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way to leading businesses Not as glamorous as what’s portrayed on the #entrepreneur side of Instagram. The formula for success does not contain any planes, fancy clothes, or cars, but rather a lot of daring and conviction. company growth From a team of 2 to 30 people they faced many challenges. Things like product iteration, financing, and even hiring people to join the journey rolled out like mountains that had to be conquered by our team. If you’re looking to start a company – you’re in for a wild ride!
I don’t claim to be an expert, but I wanted to bring up these ideas to help anyone in the thick of business ownership. (or even on its cusp!)
Here are five lessons I learned as a first-time founder.
Related: 9 lessons to learn from being in the trenches of entrepreneurship
Don’t wait for “perfection”.
It is wishful thinking waiting for the star alignment to start moving towards you Business objectives. You may feel a state of over thinking, but when starting a business, speed of iteration will be your best friend for success. Start somewhere. No decision is perfect, and too few will spell the death of your company. It’s a matter of taking small, actionable steps daily to reach your goals.
Perfection is the enemy of progress. The first iterations of the product will likely be rocky. But bringing your product to market with beta testers led us to a product we’re incredibly proud of today. Without feedback, it is impossible to iterate effectively. I regularly ask myself, “What can I do today to make us better than yesterday?”
Related: Perfection does not exist. Here’s how to stop wanting and start your business.
Bring in the right people
Easy enough, right? I believe good people build good teams and good teams build good products. Building your team is vital to the success of your business. The secret behind Smartrr’s growth is the team we’ve built. Find that talent Starting from scratch was one of the hardest things I’ve ever faced. I know I said I will never wait for perfection. However, it is essential to articulate the type of culture you are looking to build your business around and focus on aligning the right people who will add value to the specific culture.
Starting a company is a challenge; Having an internal bias will only distract you from your goals and can be a trigger for you. Take your time choosing who is in your inner circle. This includes your team but also everyone else the active parties also; Your investors, partners and customers. Surround yourself with well-meaning, ambitious, and intelligent people, who are dedicated to solving the problem you seek to build around, and success will follow.
Next, align those people behind a customer-obsessed mindset. It sounds simple enough, but it’s all too easy to get distracted by who has the latest shiny thing or a clever marketing campaign in the space. Be ruthless in highlighting your customer’s pain points and feedback, avoid looking at what other competitors are doing, and direct your sails toward the needs you can satisfy for your potential customers.
As a result, we continue to develop innovative solutions and remain consistent with our mission and goals internally. If there’s one thing you should take away from this piece is that everyone in your company (no matter what product/service you provide) needs to focus on the end consumer.
If you get it right, not only will the team build something incredible, but your team will inspire each other every day and drive a strong culture, better productivity, and stronger work.
Thinking is vital
Each person will have a different path to undergo different levels of stress anxiety Because of the daily work tasks. For me, the two things that help are sleep – this is more of a short term solution – and reflection.
It’s easy to block bad calls, days off, etc. However, facing good and bad through reflection gives you the privilege of growing and maturing. Over time, you’ll look back on the same event that made you sick to reflect and laugh at what once ruffled your feathers (trust me, we’ve all been there. You’re not alone.). With every misstep, misfortune and mistake you make, the above doesn’t seem so bad.
As a founder, you don’t really have the option to stop when things go wrong. Again, there you are. Once you pass the next challenge, you Look back and know You are the best for her. Fix the bad things, and even laugh about what triggered you in the past when you can. When you’re faced with a new challenge, take those steps forward and focus on what you can control—those previous challenges will help you know you can get through another. More often than not, you’ve accomplished greater things.
Related: 8 Entrepreneurs Reveal How To Distinguish Reflection From Regret
Capital is not the only thing you can get financing for
I could write a whole other article on How to collect money for your business effectively, but with the space I have, I know there’s a lot to gain from being in a room with investors who have years of experience in your space. A good investor relationship, in my opinion, is not based on upfront capital.
At our early stage, our “best” investors are those with whom we have a true partnership. They are the people we can turn to for help for any reason. They don’t invest just to fill the investment thesis bucket. They are passionate about what you do and take the time to get to know you and your vision for the company. They are not waiting for you to arrive. They will take the initiative to introduce you to a potential client or just to see how Founder Life treats you.
when you are actively FundraisingRemember this: As much as you tell them to see you, they are Should be you tell them. do your due diligence, ask tough questions; Find out who they support, their existing portfolio companies, who they can connect you with, and their stance on trends in your market.
Set goals outside of your business
You will undoubtedly be tested, pushed beyond your limits, and challenged to cross many mental barriers. Another useful way to grow is creativity Achievements outside of work. What I’ve found particularly helpful while working on Smartrr is challenging myself to find purpose beyond work. With an eye toward something as big as scaling what we hope will continue to be a thriving business, short-term gains are essential.
One example of this is a weekend getaway: Get fresh air It does miracles, but getting to the peak of the hike, “winning,” in a sense, is a huge win that helps fuel my brain for the week ahead. Hard to believe when you’re so deep in the trenches, but the payoffs won’t always come from your work. Set and crush goals, inside and outside your organization!
As a first-time founder, these 5 lessons have brought joy and success to your entrepreneurial journey. This isn’t your “success formula,” but I hope you can take it, practice it, and fuel your growth in work and life. Remember that success is not linear and does not manifest itself in the same way in all situations, but please apply these principles to the way you see fit in your daily life. Be clear about your goals, and I hope you start 2023 great!