Transcript

8 Early Stage Startup Mistakes To Avoid

By Isaac SouweinePresented to to

May 13, 2015Montreal

1. Not knowing what stage your startup is in

Examples of stages

● In search of > Problem/Solution Fit● In search of > Traction● In search of > Product/Market Fit● In search of > Scale● In search of > Optimization

NB - All advice is good advice for somebody

2. Not understanding that your startup is just a bunch of hypotheses

A Good Startup does 2 things well

sell the shit out of your vision seek validation for that vision

3. Not being able to identify your riskiest

hypothesis

Identifying your riskiest hypotheses

Identifying your riskiest hypotheses

4. Not having a clear idea of how to test your

riskiest hypothesis

Testing your hypothesis

● Surveys● Problem interviews● Solution interviews● Landing page● Prototype● A Real MVP

Interlude - What is an MVP?

A Minimum Viable Product is the smallest thing you can build that delivers customer value. . . - Ash Maurya

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHJn_SubN4E

5. Focusing too much on product vs.

customer acquisition

Instead of Build/Measure/Learn

Build/Promote/Measure/Learn

6. Not having a clear idea of what is core and what

can be outsourced

Things that can be outsourced

● Your MVP● Acquisition● Copy● PR● Brand● Anything! ● Or Nothing!!

7. Not building process from Day 1

Small Scale Process Example

Source: http://pollenizer.com/tools/

8. Not building a data culture from Day 1

Three Pillars of Data Culture

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/isouweine/startup-next-v31

Isaac Souweine | @sonofsarah