First 100 days of my start-up

For every start-up, first few days are the basic bones for your company future. It is a tough journey full of ups and downs, when every morning starts with a bad news and every dawn ends converts that bad news into something good.

I am putting together few key recommendations that I have learned hard way.

Team : Building the right team is very important, consider it a marriage 0f 7–8 years because you will see them every day. From viability to funding, everything depends on these fundamental elements. Even a bad cop in your team could break up the whole team apart. You have to be smart while choosing them. Hire fast, fire fast method is the best one to be followed.

Problems: You should know about the worst and the best of your company. It is good to know about the loopholes in your idea. Only then, you can solve them and execute your idea in a better way. Ignoring them could create a risk for your team.

Funding: Most of the funding is done on the basis of the team ability to execute the market fit product. Anything you hear other than ‘yes’ is bullshit. Move forward, you are wasting your time in front of them. Smart investors take decisions in first 30 seconds of your pitch and next 3 minutes they devote in deciding whether their decision is right or wrong. Don’t wait for those who make you carry forward discussions through mail. You have to convert the leads into deals on the spot.

Early adopters: Your early adopters are the representative of your product. They will help you move around the community. Listen to their feedback carefully. Try to talk to each user personally. Improve your product if certain features are missing out. Early adopters could help you save a lot of time by not doing wrong things.

Be Confident: Start-up journey is not an easy one. It will screw up your life. Give it a long thought before stepping into it. But, whenever you are in, never look back. Never lose your energy. It is a learning curve. You will learn a lot of stuffs. You will know what is working or what is not. You might need to pivot. But, don’t pivot from your dreams of changing the world.

“It is a wild ride. Be prepared for it.”