How I got into the startups’ world

If you’re reading this, you probably know what a startup is already. That’s good because I didn’t know when I started my first one, so you’re already one step ahead of me (back in 2010). I don’t know what drives you into the startups’ world, but I know the following tips might help you.

But don’t take tips from a stranger, so first things first: let me tell you few words about me.

I’m a geek, an entrepreneur, a sports addict and currently one of the two co-founders of Froala. This is the 3rd official startup I co-founded back in late 2013.

Froala is a successful startup with thousands of customers from 100+ countries all over the world.

Here’s what I’ve learned during the last 7 years:

1. No previous experience is required

After all, we’re talking about the first startup, of course, you don’t have any practical experience. Theoretical experience, however, would be a plus, but to hell with that, I didn’t even know what a startup was when I participated, together with two colleagues, at the first Startup Weekend organized here in Romania.

We were three second year students, and when the organizers asked us “Are you pitching?” we were like “wait a second to google it”. Even so, we made it to the next phase of the competition where the second question from a mentor hit us: “How do you make money?”. I’ll never forget this simple question as it was the moment when I started to understand what a startup is.

2. Sacrifice you free time

A startup requires time, a lot of it. Think of how many departments are in a company. Although a startup won’t need all of them at the beginning (like HR), there still are a lot of hats the co-founders have to wear besides building the product.

Although we won the Startup Weekend edition I was telling you about with “Eventriffic” and also had some great results at other contests organized by Junior Achievement, both nationally and internationally, we were students. We had homework assignments, exams and very few time. To be honest, we never even had a working product, we only simulated it, and that’s what got us that far. This is the first time I’m publicly admitting this, so hopefully, I won’t get anyone mad at us.

3. Recognize failure early

There are multiple reasons why startups fail. The most important thing is to know when the startup is not going to work anymore and accept failure. Although it sounds bad, failure is, in fact, a good thing. It helps you learn faster and do things better next time.

Eventriffic was based on a great idea, and people loved it. The almost one year experience we had in the startup world opened our eyes and made us see that failure was unavoidable. Our initial thought was that we had some technical limitations and that the whole idea was too dependent on third party services. Looking back, after seven years of experience, I realize that the real problem was the team, and also the timing was not ideal.

4. Don’t kill your startup!

Building a startup is not an easy thing. It has ups and downs, from extreme happiness to depression and then back again. It’s a journey hard to get through without a strong team, and the process alone is what makes founders kill their potentially successful startup prematurely.

Killing a startup is the simplest thing you can do. When faced with a hard decision, choosing the easiest path may bring you immediate relief, but long term, it’s the hard way that brings more reward.

Did I do it? Yes, I killed a startup, and I still regret that. I had the opportunity to enter a newly born market with the potential of growing very fast (which it did), the best time for a startup to get into a market. Why I did it? That takes me to the next tip.

5. Feedback is good if filtered

Looking at a startup from the outside offers an entirely different perspective than from the inside. An infusion of external ideas contribute to the startup’s overall health, but it can as well do more harm than good if the ideas are not filtered well.

Now, back to the previous question: Why I killed my startup? It was called IXAPI, we were two co-founders, still inexperienced and felt like some feedback from more experienced people in the field would help. Unfortunately, our lack of experience proved that ALL feedback has to be filtered. Afterall, nobody knows your startup better than you do. This may sound stupid, but the product was looking promising, feedback from early adopters was positive and we simply let it die.

6. Keep on trying

They say 9 out of 10 startups will fail. That doesn’t mean you have to fail nine startups before you create a successful one, nor that you have to kill them on purpose to reach the tenth one. We’re not chasing the golden fish here. Treat each startup like it’s going to be successful. Otherwise, there’s no point in doing a startup.

A failure should never stop you from trying another startup. At the most, it can be an excuse, hiding the real reason why you are quitting, so think again!

Something else?

This article merely scratches the surface of the intricate world of startups, but the beginning is always the hardest, and I believe it is the point where one needs all the help he can get. We’re going to dive deeper perhaps next time.

In case you found these tips useful don’t forget to share the article and help your startup fellows.