8 Early Stage Startup Mistakes To Avoid
By Isaac SouweinePresented to to
May 13, 2015Montreal
1. Not knowing what stage your startup is in
Examples of stages
● In search of > Problem/Solution Fit● In search of > Traction● In search of > Product/Market Fit● In search of > Scale● In search of > Optimization
NB - All advice is good advice for somebody
2. Not understanding that your startup is just a bunch of hypotheses
A Good Startup does 2 things well
sell the shit out of your vision seek validation for that vision
3. Not being able to identify your riskiest
hypothesis
Identifying your riskiest hypotheses
Identifying your riskiest hypotheses
4. Not having a clear idea of how to test your
riskiest hypothesis
Testing your hypothesis
● Surveys● Problem interviews● Solution interviews● Landing page● Prototype● A Real MVP
Interlude - What is an MVP?
A Minimum Viable Product is the smallest thing you can build that delivers customer value. . . - Ash Maurya
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHJn_SubN4E
5. Focusing too much on product vs.
customer acquisition
Instead of Build/Measure/Learn
Build/Promote/Measure/Learn
6. Not having a clear idea of what is core and what
can be outsourced
Things that can be outsourced
● Your MVP● Acquisition● Copy● PR● Brand● Anything! ● Or Nothing!!
7. Not building process from Day 1
Small Scale Process Example
Source: http://pollenizer.com/tools/
8. Not building a data culture from Day 1
Three Pillars of Data Culture
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/isouweine/startup-next-v31
Isaac Souweine | @sonofsarah