Dear SaaStr: What Are the Top Mistakes You See New Founders Make?
My short list:
- Not picking a great co-founder. There’s almost no point in picking one that isn’t great. Nice isn’t enough. Fun to work with isn’t enough. They need to be great.
- Not picking a co-founder as committed as you. Even if they’re strong, they still leave in 12–18 months, 24 max. More here.
- Not interviewing enough potential customers. At least 20-30. You might think you know what your potential customers want, but usually you are at best 20%-30% right. More here.
- Not having a plan to make it at least 24 months. How will you get at least that far? If you don’t have the money, etc. … then it’s just not enough time to hit that first inflection point in SaaS at least. More here.
It took us 2 years just to figure out our ultimate business model. What you think you do on day 1 may look very different by day 365. https://t.co/gmg2HH1MS8
— Aaron Levie (@levie) September 11, 2020
- Not deeply understanding the competition. There’s always competition. At least for budget. And just because they are 10+ years old, doesn’t mean you’ll just magically win.
- Not having a strategy to get those first 10 customers. How will you do it? They rarely find you.
- Spending too much time fundraising — from the wrong people. It ‘salways hard to raise funding, and in many ways, it’s hardest of all in the very earliest days. You have to make it 24+ months from launch, but talking to the wrong people just wastes too much energy. Still, you have to make it happen.
- Being just too slow. I see this too often. The time is ticking to get that v1 out. to get those first 10 customers, to get going. Some of us have the luxury of a lot of time, but most of us don’t. And too many folks are just … too slow.
A classic related post here.
oh no image from here
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