UbiFul’s Post

Decoding Startup Survival: Steering Clear of Pitfalls and Steering Towards Success Each year witnesses a surge of new startups taking flight, yet only a fraction soar high enough to achieve profitability. Research underscores the stark reality that a mere 20% of startups manage to endure beyond the 5-year mark, with a paltry 8% persevering past the challenging 10-year threshold. The path for a budding startup founder is riddled with hurdles and uncertainties. In a curious paradox, some founders succumb to an obsession with lavish branding investments. However, the crux of the matter lies in understanding that customers prioritize the value proposition a startup offers. Thus, founders must pivot their focus towards value creation, expedite product launch, and defer extravagant branding endeavors. Operating within constraints of a finite marketing budget necessitates judicious financial management. Prompt user engagement is pivotal to gather real-time feedback. Generating revenue necessitates proactive efforts from founders to engage customers, persuade them to convert, and pinpoint areas of improvement. The emerging paradigm of "product-led marketing" is often misconstrued as a silver bullet guaranteeing instant sales post-product launch. In reality, it entails a strategic amalgamation of product-centric principles into marketing strategies, amplifying the product's visibility and appeal in the market.

Finding the right team is essential to turn your startup vision into reality. Our latest blog on Student Startup Support, Building Your Startup Team: A Guide for Student Founders, dives into how you can assemble a diverse, driven team with complementary skills and a shared vision for success. In this guide, we cover: 🔹 Key Startup Roles – Understand the roles of Problem Expert, Business Developer, and Technology Developer, and how each drives early-stage success. 🔹 Intrinsic Motivation – Learn how to attract co-founders motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose, even without financial incentives. 🔹 Diversity & Team Dynamics – Build a team with complementary skills and a shared vision, balancing fresh perspectives with aligned values. 🔹 Gradual Team Building – Tips for finding the right co-founder one step at a time, starting with your network. Whether you’re looking for practical steps or want to dive into the fundamentals behind each action, this blog provides insights tailored specifically to the challenges faced by student founders. ⚠ Plus, check out the Student Startup Co-Founder Canvas, a tool designed to help you define roles and expectations as you search for your ideal co-founder. 🔗https://lnkd.in/gA8jePbT #StudentStartups #Entrepreneurship #TeamBuilding #Innovation #StudentFounders #StartupSupport #Education #CoFounder

Unfortunately, most modern startups are doomed to fail from the very beginning! Here’s why ⬇️ They don’t LIKE their customers 😅 What do I mean? Exactly that! From my recent observations, these days the typical founder will pick a problem space or industry to solution for based on the presence of capital flowing into it, rather than genuine interest/care for the potential customer. So what’s wrong with that? There’s nothing inherently wrong with desiring to be in a topical and well-funded space. However, when it comes to succeeding in a startup, it’s far more important that you ACTUALLY like your users/customers because you will need to: 1. Spend copious amounts of time with them to better understand their needs, resulting in a much better product and a positioning that resonates with your customers. 2. Maintain your interest over an extended period (7-10 years on average) before reaching a successful outcome 3. Overcome challenges, and endure multiple pivots until you find that product market fit. All of these things are nearly impossible to do if you don’t LIKE your customers 😶 Here’s an example ☝ As a gamer, you have a better chance of succeeding in a startup if you’re solving the needs of other gamers, over let's say solving issues related to mental health, simply because you can spend nearly all of your time with other gamers and it doesn’t feel like work. If you ask any founder how they feel about their customers, they will say that they LOVE their customers, and that’s because it’s the socially acceptable thing to say. Deep down inside though, they may not LIKE them or even want to be around them 🤧 So here’s the takeaway: Don’t work on an idea just because it’s in a well-funded space. Work on an idea that solves a real problem for real people that you ACTUALLY like 💡 Remember: It’s better to LIKE your customers than to “LOVE” them. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments. P.S. Repost if you find this useful ♻️

🚀 Exciting times in the tech startup world! 🌟 As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology, We've learned some valuable tips and tricks that can make a significant difference for startups: 1. Focus on Problem-Solving Always start with a clear problem that needs solving. Validate your idea with potential users to ensure you're building something that truly meets their needs. 2. Embrace Agility The ability to pivot quickly can be a game-changer. Embrace an agile methodology to adapt to feedback and market changes. 3. Build a Strong Team Surround yourself with diverse talent. A team with varied skills and perspectives is better equipped to tackle challenges and drive innovation. 4. Leverage Networking Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, mentors, and industry experts. Their insights can provide invaluable guidance and open doors to new opportunities. 5. Invest in Marketing Early Don’t wait until your product is perfect. Start building your brand and engaging with your audience early on to create buzz and gather feedback. 6. Focus on Scalability Design your technology and processes with scalability in mind. This foresight can save you time and resources as you grow. 7. Prioritize Customer Feedback Regularly seek feedback from your users. Their insights are crucial for refining your product and ensuring it remains relevant. 8. Stay Curious and Keep Learning The tech landscape is constantly changing. Stay updated with industry trends and continuously seek learning opportunities. Let’s embrace the journey of growth, collaboration, and transformation together! What tips have you found helpful in your startup journey? Share your thoughts below! #TechStartup #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #FutureOfTech #StartupTips #GrowthMindset

If your business goal is to always make the right or safe decision, then betting against startups, especially those proposing innovative concepts, would be the correct move. This approach will result in being right more often than not. You'll be right and safe while ensuring that nothing new or great will ever be created. Startups are not meant to always be right. The goal of a startup is to build with humility. To have strong opinions and voice them but adjust as they discover better ones. To infect customers, employees, and supporters with new ideas that make old ones obsolete. To fight to live another day. And to correct wrong decisions before it's too late. Science comes after being wrong many times. But you must keep your eyes open, admit when you are wrong, and adjust until you're not. That's pretty much what successful startups also do. When they find out they were wrong and course-correct, they call it "pivoting". It's just a fancy way of saying that they were doing things wrong, and now they do things right. If you build software, you want to be right. However, as a startup, you have to manage the goal of being right by releasing things, sometimes before they are ready, even with bugs (at least ones that users can live with for the time being). You must be willing to build what customers need (not what they ask for), including features they genuinely love (but don't make sense to you), instead of being fixated on being right all the time. As one of the founders of Licenseware, I feel that most days are filled with contradictions and internal conflict as we always try to balance customer needs with internal costs, timelines, and product roadmap. And it's tough to remain true to our vision irrespective of what competitors are doing or saying. But we do it anyway because that is right for us. Pointing out mistakes is easy, but ignoring criticism without proper reflection is equally superficial. 

The main challenge for any tech startup is always in building “the right thing”, and solving “the right problem”. And if you’ve ever hired anyone or looked for a co-founder, then you’ll know that every CV boasts "problem solving," but starting a new company that’ll make a real difference isn’t just a box-ticking exercise - we aren’t taught in school or university how to solve real, complex problems that can change lives. I'm finding that the startups that are tackling the easier problems to solve often (controversially) get the most funding because, by definition, easy-to-build solutions for easier-to-fix problems promise to make an “easier” return on the investment. Meanwhile, startups tackling the toughest problems - with the hardest paths to success - struggle to get funding precisely because those problems are harder to solve, so the returns seem further away and less "slam dunk". Some investors focus on defensible deep-tech, promising to invest in the loftier, longer-term bets where no-one else will, and truly I find that commendable. But a lot of the massive problems don’t require a deep-tech solution, but they do require deep-thinking and deep-commitment - and this is even harder to filter in the due-diligence. I'm reminded by James Lo's post that kickstarted what is now Impact73 ⚪ 2 years ago (how time has flown!), and I strongly encourage you to read that one, too: "We live in a world where groceries are available in 10 mins, but ambulances take up to 3 hours. Where porn is free, but a university education costs lifelong debt. Where NFTs generate $23 billion in volume, while governments struggle to cover $19 billion in energy price rises. We live in a world where entrepreneurs systematically build "What People Want" - radically improving efficiency for things that cave to our base desires; while repeatedly neglecting “What People Need” - the things that empower us to be better versions of ourselves..."

This is why you don’t build innovation the same way as corporate projects. You’re going to miss your 5-year forecast. As we say about our innovation financial models: “It might not be how it’s always been done, but it’ll get you broadly right instead of precisely wrong.” #InnovationPerformance #InnovationROI #CorporateInnovation #InnovationManagement

Paul Graham explains why you shouldn’t try to be a visionary “Empirically, the way to do really big things seems to be to start with small things and grow them bigger. Want to dominate microcomputer software for decades? Start by writing a basic interpreter for a machine with a couple thousand users. Want to make the universal website and a giant vacuum for people’s time? Start by building a website where Harvard undergrads can stalk one another.” Paul Graham continues: “Neither Bill Gates nor Mark Zuckerberg knew how big their companies were going to get. All they knew was that they were onto something… Maybe it’s a bad idea to have really big ambitions initially, because the bigger your ambitions, the longer they’re going to take to realize and the long you’re projecting into the future, the more likely you’re going to be wrong.” PG suggests starting with something small that works instead. “I think the best way to do these big ideas is not to try and identify a precise point in the future and say, How do I get from here to there? Like the popular image of a visionary. I think a better model is Columbus who thought there was something to the West—I’ll sail westward. Start with something that works, that you know works, that’s small, and then when the opportunity comes to move, move westward. The popular image of a visionary is someone with a very precise view of the future, but empirically it’s probably better to have a blurry one.” --- We curate the top 1% of startup advice from the world’s best founders and investors. Join 8,000+ founders who read the free newsletter at https://lnkd.in/dNtku53e

Perfectionism kills innovation. It's holding your startup back. Here’s why embracing imperfection can boost your growth. With 15 years in business, I’ve fought my own perfectionist tendencies. The truth: → Perfectionism slows progress. → It stifles creativity. → It blocks risk-taking. In startups, speed is key. Iterate, learn, and pivot quickly. Perfectionism hinders this. Embrace imperfection to fuel growth: Launch early Your product doesn’t need to be perfect. Release it, get feedback, improve. Focus on progress, not perfection Celebrate small wins. They build up. Iterate quickly Use feedback to adjust fast. You’ll find the right fit sooner. Prioritise learning Every mistake is a lesson. Embrace them. Encourage experimentation Create a safe space for risks. Innovation will follow. Set realistic deadlines Stop endless tweaking. Deadlines drive momentum. Remember, customers want solutions, not perfection. Embrace imperfection. Watch your startup soar. What are your strategies to combat perfectionism? Let’s discuss.

Paul Graham's Framework to Get Startup Ideas.... Back in Nov 2012, Paul Graham wrote 'How to Get Startup Ideas?' This advice from the Y Combinator founder is still useful today. Want to know how he thinks up new business ideas? Keep reading. Paul Graham believes that there are ten ways to get startup ideas: 1️⃣ Utility vs. Novelty → Aim for highly useful ideas rather than highly novel ones → Revolutionary ideas are rare (1% of patents) → Incremental & evolutionary ideas have a better chance of success → Build for the Few Who Want a Lot 2️⃣ Target a small group with an urgent need → Visualize ideas as "wells" on a graph: → Width: How many people want it → Depth: How much people want it → Optimize for depth (urgency) and speed initially 3️⃣ Live in the Future, Build What's Missing → Become the type of person who has good ideas → Be at the leading edge of a rapidly changing field → Run a background process looking for missing things → Pay attention to personal irritations → Work on interesting side projects 4️⃣ Scratch Your Own Itch → Solve personal problems → Being both maker and user allows for faster iteration → Deeper understanding of the problem and solution 5️⃣ Explore New Domains → Combine expertise in one field with interest in another → Fresh perspective can challenge the status quo → Look for areas where your skills are underrepresented 6️⃣ Don't Fear Competition → Good ideas often seem obvious → Startups rarely killed by competitors → Focus on users and differentiation → Crowded markets indicate high demand 7️⃣ Remove Mental Filters → Consider unsexy, tedious, unpleasant, or scary problems → Less competition in these areas → Ask: "What problem do I wish someone else would solve for me?" 8️⃣ The Hedgehog Concept → Focus on the intersection of: a. What you're passionate about b. What you can be the best at c. What can make you enough money 9️⃣ Lean Startup Methodology → "Just Do It" with scientific rigor → Test assumptions and iterate quickly → Validate ideas through real-world feedback That's it. You can find the link of original article in the comments. Image Credits: Dan Ankle ----- Follow All Chance to learn from more innovative insights.