This Is Important: 5 Lessons I Learned From Starting My Own Business

Awesome, that means we have some legs to stand on and our hypothesis is so far correct.

You just saved yourself from creating a failed product. Ok, so validation has been all positive so far in this scenario. But I can tell you that we learned the hard way, you can run into a lot of problems by not validating thoroughly enough in the marketplace. We thought our own pain in the market was proof that people needed a product. We learned a lot more once we started marketing, which was a real eye-opener.

To learn quickly and validate quickly mitigating financial risk , we first create a lightweight version of our software.

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Often, you can even create an MVP without a single line of code by just selling your MVP and fulfilling the product or service in a manual way behind the scenes. For example, imagine software that takes a video and converts it to optimized slides with a custom theme. You can sell the basic premise of this video to slides by simply doing it manually for the first few customers. The hardest part of this is understanding what needs to be in your MVP.

This actually hit us hard for about the first year of Demio. We felt that every feature, ability, and idea had to be in our first version. Our mockups covered our entire office wall why we had such a huge office with two people is another story all together lol and looked like a team of 50 engineers was deep in the project. What is your MVP?

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Then go through it again and start removing things. Try to focus on the basic hypothesis or solution you are creating. Remember, this whole validation stage is about proving you have a product that people want, need, and will pay for. Now your MVP is ready to go. This is a huge step in your journey, when the magic happens. And this is perfect. Now is the time to start talking to and learning from your first users. We ran those video ads on Facebook to target audiences of our customer demographic and used Cost Per Video View ads.

We linked to a landing page website with some of our marketing lingo and an opt-in to learn more about the product. From that email list, we brought in users to what had become our MVP again, our first version of Demio was a huge behemoth of a software and we had to cut it down significantly when we recognized our mistakes. When users came in, we invited them to fill out a questionnaire that saved the data into Intercom.

This gave us some good early customer data. At this point, we had beta, and customers were starting to actually use the product. This was a great little viral growth strategy that started to expand our beta customer list. But the real key win here is that we added an automated message on every account when users joined, and invited them each to take part in a one-on-one demo with a founder via Calendly.

This is where we were able to learn about their companies, usage, and experiences with Demio. We could find out what we could do to help provide a better experience or product items they wanted to see. Once we had these demos going, we were able to actually get real feedback on what real users would like to see in the software.

This helps you avoid feature clutter. To keep track of everything going on with these conversations, we set up a Trello board with feature requests from customers, different product ideas, and development ideas: As each request came in, we added an Intercom ticket to the board, or noted their name from a demo so we could keep track of how many people were requesting that specific feature.

We were also able to follow up directly with them after the update went live: When starting a software company, the goal for you is not to build everything. Build what will move you forward fastest with the right customer your desired customer avatar. Is there another problem that you can solve easily with a similar platform? Is there a different way that people could use the software to get the desired results?

It should be easy with that lightweight MVP, right? We faced a lot of roadblocks on our journey to build Demio, and learned a ton as a result. Lessons that I, for one, will never, ever forget. But one of the most valuable is related to bringing on the right team. As two non-technical co-founders, we really had our work cut out for us to build such a complex platform.

We hired an agency to start, which turned around and screwed us, basically burning over six figures and six months. We were all over the place, but at least making progress. We were using an outdated streaming technology, had a disorganized code base, and totally lacked the simplicity we were going for. Slowly, over time, but truly die.



So we cut off our revenue and refunded everyone. It was in those moments that we were able to clearly see where the problem was. We hired too fast. If we could go back to day one of starting our software company, both Wyatt and I would agree that our first step would be hiring a technical co-founder or technical lead to take us through the process. No quick hires because we felt we needed them.

We would be strategic and smart, even if it took longer. I offer you that same advice. Even if it takes longer, always hire someone who will be driven by your mission, believes in your values, has experience in your technology, and actively wants to grow with the company. So make sure you learn to recognize when people are not going to fit and be quick to let them go. If you want to follow how we set up our culture for A-players, you can learn how here or review our entire interview process here. This advice may contradict what others say, but in our case, we wanted to really focus on the progress of our product, our market fit, and how smooth our company was running, rather than just profit.

We could focus on profitability. We could focus on our users. We could focus on our product. This approach is not to be confused with complacency in marketing; obviously we placed a priority on increasing monthly revenue and adding users. It gives you flexibility in your decision-making, and allows you to make mistakes. The goal of a SaaS is to create powerful, recurring payments that come in every month, which are then offset by customers leaving churn and new customers coming in new revenue.

It looks exactly like Gail said, a long, slow ramp of death.

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Baremetrics View on Baremetrics. Convertkit View on Baremetrics. Buffer view on Baremetrics. These graphs come from Baremetrics Open Startups and show some great examples from real SaaS companies. Understanding your customer, knowing your market, making sure your product provides real value, learning average revenue per user ARPU , customer acquisition costs CAC , and churn numbers is key.

Churn is actually your real enemy here. This is the number of users or revenue you lose each month divided by the number of new users or amount of new revenue. That means in your first month, you would have about five months until all your customers are gone roughly. These numbers fluctuate based on your plan costs and user churn from those plans. So they chuck more cash at the problem and spin their wheels until acquisition or merger or a new funding opportunity comes along.

Even cooler than fast growth is the amount of time you can survive as a company! Churn is always an enemy and one we consistently are trying to solve. This will be the hardest time and, again, that long-term mindset will be crucial here. Not to stop me from getting started, but to educate me on what to expect moving forward. And I hope I could do the same for you. Keep your mindset focused on your long-term goals, but also zoned in on the day-to-day. Focus on validation early, moving quickly, listening to users, and learning from real metrics.

And finally, make sure you build a strong culture that can be the foundation for hiring great people. They are, in the end, what truly makes or breaks your company. Or walk around your business and start complaining. There are tons of problems you can address. If you never try, all you'll be is regretful: When you're old and gray and "done," you'll look back on your life and think, "I wonder what might have happened if I had only Or they fear criticism or rejection. Or they're even afraid they'll succeed.

Don't be like them. Do your best, and then step back. If a little more work will result in a markedly better outcome, go for it. If a little more work will not make a difference anyone but you will notice, let it go. Then you make improvements based on the feedback you get from the only people whose opinions really matter: But sometimes I have no choice. Taking advantage of certain opportunities requires confidently describing my skills, experience, and accomplishments.

If you're not comfortable doing something because it violates your principles or ethics, by all means don't. Success is never assured. No successful entrepreneur knew, without a doubt, they would succeed. Does that scare you off? In fact, not knowing is liberating.

The Critical Lessons I Wish I Had Known About Before Starting a Software Company

Entrepreneurs believe in themselves. But you can go out today and run a lap or two. Or you can walk a few miles. Or you want to lose 10 pounds in 30 days.



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But you can eat one meal differently. Or you can take a walk at lunch. You can look at possible locations. Or work on your business plan. Or talk to a potential supplier. Or get advice from a mentor. Think about the end of a journey and all that will be required along the way and you'll never start. Then build on it. Failing in public can be embarrassing, especially since some people love to talk about the misfortunes of others. A whole other group of people will respect you for taking a shot.

5 Lessons I Wish I Had Known About Before Starting a Software Company

They'll recognize a kindred spirit. They'll pick you up. They'll know what it's like to try and fail and try again. Actually, it's not hard at all: