There are many pieces of startup advice out there. I'm going to try not to rehash them here. Instead, I'm writing this for myself in early 2024.. things I wish I'd known that could have saved me some pain and repeated mistakes.
Don't Build Bridges Without Knowing Who'll Cross (or: The Engineer's Trap I Fell Into)
If you're trained as a bridge builder, you'll naturally focus on building the perfect bridge: How tall? How strong? How long should it last?
But none of this actually matters until you figure out who needs to cross that bridge and why!
This is especially a common trap for founders with engineering backgrounds (like me). We're built to obsess over solutions.
Your first days should be spent almost entirely understanding the problem. Even if you think you fairly understand what problem you're solving, it's still worth investing energy in getting absolute clarity on what the problem actually is in the first few weeks/months.
Coming back to the bridge analogy... Your early days should be about understanding your customer's complete journey.
Walking with them, and if possible, trying to understand their entire path—where they're coming from, where they're trying to go, what obstacles they face. The zoomed out journey.
Then... within their journey, there will be many places where they're struggling to get from A to B. You won't be able to solve all of these struggles, but you can identify the most critical ones.
If you're trying to build a small, profitable business, focus on one small, targeted section where you can help them cross that gap.
Either find a crossing point that many people need to use, (or even better, which is what we do)... pick a point where the same customers need to cross that bridge repeatedly (recurring revenue).
And most importantly... that they are willing to pay for the toll for the bridge!
Once you identify that section... then you can build your bridge—and even if you're not great at building it yet, at least you'll know that people need it and will pay for it.
How to do this practically?
Just reach out to people (yes, cold emails and cold DMs, if done thoughtfully, still work). Offer value in exchange for them walking you through their journey. Do stuff for free. Ask good questions (The Mom Test is a great book for this).
Don't assume what their problems might be... you're there to serve... ask and listen. Once you truly feel their pain points, you'll naturally gravitate toward a set of certain problems.
If you play it right, those same people often become your early clients and champions. This is exactly how it played out in our case.
Start With B2B
When I started out, someone advised me to focus on B2B instead of B2C. I said okay to them, but I remember scoffing internally... thinking "Nah, I'll figure out B2C stuff... how hard can it be?"
After all, I am a special snowflake... Well... of course... I was wrong.
If I had to do it all again, I'd start with B2B every time. Especially for a small solo bootstrapped business. The playbook is just more straightforward and easier... at least it felt like that for me... finding customers, building solutions, and most importantly... getting paid! It all flows better in B2B. (This might be different if you're playing the VC-funded game).
Having done both B2C and B2B now, I would just start with B2B... at least to get those initial entrepreneur reps in.
Zero-to-One: It's Meant to Be Hard
This is something I wrote some weeks ago, and it's stuck with me:
For building a company:
- 0→1 demands grit
- 1→10 requires discipline
Both matter always, but knowing where to bias your energy is key.
In 0→1:
Returns to effort are non-linear... you don't know if and when things will work out. You need an almost maniacal belief and gritted teeth to push through uncertainty and stick with it.
This is how your early days are likely to be.
It's also important to know that it's okay if it takes a while for things to work out. Because you need only one shot here. It's by definition non-linear. Be patient and have the grit to hold through until you find that thing.
In 1→10:
Once you cross the chasm, you are in different territory now.
Returns to effort become more linear... you start seeing progressive improvements. But you need disciplined execution of what needs to be done (whether you actually like doing those things or not). Here, you need to switch to being more of a disciplined operator.
If I had known this earlier, I would have been less frustrated with my own progress, especially during that 0→1 phase.
Don't Overintellectualize "Building a Company"
Whenever I said "I'm building a company" or "I'm doing a startup," it came with all these fancy connotations. Internally, I kind of felt overwhelmed and I felt a lot of imposter syndrome and mostly was like "F**, I need to figure this out."
If I had to do it again... here's how I'd reframe it internally: Your goal is to replace your job, i.e., focus on what you can do to earn just enough to pay your bills. That's it.
When you put it like that, the goal becomes more manageable, more bite-sized.
And relatedly, keep your burn rate (expenses) low.
You'd be surprised how many good things in life are free. My favorite hack? Libraries—they're amazing (God's gift, really). I don't have a dedicated workspace, and I don't need one. I worked most of this last year out of free public libraries and they were just fine.
There are many other hacks like this to keep the burn rate low until you hit sustainable revenue. You don't have to starve... both figuratively and also for the fun stuff. That was one revelation for me.
In general, I think I was kinda good at the latter part anyways... keeping the burn rate low. But I did stumble with the former... the framing.
If I had thought about it this way from the start, I would have taken a lot of self-imposed pressure off.
So if you're bootstrapping, your first goal should simply be: "How do I do what needs to be done to earn enough to pay my bills... so that I can do the thing that I love, and own my freedom?"
Once you hit that point, then you can think bigger.
I'm sure I'm missing something that has been stewing in my head for a while. But if you've ever considered being an entrepreneur, there's never been a better time to build, or at least to try it. With all the AI stuff.
If you are considering trying... good luck and go for it! 🚀