An open letter to a Startup founder – reassurance as you build.
A startup goes through phases just like anything in this world, a relationship, an education, even your own life. But we tend to judge startups harshly and want them to grow fast like GMO foods or plants on supplements and steroids. It doesn’t work that way.
You as a founder ought to be the most understanding person in this journey lest you lose patience and thereby sacrifice your persistence and grit. You might give up too early to see the seeds you planted bear fruit.
When you start out, it’s ideation ( you have an idea in your mind and it’s great.) 💡 lightbulb moments I like to call them; all of a sudden you can’t sleep, you’re charged with adrenaline, you could swear you saw Isaac Newton or Einstein wave at you in your sleep, to show how proud they are of you.
At concept you have started getting some things clear in your head; formulating the bones of the entire framework. You’re exploring the feasibility(financially, technically, time) and if you’re able to take this and bring it to life.
When you’re clear on the concept you begin hurling the MVP(minimum viable product) it’s also often mistaken with a prototype. What this does is it gives you something to look at and marvel at your wits, but Ali’s it helps you to understand the target market’s pain point. You get it to them🤝🏾 and then listen to them describe their challenges and your job is to think about and strategise on how to solve them. When you do that successfully We can start calling what you’re doing a startup
You continually refine your MVP, basing on feedback from users and their experiences. At this rate, swift execution and iteration is the only thing that saves you from a burnout and burning through your run way and keeps you ahead of the curve. You start to make some revenue, recurring and push your business model to keep evolving till you can hit break even point (where the money you’re throwing into the engine is equal to the money the engine is throwing back at you) this is the first moment you can take a breather as a founder, momentarily because the game plan has to change and now the next step is not about expenses anymore it’s about scaling. 10X whatever you made in the last quarter and make sure you reach out to more customers while retaining the ones you currently have.
Customer satisfaction and fulfilment maintains customer relations. Most founders at this point rush to hire because they feel that’s the symbol and emblem of growth. Most times often blinded by a huge check cut by a VC or Angel. Just because you can afford to spend doesn’t mean you should spend. This is the point to rethink your strategy and evolve. Move to a higher plane of functioning. Solidify your team(skill and value) and brand (perception by the masses) because it’s the deciding factor for a consumer to buy from company A or company B. So it best be speaking some thing worth listening to.
Most founders are lucky that at this stage the market they’re in is very responses and they’re able to move into follow up markets and capture/seize those markets too. The element of preparedness is also key. Such that when the door(opportunity ) is presented, you are ready.
That’s how a unicorn is made. Some unicorns 🦄 go on to grow wings and become bigger scary flyi creatures(decacorns) from that spiralling onward into the Big Tech space (MAANG) group.
However the majority of startups and their founders that never get lucky(prepared enough when the opportunity comes opening) are often stagnant and remain at the former point of glory; slowly fading and losing that previous shiny luster of a startup.
The reason I’ve taken you through these phases of building is so that you can see and acknowledge that it isn’t a one day process, but rather a compounded effort of smaller consistent inputs that amount into something bigger as witnessed by the world. The builder is you and the team.
You are the ones on the racing track, not the investor or naysayer. They can only speak about you because you’re running and actively participating. They’ll only judge you because they’re seeing you do something. So don’t be like them and become harsh on yourself. too. Take criticism as it comes, sift it for gold nuggets, let the chaff fly with the wind and then continue the race. With this resolve and determination, it’s a matter of time before you’re next big break is here.
Keep bustling with activity, energy and juvenile vigour. It’s healthy for your team to see you pumped up and excited. Start from the end and build these things liek you see them complete.
Keep building.⚡️
