How to build a successful company: 4 tips for young entrepreneurs

You take online programming courses for iOS and have been writing some pretty good code for some time now. You developed a couple of mobile applications and even put one of them in the AppStore. Now you want to develop your ideas, take knowledge to the next level and build a real product that people will use and love. You want to create your own company.

Creating your own company and products requires you to have knowledge and conduct activities in many areas of business, including: marketing, UX / UI, development, finance and much more. Entrepreneurs with years of experience in setting up companies say they are still learning something new every day. Obviously, you cannot immediately become an expert in all these areas. You will need tremendous patience and perseverance to learn over the years. You will gain experience only when you try again and again (and again!) To achieve the goal.

However, there are things that could help you speed up your training and make the process of creating your own company and product development much more effective. I would like to give you four tips based on my own experience - something that I should know myself before starting work on startups, corporations, creating my own products and companies.

1. Find yourself a cool mentor.

I think this is the most important and most important advice that I could give to everyone (regardless of whether you are 19 years old or 59) who begins their entrepreneurial journey. On the way you will encounter a huge number of questions, learn about various difficulties and dilemmas. The best way to deal with them is to ask someone who has already faced similar situations for advice. You will have many questions: when to launch the product, what features to add, how to talk with investors and what to focus on.

I would not advise you to try to get money from investors and patrons. Try to get advice and feedback from entrepreneurs, investors, and marketing people. Build a relationship with them, and in the end you will find a personal mentor for yourself. Someone who has already gone this way, who has done what you have to do. A mentor whom you could turn to and ask questions without hesitation. Someone who would help you go the path to entrepreneurship, who believes in you and your ideas.

2. Build relationships.

To succeed and learn about your industry, gain more knowledge about your products, and most importantly, about your customers, you need to build strong relationships with people who care, who share your interests and aspirations. Attend workshops on web programming and mobile app development, marketing, development, UX design, and entrepreneurship. Get involved in communities such as Product Hunt and GrowthHackers . Meet people there, collaborate! Do not be afraid to ask questions and write comments. Take part in hackathons! You can go there alone and meet new people there or go with friends.

I led two events for young entrepreneurs, and I was pleasantly amazed at how much they learn, how they make friends, and what great products they create. One of the events is called Hacking the Y Generation . This is a hackathon for young entrepreneurs. Such meetings are very popular, and you may find these hackathons near you, but I’m sure that other similar events are taking place in your area. They provide an excellent opportunity to meet people who could become your future co-founders, mentors. In addition, thanks to such meetings, you can create your own ideas and products, share them with people who could give you real feedback, help you learn and create something worthwhile. Another event calledThe Mobile Challenge Junior will be held in six locations around the world (I will be the head of the hackathon in Tel Aviv).

3. Do not stop creating and experimenting.

Another piece of advice that I could give to anyone who creates products: keep working, keep building. Creating a product is like conducting an experiment or a series of independent experiments. You need to determine the goal or assumptions of what exactly you would like to learn from this experiment, implement it, and then analyze and continue. If you continue this cycle of creating things and analyzing them, then you will understand that creating products is something in which you can become better, and thanks to this, your creations will constantly improve.

When I talk about creating products, I don’t mean just developing an application or creating a company’s website. It can be anything related to your business. For example, your blog post, Facebook post, Twitter ad, or even a meeting with a potential user or investor. Continue to make changes, approach the ideal through new cycles in your code and developments. And always be ready to learn and improve not only your product, but also yourself and your team.

4. Read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

Frankly, I love to read. I read mainly psychology and business literature, but I learned about Eric’s book before starting to create products and build my own company. This is a source of knowledge, to which I return every day to make certain decisions regarding the product and business. I believe that every ambitious entrepreneur should read this book, regardless of age.

Do not forget that creating a business and product is an adventure. This is a long road with victories and defeats. Be prepared for the fact that she will bring excitement, anger, smiles, tears. It's like a roller coaster, so bring your best friends with you. It will be incredibly interesting. In any case, you will be happy that you decided to ride. Most people wind new circles, repeating this over and over.