The Startup Jigsaw - Pieces

Startup insights and nuggets from various sources. Find them in the Issues Area.

The Archetype Startup

Note: This is just an experiment of putting together the many startup jigsaw pieces in order to see if it can form some kind of framework for a potentially successful tech startup. It's a constant work in progress, so don't just jump aboard without thinking. Also, most of this is relevant to startups who have yet to find product/market fit, so young startups are the focal point here.

The Methodology

Is pretty straihtforward. Take pieces of the TONS of startup advice out there and smash them together here in order to (maybe) discover patterns.

Without any furthe ado.

The prototypical successful startup seems to think and act in the following ways":

The Idea...

• [x] begins as a sideproject

• [x] is not a conscious startup idea

• [x] sounds crazy to others at first

• [x] does not start with a pivot

• [x] preferably scratches your own itch

• [x] caters to one or more of your interests

• [x] is not a clone something else out there

• [x] considers the following idea evaluation criteria:

  • [x] Market size
  • [x] Market growth (is going to be big in 10 years)
  • [x] Growth strategy
  • [x] Defensibility
  • [x] Startup monopoly potential (#37)
  • [x] Difficulty of replication (#21)

• [x] answers "Yes" to the following problem evaluation questions:

  • [x] "Does the problem relate to me?" (and how does it?)
  • [x] "Am I really passionate about that problem?"
  • [x] "Is it a problem that other people have?"

• [x] is very easy to explain and understand

The Market

• [x] is preferably fast-growing rather than a large, slow-growing market

The Founder(s)...

• [x] are not terrified of starting a startup
• [x] are more than 1 person, preferably 2 or 3
• [x] include a technical co-founder
• [x] include a James Bond-ish co-founder (#61)
• [x] are tough and calm or have a co-founder that is
• [x] have domain expertise
• [x] always do sales and support in the beginning
• [x] split equity evenly and early
• [x] understand basic management skills
• [x] know each other well (and never be random)
• [x] are more determined than intelligent
• [x] praise their team
• [x] agree on that 100% equity takes 4 years (starting after 1 year) within two weeks
• [x] do not "play house" (#48)
• [x] trust their instincts about people
• [x] do not stop talking about growing
• [x] immerse themselves into their industry
• [x] accept that the startup will take over their lives
• [x] accept that startups cannot be gamed
• [x] have a lot of time on their hands to focus on the startup
• [x] only focus on 2-3 things a day
• [x] do not micromanage
• [x] give more equity to their employees than to investors
• [x] give ~10% of the company to the first 10 employees

The CEO...

• [x] sets the vision
• [x] raises money
• [x] evangalizes the startup's mission
• [x] hires and manages the team
• [x] sets the execution bar
• [x] fires fast
• [x] only hires if desperate
• [x] does not hire mediocre engineers
• [x] hires people with good communication skills

The Product...

• [x] starts simple and does one (or few) thing(s) really well

• [x] starts with the smallest feature set needed to solve the problem

• [x] solves your own problem

• [x] is loved by your users, not just liked

• [x] is optimized based on a certain corner of the customer base (in the beginning)

• [x] is made great before creating its growth machine

• [x] gets early feedback from hand-recruited users

• [x] gets 10% better every week

• [x] solves an immediate user need

• [x] is something you know people want, not just something you think would want

• [x] focuses on generic cases, not edge cases

• [x] has a one-liner ready before showing off

• [x] includes a clear way of contacting you

• [x] is not Frankensteined (#120)

• [x] focuses on minimizing the Chamath Palihapitiya Cycle (#18) from days to milliseconds:

  • [x] "What is the thing people are here to do?"
  • [x] "What is the aha moment they want?"
  • [x] "Why can't I not give that to them as fast as possible?"

• [x] is iteratively improved through personal, conversational user feedback

The Team...

• [x] is as small as possible
• [x] is not remote
• [x] does not lose focus because of PR
• [x] always keeps momentum

The Execution...

• [x] focuses on a Viral Coefficient of 1.01 or higher (#95)
• [x] does not focus on short-term optimizations or "growth hacks"
• [x] focuses on one channel alone for a week before moving to another
• [x] focuses on making a small amount of people love the product
• [x] is based on knowledge and not gut feeling
• [x] is based of things that don't scale

Not yet organized

• [x] Don’t ever let yourself feel like you’ve won before you have.
• [x] Don't waste time on fake work, e.g speaking at conferences, talking to the media, or rearchitecting their infrastructure.
• [x] keep burn rate at a minimum until you've achieved a product people love.
• [x] every day, figure out 2-3 things that are the most important and do those. Ignore distractions.
• [x] have a strategy.
• [x] Change your name, so you can have the .com ending (and is easy to remember and pronounce). 100% of top 20 YC companies had .com, along with 94% of the top 50. (PG)