This document contains 101 lessons learned for startups collected from the experience of running startups. Some of the key lessons include preparing to unlearn what you've learned and know that startup best practices have changed, validating ideas with customers before writing code, focusing on solving problems rather than just having cool ideas, and knowing when to pivot or fold a failing idea. It emphasizes the importance of testing ideas quickly through prototypes and constant customer feedback to achieve product-market fit.

1. 101 Lessons Learned for Startups Andy Harjanto

2. Collected from others’ and my experience as running startups

3. More details, please visit Shift Happens Blog http://www.andyharjanto.com

4. Why listening to me? I’m just one of you Not a startup celebrity, Nor a superstar genius

5. Building astartup today is not the same as building it a decade ago Shift Happens

6. Down Trend Time to Market Development Cost Capital Expenditure Distribution Cost Fund Size Better Tools Cloud Computing Modern Programming Social Media

7. Up Trend Market Size Competition Noise Level Impatience Globalization Social Media Easier Barrier to Entry

8. Lessons Learned Topics we’ll be discussing

9. Most of topics discussed are also applicable to “startup” teams inside a company

10. Thinking Starting up?

11. 1 Do you have what it takes? http://bit.ly/5dGJFb to be a good Entrepreneur Risk Taker Competitive Resilience Tenacity

12. 2 Prepare to unlearn what you’ve learned 2010s Startups have to do many things backward and unconventional more later…

13. 3 Your “killer” idea is just a hypothesis Talk to potential customers, friends, family without writing a single code

14. 4 No need to perfect your idea It’s almost a guarantee to change

15. 5 Careful for creating a new market Less competition, yes, but… It’s a lot longer to create than you think

16. 6 Some games are in town really over. Don’t compete Let the big boys play

17. 7 Ride the wave, Be the first You have millions of potential usersfrom day one Facebook Apps Twitter Based Services/Tools

18. 8 At the end of the day, does your product solve problem? Remember, just cool won’t cut it Can you retain users?

19. 9 A 5 year business plan? How about 5 day operating plan? Startup is operating under extreme uncertainty

20. 10 Targeting Consumer Market.. ..seems so binary More often than not, you have to be BIG fast (millions of users) in order to succeed OR Go Home

21. 11 Targeting Business Market …be prepared for long cycles Work with channel partners, sales, build relationship.

22. 12 Your Plan: Getting revenue from advertising… Think again Unless you’re to top 5 sites in your market, you’re almost nobody

23. 13 Overnight success is a myth Build a long runway Media loves overnight success stories All you heard is, 6 month start; 1 million users

24. 14 Don’t sweat over your competitors They could be even more clueless than you are

25. 15 Going against entrenched players? They resist to change Provide a product that solves problems in a different, better way.

26. 16 Be wary of a small number of competitors in your market It’s either you’re genius OR there is no market

27. 17 Sadly, luck plays roles in your startup success too Your product is ahead of its time Celebrities love your product It’s the economy, stupid

28. 18 Gauge market interest first via Social Media Don’t worry about someone stealing your ideas

29. 19 Be prepared for extreme rollercoaster emotional rides Low of the lows High of the highs

30. 20 Be prepared for rejection after rejection No one cares about your startup Persistenceis the key

31. 21 Just Do-It, you’re ahead of 99% of people Too many people just talk with zero action

32. Money Matters

33. 22 If you start a startup to get rich, you’re in the wrong business Only few will make it “big” Change The World Challenges Solves Problems Independence

34. 23 Startup is a very high risk business It does not make sense from financial perspective Many ways to minimize the risk

35. 24 Be prepared for at least 18 months without pay & benefits Don’t jump before you’re sure Too many jump and abandon before fully developed

36. 25 Always operate under assumption of no investors Got change for my startup?

37. 26 More than anything else, tractions are what investors looking for Traffic Number of users Number of subscriptions Can business scale? Growth Retention Rate

38. 27 Knowing when to fold More of art than science Gut Feeling will tell you Measuring your tractions is a good indicator

39. 28 In many countries, government grants are plenty for startups Governments encourage high tech companies to have presents locally, create local jobs, and national pride

40. 29 Your passionate user are sometimes your best investors

41. 30 Watch your burn rate very carefully. You’re on diet No Physical Office Skype (Free) Free Email, Docs FreeSoftware Open Source Ramen profitability

42. 31 Less money gives you sense urgency and boosts creativity It’s amazing to see how human survival instinct kicks in

43. 32 Charge for the service from day 1 is not a bad strategy You’ll get very passionate customers who believe in your product

44. 33 Spend generously on tools, books, chance to network. Your ROI is excellence

45. 34 Don’t optimize your product For VC VC: How big is the market size? Superstar developers? At the end of the day, tractionmatters the most

46. 35 Get into partner programs with the big guys Many offer free software and services

47. Building A Team

48. 36 Find a great co-founder Share the same values Compliment skills Check and balances

49. 37 1st Stage: Hire Designer and Community Manager, instead This could also be You Gauge Market Interest Ideas Validation Quick Prototypes

50. 38 2nd Stage: Hire Great Developers, Testers This could also be You Knows Scalability Supportability Quality Code Security

51. 39 Hire for Culture Fit & Passionate Set min-bar for Intelligent Gauge Market Interest Interview Process: Make the candidate as if an employee for a day Ideas Validation

52. 40 Hire temp, consultants to keep burn rate low Gauge Market Interest Channel Partners Product Videos Marketing materials

53. 41 A very short daily meeting is much better than a long weekly meeting Human needs constant reminder of progress, accomplishment and togetherness

54. 42 Run effective meetingin 22 minutes http://bit.ly/caXq6h

55. 43 Don’t grow fast, until you get to the product-fit phase Gauge Market Interest Keep in in quick tight cycles of build, validate, learn

56. 44 666 is the number to avoid In a given startup project, nomore than 6people 6months 6day a week

57. 45 Everyone should be CEO of something Promote a culture of Veni, Vidi, Vici I saw the problem I own the problem I solve the problem

58. 46 Be decisive; majority of decisions are irreversible Heard on the street: “An hour meeting with 7 people to decide one API change What a waste!”

59. 47 External dependencies are kiss of death for startups They’re not moving at the same speed Reorg does happen They can easily out-live you

60. 48 Run your team on POT (progress, ownership, transparency) http://bit.ly/6XT3NG

61. Designing Product

62. 49 Why building an awesome product no body wants? “Build it, they may notcome” Talk to customers, before writing a single code

63. 50 Fail-Fast; and Get Traction-Fast Really means Fail-Fast on bad ideas It does not mean abandoning project too quickly

64. 51 Quick build, validate, measure and learn. It’s in our engineer DNA that we like to build a perfect system In an early stage, Resist to be perfect

65. 52 Can you tell the difference: Progress vs. Wasted Progress? Run tight, small loops of Ideas (Hypothesis), Validate/Measure and Build

66. 53 Don’t just accumulate work done without measuring Measurement will give you feedbackto continue path, or to change direction Retention Rate User Traffic Bounce Rate User Happiness Conversion Rate

67. 54 It’s OK to write messy codes during validation process

68. 55 Your spec should be UI prototypes Written spec is easily obsolete The cost of writing, maintaining UI prototype is minimal and fun

69. 56 Suppress many of your ideas It’s not a feature to feature competition It’s who solves the problems the best

70. 57 Just build it now and fast. No need for optimization yet. Your code will likely be a throw away as you gather feedback

71. 58 Concentrate on core scenarios Make it great! No place for mediocrity People either love it Or hate it!

72. 59 Ignore your 10% cases. That will take 90% of your energy

73. 60 Eat your own dog food daily Use your own product regularly In the early phase, It’s better than hiring a full-time tester

74. 61 Boost virality, make sharing a click a way People love to share

75. 62 Boost retention rate. Human is a curios being Add a few analytics, news about themselves and friends e.g.“your doc has been viewed 5 times”

76. 63 Boost retention rate. Human craves for attentions RIM (Blackberry), Twitter, Facebook do this perfectly They make users addicted to their product, by telling them – “You’re important”

77. 64 Minimize Frictions Users are “very lazy” nowadays One click One minute setup No installation

78. 65 Don’t give user options Set appropriate default They have enough other things to worry

79. 66 Ship your product with a minimum feature set Enough to showcase Your core scenarios Add features later after after undisputable feedback

80. 67 After iterations, often ask what features to drop, instead of add Remember, your ideas are just a hypothesis; willing to let go Pivot on your core beliefs, and go to other directions appropriately

81. 68 What Microsoft, Google, Apple can’t afford, but you can? They can’t ship a crappy product, even for their beta They have reputation to maintain, You don’t! Use it to run a tight feedback loop to improve your product

82. 69 Without instant gratification Users drop like a fly First 60 second experience is critical I saw dead users leaving

83. 70 Create a product that 10x better Dare to be different Stand up and get noticed The world is a very noisyplace (and getting worse by day…)

84. 71 Collect less, better privacy, security. Many analytics tools are good enough to measure user behavior

85. 72 Don’t put any features, concepts that you can’t explain in 15 secs Does your product ship with you? Don’t make user think

86. 73 Reach Product-Market Fit Phase. Celebrate, Work Harder. 40% will be upset If your service discontinues

87. 74 Watch out for your site performance Users have no patience for sluggish sites

88. 75 Do a side project/experiment. Minimize your risk Many side projects made it big

89. 76 Use Cloud Computing Let’s not be IT guys Let’s focus on building great product Sleep better at night

90. 77 Building a new walled garden, community is really, really hard Piggy back existing ones facebook linked-in twitter

91. Customers, Where r u?

92. 78 Never too early to start your marketing campaign How about Day 1? Or even 90 days before valuable contents quality comments

93. 79 Show the world what you’re doing. Stealth Mode is counter intuitive. No need for private beta Are you worried someone stealing your ideas? Really? Are you building space shuttle?

94. 80 There is no such thing is product launching for startups Continuous improvement Unless you’re Apple.

95. 81 Approaching Press. Do you have unique, interesting stories? They’re not your writers Build a human connection first

96. 82 Don’t have good retention rate, Don’t go to press yet! News published Traffic Wasted

97. 83 Most effective way to acquire customers? Your passionate customers Good news, travel fast and far

98. 84 Save your money on press releases. Ineffective. Different countries, however, it could be different stories

99. 85 SEO, Social Media takes time to develop Millions of others are doing it; how you stand out?

100. 86 Viral is not a strategy People are immune. Mutate! Unless your Product is irresistibly good

101. 87 Simple pricing is almost always better than complex one Have 1-3 pricing options as opposed to complex pricing choices. Customers want predictable costs, not many options

102. Going Global

103. 88 US is a crowded place. Go play outside Less competitors Growing market Of course, there is a catch…

104. 89 Partner locally. Remote management is an illusion Close, personal relations often are prerequisite outside US

105. 90 Global team communication is easy. Culture fit is hard

106. 91 In many countries, social status is more important …than your product itself. “Your product sucks, But X uses it, so I use it”

107. 92 One size does not fit all Package your product differently in other countries based on market demand

108. Miscellaneous

109. 93 Nice guy finishes first … in the long run

110. 94 Admit mistakes, start from the top. We’re all learning

111. 95 Set expectation to team Changes are constant We’re a startup not a manufacturer

112. 96 You’ll be surprised, many people are routing for small guys Many offer a helping hand

113. 97 Whom Microsoft, Google, Apple should be worried? You They may have the muscles, but you can run faster Few of youwill be the next them

114. 98 Startup is not a job It’s a life style. It’s drive and passion to change the world with little financial reward. Yes, few made it very big Yes, it has been known that startup entrepreneurs have genetic defects

115. 99 It’s a growing pain experience with big personal rewards

117. Steve Blank http://bit.ly/juvQr

118. Venture Hacks http://bit.ly/1BOE8x

119. Both Side of Table http://bit.ly/EsjT7

121. For more presentationslike this…. Please visit: http://www.slideshare.net/Guppers/presentations

122. Contact me mailto:andy@gestone.com