a marathon. Be relentless. Don't hope for a quick or easy exit, plan for the long haul.
Get a mentor and surround yourself with smart people.
Don't plan.
Outsmart --- If that's possible.
Some time's it's not.
Keep expenses super tight and your expectations realistic. Don’t expect your business to pay any of your living expenses for at least 3 years. Make sure you can cover all living expenses with just your spouse’s income.
Live like a humble university student meaning don’t live like a hotshot entrepreneur. Students get through years of schooling on very tight budgets, we can learn alot from them.
I’ve built 2 successful businesses using only my meager savings. Never accepted outside money or offers of partnerships. The only partnership I’m willing to be in is a marriage and that’s hard enough.
1) Focus outside of yourself and keep a work-life balance.
2) Find advisors who can introduce you to the people you want to be introduced to and offer them points rather than cash.
3) People like helping good people so be a good person; connect your network to each other, reach out to offer assistance and reply to those reaching out to you.
4) Treat your sales people like GOLD, your devs like KINGS and your ops folks like TREASURES.
5) Make sure there's a butcher (COO), a baker (CTO) and a candlestick maker (CEO) that stays in their lanes and trusts each other.
6) Don't fuck up.
All the other stuff, you'll figure out.
Good luck!
You don't need a COO and a CEO at a startup. Maybe a sales guy though,
CEO is the sales!
Forget the title...you need someone who has the vision and can sell, someone who knows what's going on and can stay organized and someone that can build the thing and help bring it to market.
Keeping existing income until we get more traction. It often takes 3 times the time and more money than you initially expect
Only hire people who are going to make the company money.
Have a big savings safety net - then double it. I found I really needed 2 years of savings but I only had 1 year. Having that safety net will reduce your personal stress and allow you to focus on your business which will be stressful enough.
Also, I heavily underestimated how much hard work this would be - I've worked 15-20 hours a day most days for the last two years and only now things are slowly getting easier.
(Related to no. 2) Don't sacrafice your health for business.