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21 Comments

What are your mistakes as a first-time founder?

  1. 7

    Ignoring founder-market fit

    Edit: A while back, I wrote a whole post about the long journey it took me to get to my first dollar starting from scratch. I chose a B2B idea that I was neither passionate about nor equipped for as a solo founder/indie hacker, and it was disastrous. This is why I'm now so firm and insistent about getting the best possible founder-market fit before I even begin on a startup idea!

    1. 2

      founder-market fit? What's that.

      1. 3

        It's how well you as a founder fit in with the market you're serving, aka the problem you're solving and the people you're solving it for.

  2. 4

    I had an audience, and then decided to build a product for a totally different and unrelated audience 🤦🏻‍♀️

  3. 3

    Ignoring the fact how important distribution is. And I was appalled by the low quality advice on this. This is what really inspired me to create the product (ZeroToUsers) I'm working on right now.

    1. 1

      Could you please mention the same in the google forms?

  4. 2

    My biggest mistake: Not taking marketing serious. I lived in the "Build-It-And-They-Will-Come Wonderland" for too long.

  5. 2

    I think not talking to customers early enough will always remain one of the biggest problems... Especially in B2B I still find it extra hard, as they want to see proof for your product you currently are trying to validate. It's the chicken-and-egg question all over again :)

  6. 2

    The mindset that entrepreneurship is a cool life with freedom to do 'whatever' you want.

    It is 3x more work than a normal job and it is just as stressful. You can do whatever you want but you won't be able to as you're too busy working.

    There are many more but I might need some drinks. :P

  7. 2

    @Deepak09 Do you want to share the numbers in short story on our blog at http://lunadio.com/?

    1. 1

      @Semy Great article. https://www.lunadio.com/blog/how-to-overcome-struggles-in-your-startup-journey/

      Under "Idea Stage", how do you share weekly to-do-list with others? Do you use any digital product to share and acknowledge with the community?

    2. 1

      Sure, sounds a neat idea.

      My twitter -> https://twitter.com/Deepak910k

  8. 1

    Lack of founder skills
    Good with development, horrible at everything else. Need to learn marketing, business, and finance on top of good developmental skills.
    Also relying on advice from super supportive family members and not real users sent the product down a rabbit hole (completely my fault).

  9. 1

    The classic I see is not utilizing the resources around them (especially mentors, advisors and clients) to the fullest. Tons of value completely dormant!

  10. 1

    It took 5 years for me to realise you can not keep doing something that you definitely aware its not valuable. First, research if you have a demand for it. Then do some awareness before even you build the product. I saw some startup did this before the product is real. After you launch, you already have a community, fans and paid customer.

  11. 1

    I didnt dedicate enough time to the business

  12. 1

    Great survey. Will you share the results after?

    1. 3

      I will be sharing the results on Twitter, on my public profile, here on indie hackers & as well as on our website.

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