My name is Humberto, and I am an inveterate socio-economic entrepreneur, believer of Bitcoin and fan of Tesla.
I present a list that I've made to give you an idea of how things are and give you the steps to build a startup.
Note that this is what I've lived and worked in my way of learning, mistakes, achievements and other misadventures, and maybe in your path you’ll have to change some things.
Steps
- Problem identification and "ideation" of a possible solution.
- Refining and pivoting of the idea.
- Validation of theories; devise, build and make sure that if you solve a problem to anyone.
- Building a desirable, feasible and viable MVP*.
- Preparation of preliminary numbers.
- Product traction to gain more validation.
- Apply to competitions related to your product or service; honest and impartial feedback will be the greatest reward.
- Roll out the product outside testing environments; do more experiments at the same time that provide value to your customers, if not, eliminate or stop.
- Search funding for expansion (starting with crowdfunding *) only until it has achieved a successful bootstrap *.
- Seize your ecosystem, grow your network.
Endnotes
MVP *: feasible minimum product, or minimum viable product, which means the smallest thing you can build to validate your ideas and theories thru feedback from people who try your product or service, this is the best learning you need.
Crowdfunding *: the act of anchoring your project with other people's money (funders) on sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. It is the best way to fund first since you can realize how many people believe in you and your product/service.
Bootstrap *: start your project and develop it with your own limited resources or those of others. Remember, for better or worse, the best money is the one that’s not yours.
Maybe you don’t like the numbers ... deal with it, you need to plan your future costs to surpass them and make money. Remember this is a guess, so do it in the most conservative way possible, that means not having sales of millions, not all the people in your city are going to be your customers. You’ll find that of 100 people 3 will be your customers, and perhaps non-recurring. Still, do your financial sheets, your cash flow, NPV and IRR, etc.