Ask HN: I'd like to start a company, where should I begin?
20 comments
This advice could be against the tide, so may not go down well with some.
But if you want to start a business(online or offline, does not matter) you need some luck and preparation. Both luck and help with preparation comes after a lot of networking. Go out(or even online) and talk to people. Talk to people on all sorts of things. And keep your eyes and ears open! You will start listening to or seeing struggles of people, or people talking about someone elses struggle. Sometime you get asked casually if you could help solve an issue(even if you do not have an expertise)! Say yes. Don't think whether you will be able to do it or not. Just say yes, and then start running to make the thing happen. Your network helps here a lot as well. Now you can start reaching out to your network to see if someone will help you solve that issue. Find someone who could. Partner with them. Give then respect by sharing the proceeds of the profit equally. This builds your name in the network and spreads beyond. Now, rinse and repeat this.
As you can see from the above description, starting a business is not a click-of-a-finger activity. It takes a lot of time just to identify a problem that needs solution; and then build that solution.
As you can see from the above description, starting a business is not a click-of-a-finger activity. It takes a lot of time just to identify a problem that needs solution; and then build that solution.
You need to first become a domain expert in some area. Then try to look for problems and areas of improvement in that domain. Notice what kinds of problem users are having and what solutions may already exist. Get involved in the ecosystem surrounding that domain. This will be a source of inspiration and ideas for a solution that you can build. The next step is to build a prototype as fast as possible and get it in front of users you think will get value out of it and see if they will actually pay for the prototype. Keep iterating and try to grow business from there.
Build something you know how to sell/know how to market. A good engineer can make all sorts of cool tech things, but seeing a clear channel for marketing and sales is valuable.
Get involved with networking to find people and organizations that you can talk to, see what they are doing, things will come up over time where you see an opportunity.
Get involved with networking to find people and organizations that you can talk to, see what they are doing, things will come up over time where you see an opportunity.
> There isn't a specific business idea or opportunity that I'm ready to start right now
That to me is a big red flag. If you want folks to join you as team members you better get this right.
Assuming you cater to dev community here's some examples...
You need a story. e.g. I wrote code for 10 years and am extremely frustrated at how underrated build pipelines are. A bad pipeline is all it takes for bugs to creep in.
And a vision. e.g. I built this prototype so that devs can build a pipeline themselves. They can cater to their own needs without needing any devops intervention on their own clusters.
Sprinkle buzzwords. e.g. It is declarative first. Supports YAML. Service mesh compatible. Ships in various formats including a distroless docker version.
And finally the hardest part. Drop some names. Put a website up with logos from some random companies on it.
Done. You're up and running.
Now keep it going is another game altogether.
That to me is a big red flag. If you want folks to join you as team members you better get this right.
Assuming you cater to dev community here's some examples...
You need a story. e.g. I wrote code for 10 years and am extremely frustrated at how underrated build pipelines are. A bad pipeline is all it takes for bugs to creep in.
And a vision. e.g. I built this prototype so that devs can build a pipeline themselves. They can cater to their own needs without needing any devops intervention on their own clusters.
Sprinkle buzzwords. e.g. It is declarative first. Supports YAML. Service mesh compatible. Ships in various formats including a distroless docker version.
And finally the hardest part. Drop some names. Put a website up with logos from some random companies on it.
Done. You're up and running.
Now keep it going is another game altogether.
This is a good, quick highlight on how to do it: https://playbook.samaltman.com/
If you want a full book, I recommend The Startup Owner's Manual: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Owners-Manual-Step-Step/dp/09...
The latter is actually a step by step process, and it's worked very well for me. It answers what you should do before getting funding. Once you've built something people want, apply to Y Combinator (or some other good accelerator) and they'll show you the next steps on how to build a team, raise funds, expand, and so on.
If you want a full book, I recommend The Startup Owner's Manual: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Owners-Manual-Step-Step/dp/09...
The latter is actually a step by step process, and it's worked very well for me. It answers what you should do before getting funding. Once you've built something people want, apply to Y Combinator (or some other good accelerator) and they'll show you the next steps on how to build a team, raise funds, expand, and so on.
Thank you. This is exactly the sort of information I'm looking for right now. Trying to educate myself about how the process works from a big picture perspective.
Ideally, you should have an idea of what you want to do before signing up for Startup School, though it's free so nothing stopping you.
YC also has a free library:
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/
Some of the same materials, just a bit more free form/choose your own adventure.
If you have no idea at all what, specifically, you want to do, I recommend you start with the library and move on to Startup School when you're a little more focused and ready to commit.
YC also has a free library:
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/
Some of the same materials, just a bit more free form/choose your own adventure.
If you have no idea at all what, specifically, you want to do, I recommend you start with the library and move on to Startup School when you're a little more focused and ready to commit.
They ask you in the profile if you have an idea or not. Their first lectures are actually on how to find an idea, so it's prob best to join without one :)
I've been through it. My understanding is they select course material based on where you are in your process.
I think you will get more out of it if you have some idea already and are more ready to commit. If you aren't there, you can watch the same materials available for free until you are more clear and ready to commit.
/2cents
I think you will get more out of it if you have some idea already and are more ready to commit. If you aren't there, you can watch the same materials available for free until you are more clear and ready to commit.
/2cents
I would start by watching at least a dozen seasons of Dragon's Den (any country), or Shark Tank. While they're 90% entertainment they're also 10% education. Sure,, there's lots of details that go beyond anything they can show on the program (the ten minutes of each segment is actually pared down from multiple hours). But we can all learn from what gets the money people hot and bothered. What businesses do more than one dragon/shark fight over? What businesses fall flat on their faces? What owners get buy-in while even their businesses are poorly regarded? What personalities succeed? Which one's fail?
IMHO you've got the horse before the cart. Please, don't start a business without a concrete plan and a problem to solve.
IMHO you've got the horse before the cart. Please, don't start a business without a concrete plan and a problem to solve.
Write a business plan. And then write all the reasons it will not work
Don't unless you have a compelling reason to do so. You need a problem to solve OR a very rich network of contacts. Rod Canion started Compaq without an idea but he was well connected. Unfortunately great ideas are also hard to get going without backing of some kind. Also be very careful about co founders. A bad one can sink you fast.
To clarify, I have a notebook full of hundreds of ideas and compelling reasons. What I meant in my OP is that I'm not attached to a specific one of those reasons yet.
I agree with this. You need an idea. What the idea is can greatly influence how you start and structure your business, even where and when to start it.
When my dad was starting his first business, back about 30 years ago, the business environment was wildly different than today.
There was far less venture capital floating around, things like “crowdfunding” were non-existent, websites were incipient, social media wasn’t a thing, businesses nearly always had a “brick and mortar” store presence etc.
Today, your options for starting a business are endless...
There was far less venture capital floating around, things like “crowdfunding” were non-existent, websites were incipient, social media wasn’t a thing, businesses nearly always had a “brick and mortar” store presence etc.
Today, your options for starting a business are endless...
Limitless options make it a bit harder to know what the good options are. I'd prefer not to just jump in with zero direction. That seems like asking for failure.
"I mean a startup with a team that is working on something innovative together"
I am a bootstrapped SAAS founder in our 7th year. It took me a while to build a real team especially bootstrapped (2+ years). So I will share my experience and thoughts.
Don't aim so high right away. You will be disappointed. You want a team right away AND innovative stuff ? That's like having your cake and eat it too. Forget about that. Start low. Forget the team. Build something yourself first. You are a programmer with decade of experience. List down your ideas on paper. Then choose 1 and run with it. Try to find product market fit. If you already know your competitors, the idea is most likely validated and you just have to focus on execution.
"How would I get to a point where I could get initial funding to start something? "
Do you really need initial funding ? Is that really the goal or do you think you can start it bootstrapped and go from there ? I am obviously biased as a bootstrapped founder but this is also something to think about. Ok some concrete steps :
1. List down your top 10 ideas on paper. Do competitor search on those ideas [0]. If you cannot find competition, i would say forget about that idea for now. No need to change the world yet.
2. Every 24 hours, cross one idea out that you can out of the list. Repeat for next 7-10 days. Whatever you are left with, go with that idea. Yea that's it. What's the alternative ? You are going to analyze and paralyze ?
3. Build a prototype alone. Forget partners. Forget freelancers. Figure shit out. You are a programmer with decade of experience. Get it done. There are tons of tutorials out there for your favorite language or framework of choice.
4. Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. While building the prototype, setup a Landing Page (use CMS like WordPress if you have to). Use the fastest an d most tested way. Don't look at shiny tools that increase time to market even if they are technically cooler.
5. Get access to tools like moz [1] or ahrefs and learn how to do SEO, content Marketing etc. Yourself first. Forget about partners.
6. Once steps 1-5 are in motion, only then even think about getting help because unless you have done steps 1-5, no serious person worth their time would want to talk to you unless you can convince a buddy or you are famous already.
7. Use your own money initially if you can. Programmer with decade of experience. I assume you can spend a few hundred bucks ? Sorry if I am assuming too much but forget about funding.
8. More marketing. SEO, Content Creation, Backlinks [2], keyword research [3]. Yes they are required. Doesn't matter if you think it is scummy. Work on it. Create good content. It works.
9. At this stage, try to find experts/freelancers who can help you. Still hard to convince someone just with equity unless you are well known. Ideally, you want someone who is really good at Marketing. Yes Marketing.
10. All the best. If you put time and effort, you may see results. But you could totally fail. Don't give up too quickly. I would say 12-18 months before you call it quits. If you fail earlier, you wouldn't learn much. My 2 cents.
[0] https://ahrefs.com/blog/competitive-analysis/
[1] https://moz.com
[2] https://ahrefs.com/blog/link-building/
[3] https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-research/
I am a bootstrapped SAAS founder in our 7th year. It took me a while to build a real team especially bootstrapped (2+ years). So I will share my experience and thoughts.
Don't aim so high right away. You will be disappointed. You want a team right away AND innovative stuff ? That's like having your cake and eat it too. Forget about that. Start low. Forget the team. Build something yourself first. You are a programmer with decade of experience. List down your ideas on paper. Then choose 1 and run with it. Try to find product market fit. If you already know your competitors, the idea is most likely validated and you just have to focus on execution.
"How would I get to a point where I could get initial funding to start something? "
Do you really need initial funding ? Is that really the goal or do you think you can start it bootstrapped and go from there ? I am obviously biased as a bootstrapped founder but this is also something to think about. Ok some concrete steps :
1. List down your top 10 ideas on paper. Do competitor search on those ideas [0]. If you cannot find competition, i would say forget about that idea for now. No need to change the world yet.
2. Every 24 hours, cross one idea out that you can out of the list. Repeat for next 7-10 days. Whatever you are left with, go with that idea. Yea that's it. What's the alternative ? You are going to analyze and paralyze ?
3. Build a prototype alone. Forget partners. Forget freelancers. Figure shit out. You are a programmer with decade of experience. Get it done. There are tons of tutorials out there for your favorite language or framework of choice.
4. Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. While building the prototype, setup a Landing Page (use CMS like WordPress if you have to). Use the fastest an d most tested way. Don't look at shiny tools that increase time to market even if they are technically cooler.
5. Get access to tools like moz [1] or ahrefs and learn how to do SEO, content Marketing etc. Yourself first. Forget about partners.
6. Once steps 1-5 are in motion, only then even think about getting help because unless you have done steps 1-5, no serious person worth their time would want to talk to you unless you can convince a buddy or you are famous already.
7. Use your own money initially if you can. Programmer with decade of experience. I assume you can spend a few hundred bucks ? Sorry if I am assuming too much but forget about funding.
8. More marketing. SEO, Content Creation, Backlinks [2], keyword research [3]. Yes they are required. Doesn't matter if you think it is scummy. Work on it. Create good content. It works.
9. At this stage, try to find experts/freelancers who can help you. Still hard to convince someone just with equity unless you are well known. Ideally, you want someone who is really good at Marketing. Yes Marketing.
10. All the best. If you put time and effort, you may see results. But you could totally fail. Don't give up too quickly. I would say 12-18 months before you call it quits. If you fail earlier, you wouldn't learn much. My 2 cents.
[0] https://ahrefs.com/blog/competitive-analysis/
[1] https://moz.com
[2] https://ahrefs.com/blog/link-building/
[3] https://ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-research/
Thanks for your response.
Most likely I don't want to start out too early with a large team. But I can only get so far as a team of one. I at least need a co-founder and would like to know how to handle a relationship with one and what kind of agreements we should have about money and decision making. I worked with a designer on a small side project, a few months into it we had a disagreement. I wanted to pay a fair price more more work, but the designer wanted control over the direction of the project instead. Ultimately, the designer asked me not to use their work, and I ended up redesigning the whole thing from scratch. Barely salvaged the personal relationship from that. I want to get better at making agreements with other people and potentially building a small team when the time is right.
> Do you really need initial funding?
I at least need a plan for paying my bills until I start making money from something. Not to mention getting help with things I'm not good at, like design, marketing, etc. With only enough money to pay my basic bills for a year, the amount of time and money I can invest into a project would be limited. If I'm investing my own time and money into starting something, I'd have about 6 months, maximum, before I'd need to start looking for a day job again. This is just my thinking about it. I welcome any pushback or different perspectives.
Edit: whoa, while I was writing this comment you added quite a bit to yours. :) The concrete steps are helpful. I can focus on the first 5 for now.
Most likely I don't want to start out too early with a large team. But I can only get so far as a team of one. I at least need a co-founder and would like to know how to handle a relationship with one and what kind of agreements we should have about money and decision making. I worked with a designer on a small side project, a few months into it we had a disagreement. I wanted to pay a fair price more more work, but the designer wanted control over the direction of the project instead. Ultimately, the designer asked me not to use their work, and I ended up redesigning the whole thing from scratch. Barely salvaged the personal relationship from that. I want to get better at making agreements with other people and potentially building a small team when the time is right.
> Do you really need initial funding?
I at least need a plan for paying my bills until I start making money from something. Not to mention getting help with things I'm not good at, like design, marketing, etc. With only enough money to pay my basic bills for a year, the amount of time and money I can invest into a project would be limited. If I'm investing my own time and money into starting something, I'd have about 6 months, maximum, before I'd need to start looking for a day job again. This is just my thinking about it. I welcome any pushback or different perspectives.
Edit: whoa, while I was writing this comment you added quite a bit to yours. :) The concrete steps are helpful. I can focus on the first 5 for now.
Np. Entrepreneurship is a process. A way of life. It is not just about getting 1 idea successful. What matters is that you learn something and then you do better next time even if you fail. it is a career. You may succeed with a specific product/service/idea or you may not. But every step you take is taking you to your goal of your own company. Some day.
I'm a programmer in my mid-30s with a decade of experience. I've got a communication degree, and speak three languages. Dual US/EU citizenship. Single with no financial obligations. Only a year's worth of expenses in savings.
My only business experience so far is being a member of FBLA in high school, doing some freelance programming, an attempt at a drop shipping store, and designing a card game that hasn't gotten past the prototype stage.
There isn't a specific business idea or opportunity that I'm ready to start right now. I'd probably want to start something in a year or two, and there's no shortage of ideas. But when I say "start a company" I mean a startup with a team that is working on something innovative together. I don't mean being a freelancer, or starting an agency.
The only thing is that I don't know where to start. What kind of reading/studying should I do beforehand? How would I build a team? How would I get to a point where I could get initial funding to start something? What other questions should I be asking?