About startups and vectors

    New Year is coming, the Notepad cursor blinks affably, in the window title you can see "Nameless". Actually, what should I call this text? In the head, as always, a herd of thoughts interrupting each other. I have something to tell, but there is no single vector that would declare a clear path to the story.

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    One vector about the romantic founder, who blindly believes in his idea. The second is about how startups are created and what is needed for this. The third is about the findings. Conclusions that we cannot critically evaluate what we love. Three vectors and three themes at the same time intersecting in one post. Remember, like Jobs, "... there are only three stories, nothing more."

    So, I have my own startup.No, it’s not ordinary, like booking a restaurant, a social network of animal lovers or an Instagram killer. Of course it is Unique! He is the best! This idea is certainly a billion bucks, otherwise. Why? I have one weighty argument that breaks the competition into chips - because I love him! blind unbridled love. Nothing but him exists around.

    The target is visible, users are already visible on the horizon, they are breaking into our website in thousands. After all, we give everything for free.
    These imaginary people, of course, cannot live without us. We will really solve their problem, and in our opinion a rather global problem. Then we will turn over the half-century view of software development, and that’s it, life was a success. Maldives, girls, cars. ... stop.Something is not right here, experience suggests that there will be difficulties, but where from? Here is the starting capital. Here is the team. Here are 10 years of development experience, but I can control everything! As it turned out, not everything is so smooth. Let's go back a little back.

    So, I have my own startup. Unique, serious, which indicates the real problem and its solution. A monetization scheme has been drawn, though far-fetched. There is an attempt to understand the phrase “business model”. It seems that even competitors have been found, similar topics on keywords are googled. In general, all in Feng Shui. It's time to say: - "Hey investor, give me more money!". But he does not. The market is small for him, there is no demand, and indeed he is very busy. You can’t designate everything simply for him, be kind of broken off.

    Well, okay, you still can’t give up, you need to try and try again. Try, try, try.
    Unrestrained love for your offspring will not allow you to fall asleep before midnight, and wake up after five in the morning. Yes, it’s difficult, and sometimes it’s not clear what all this will lead to. But you get up and do it.
    Something, even in small steps, but you do, because there is no turning back. You can turn around 180 * and see there a dumb uncle whose ideas you will implement instead of yours. Therefore, we continue to do and be what happens. After all, we’ll hire more people, add even more features with their help, and there you look and run the prototype. Anyway, we can handle it ourselves, we don’t need handouts.

    So, I have my own startup and a great team.We are still unique, we have no analogues and competitors. Those that were no longer counted. They are suckers. Of course, how could it be otherwise, because we have such a scale and the most trendy things. Clouds, mobile devices, touched on sociality. Let while in the embryonic form, who needs it will understand! And it is necessary, the first successes, a large software corporation drew attention to us and gave support. Although the money is running out, it's okay! Blind faith has never failed anyone. Sooner, even without too late, green pieces of paper themselves will find me something to worry about. The notorious Russian maybe - a terrible force. With this word, we won wars, built cities and roads, created communism.

    At this point, you should change the story vector, from the romantic founder to common sense.


    So how are startups created? My subjective opinion, which is quite simple, for those who are in the subject. There is a problem, and there is a solution. By the problem, our brother usually understands something unpleasant, terrible, which is best avoided by all means. This is actually not the case. The problem is a hint to you how to make the world a better place.

    Was it once a problem to take a picture, apply a filter and put it in social services. your cat’s net? Was it a problem to tell the whole world about what you did in 140 characters? Yes, however, and the search for information has never been a problem, libraries are a thousand years old. And by the way, for horse-drawn carts no less, the car did not solve the problem - it made the world a better place.

    However, this is from the point of view of the consumer. On the other side of the coin is the innovator. Here it breaks everything from the inside; literally, the current state of things does not give sleep. The more breaks, the higher the desire to change everything. He then finds the strength in himself to go against the system, get cuffs from it, fall and rise a hundred times in order to ultimately crush the system for himself, make the world a better place and write his name in history.

    So how are startups created? If the problem is urgent for the innovator, he begins to look for ways to solve it.
    The problem exists only for him; it is he who does not allow him to live. For everyone else - the world is what it is, only the problems are different. It turns out every person is an innovator, with ways to solve their problems. So the ways to find a solution are inscrutable. Have you ever jumped from a parachute, dear habravchanin? Or ROPE JUMPING off a cliff? And jump into the abyss? Finding a solution for a startup is a jump into the abyss. You do not know where to land and where you are flying, how to maneuver and who to take with you.

    Yes, another very important point is that several more innovators jumped with you, with the same idea. They also fly parallel to you, someone higher, someone lower. One thing unites you - this is the place on the cliff where you saw an idea flying by and jumped after it. By all laws, only the one whose flight will be more direct will land faster. Well, or behind the turbocharged engine will help.

    So how are startups created ?! When bringing innovation to the public, one thing to remember is that they don’t need innovation. People lived perfectly without her, and will live on. All they can give you is a couple of clicks.
    Maybe a few words, and if you're lucky, then remember your e-mail for spam and give it to you. Then go back to your business.
    The bottom line is that this moment, between clicks and getting profit from your site or program, is key. It determines how long the user will be delayed, how much then he will be inspired by the idea. I think about these truths already written by Paul Graham, Robert Kiyosaki and others whom I have not read.
    In fairness, it should be said that the motive of the person who came to your site is different. But in 95% this is a simple curiosity, which he wants to satisfy in the simplest way.

    It remains for me to tell why I am writing this post again changing the mental vector.


    The New Year is coming, and this is the very time when you look around the past and try to look into the future.
    Finally, you understand what you did wrong and why it all turned out that way. There are no tones of pity or sadness, everything must be taken as is and moved on, to the very bright idea that I once saw while standing on a cliff.
    For those who have not yet jumped into the abyss, I would like to wish good luck and give some advice.

    Be sure to try it against all odds. The more cones you fill, the more experience you will have. Do you have a mentor? Then excellent, this advice, and all the following you do not need. And the majority, I think, do not have it.
    If you give up - you need to relax, get distracted. It means that you are doing something wrong, and you need to look at the solution from a different angle. The main thing is not to bang your head against the wall, otherwise it will break.
    Look for the simplest solutions. No need for bicycles. The simpler your solution, the more users will understand it. The same goes for implementation. Look for ready-made components.
    Do not spray. You need to be able to focus on one idea and polish it to perfection. Losing focus, we lose the pursuit of ideal.
    Communicate and talk about your ideas. Constant networking, the more people find out about you and your idea, the more feedback you will receive, and the better the implementation.

    Perhaps these are the most important things that I understood during the 4 months of my startup’s life.
    And yes, all the fails that happened during this time allowed me to write this text.

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